G11

Practical engineering analysis of laterally loaded

monopiles for wind turbines
Carlotta Gennari Feslikenian

Supervised by Professor L. Zdravkovic

Department of Civil an Environmental Engineering, Imperial College London.

ABSTRACT

PILE DEFLECTION

The increase in production of renewable energies has being causing an

increase in the industry's demand for an optimal solution for the design of
offshore wind turbines foundations. Monopiles are considered to be the
best solution due to the ease and speed of installation and cost of
production. As the design is currently based upon the API code, empirically
formulated from field tests on slender piles, there is a need to validate these
codes for the design of large diameter monopile foundations. By means of
the Imperial College Finite Element Program (ICFEP) for different pile
geometries, the results generated from the API spring analyses have been
compared to the 3D continuum model s results.

THE MODELS
All the analyses have been performed by means of ICFEP (Potts &
Zdravkovic 1999, 2000) on geometrically different steel hollow section
monopiles in stiff clay with the aim of investigating the pile geometry effects
on the pile response to lateral loading (Table 1). Two soil models have been
alternatively considered, namely the Tresca soil model and a more
advanced stiff clay model.

P6 rigid pile, exhibiting large

deflection both at the mud line and
at the pile toe.

P4 flexible pile, presenting

significant deflection only at the
mud line.

P-y CURVES
By comparing the P-y
curves at the mud line from
the 2D API and 3D
simulations, it can be seen
that the API models
produces non-conservative
results, with the pile
deflection at the initial
stages of loading being
underestimated, as a stiffer
soil response is predicted.

TABLE 1: Pile geometries

D [m]

L [m]

h [m]

L/D [-]

t [mm]

P1

10

20

50

91

P4

10

60

50

91

P6

10

25

45

P8

30

25

45

SUBGRADE REACTION MODULUS

The
subgrade
reaction
modulus for all pile geometries
presents a constant increase
for very small deflection values
and decreases with increase in
deflection. Diameter effects can
be seen to influence the P-y
curves for larger deflections.
In the 2D API model, by adopting the currently employed design code API
(2000), the soil has been discretised by a series of horizontal (P-y)
independent springs (Winkler spring model). This allows to capture the soilpile interaction as the pile is loaded at the top.

In the three-dimensional continuum model, due to symmetry a mesh has

been created modelling only half of the pile and the soil. 20-noded solid
hexahedral elements have been selected for the pile and the soil. A zerothickness interface is created by means of 16-noded elements to simulate
the pile-soil interaction.

REFERENCES
API 2000. Recommended Practice for Planning, Designing and Construction Fixed Offshore PlatformsWorking Stress Design. 21st Ed. API Recommended Practice 2A-WSD (RP2A-WSD), Dallas.
Potts, D.M. & Zdravkovic, L. 1999. Finite Element Analysis in Geotechnical Engineering: Theory.
Thomas Telford.
Potts, D.M. & Zdravkovic, L. 2001. Finite Element Analysis in Geotechnical Engineering: Application.
Thomas Telford.

DIAMETER EFFECTS
As the initial stiffness is very
similar for all the curves
there is no clear pile
diameter's influence at small
deflection values (agreeing
with the API code). However,
with the increase in pile
deflection, diameter effects
are evident, as significant
difference can be noticed in
the normalised P-y curves
for the two different pile
diameters.

CONCLUSION
The API code produces non-conservative results, with the overestimation of
the soil stiffness for small pile deflection. There is a significant difference in
the short and long piles deflection behaviour. The pile diameter influences
the structures response to lateral loading and the P-y curves.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Professor L. Zdravkovic, Dr D. Taborda, Andreas Fangel