Offshore

 support  structures  &  installation

Technology of Offshore Wind Energy

Piled  Foundations  – Bearing  Capacity

Lecturer: Federico  Pisanò

 Piled  Foundations
-­‐Variety  of  foundation  concepts

Sub  structure Support  

structure

Foundation
 soft-­soft
Piled  Foundations

rotor  
frequency
rotor  frequency

soft-­stiff

displacement/rotation  after  many  cycles  

Design  issues  :  capacity,  dynamic  response,  
-­‐ Monopiles are  the  most  common  foundation  type  

frequency
blade-­passing  

stiff-­stiff

Picture  source:  Pie  chart,  The  European  offshore  wind  industry  -­‐ key  trends  and  statistics  2012
On  the  right  -­‐ Adapted  from:  Optimization  of  monopiles for  offshore  wind  turbines
By  Kallehave  D,  Byrne  BW,  LeBlanc  Thilsted  C and  Mikkelsen  KK
 Piled  Foundations
-­‐Driving  of  Tubular  Piles
Driving  of  tubular  piles

Image  source:  Top,  https://www.flickr.com/photos/vattenfall_de/19088516826

CRANE
STEAM
HOSES

CAGE

STEAM PRESSURE

RAM
CUSHION
ANVIL

PILE
 Piled  Foundations
-­‐ Loading  conditions

Single  pile Laterally  loaded Multiple  piles Axially  loaded

 Piled  Foundations

Image  adapted  from  Offshore  Geotechnical  Engineering   by  M.  Randolph  and  S.  Gourvenec
Lateral  capacity  in  short  piles
Failure  is  by  rigid  rotation  about  a  point  at  zcrit≈0.7-­‐0.8L
 Piled  Foundations
Lateral  capacity  in  long  piles

Image  adapted  from  Offshore  Geotechnical  Engineering   by  M.  Randolph  and  S.  Gourvenec
Failure  is  by  the  formation  of  a  plastic  hinge  at  zcrit

Mp where  the  shear  resultant  is  nil.  Self-­‐balanced  

horizontal  forces  above  and  below  zcrit
Piled  Foundations
Lateral  soil  resistance  – uniform  clay

Image  adapted  from  Offshore  Geotechnical  Engineering   by  M.  Randolph  and  S.  Gourvenec
Design  distribution  of  lateral  soil  resistance
Piled  Foundations
Lateral  soil  resistance  – realistic  soft  clay

Image  adapted  from  Offshore  Geotechnical  Engineering   by  M.  Randolph  and  S.  Gourvenec
The  shallow  mechanism  is  very  close  to  the  surface,  it  can  be  ignored

soil  resistance  per  unit  length

 Piled  Foundations
Lateral  soil  resistance  – sand

Image  adapted  from  Offshore  Geotechnical  Engineering   by  M.  Randolph  and  S.  Gourvenec
Difficult  analytical  analysis,  use  of  empirical  methods

• theoretical  analysis  mostly  unreliable  for  sands

• empirical  methods  +  experimental  validation
• existing  formulas  differ  at  increasing  depth

soil  resistance  per  unit  

length

passive  earth  pressure  

coefficient
 Piled  Foundations
Design  charts  for  soft  clayys and  sands

Image  adapted  from  Offshore  Geotechnical  Engineering   by  M.  Randolph  and  S.  Gourvenec
Homogeneous  material,  influence  of  top  eccentricity  e=M/H

short  piles long  piles

 Piled  Foundations
Axial  capacity
buoyant  pile  
weight

shaft  
resistance

base  resistance

tsf and  qbf to  be  estimated  on  the  basis  of  

in  situ  conditions,  prior  to  pile  installation
 Piled  Foundations
Axial  Capacity  – API  method  for  clays

Image  adapted  from  Offshore  Geotechnical  Engineering   by  M.  Randolph  and  S.  Gourvenec
Shaft  and  base  resistances

simplified  estimations  of   “alpha”  method

the  shaft  resistance

deep  bearing  
capacity  (Nc≈9) conservative  
estimation
 Piled  Foundations
Axial  Capacity  – API  method  for  sands

Table  adapted  from  Offshore  Geotechnical  Engineering   by  M.  Randolph  and  S.  Gourvenec
Shaft  and  base  resistances
Calibration  against  load  test  results  on  uninstrumented piles
Piled  Foundations
Axial  Capacity  – CPT-­‐based  method  for  sands

Table  adapted  from  Offshore  Geotechnical  Engineering   by  M.  Randolph  and  S.  Gourvenec
General  form  of  CPT-­based  methods