Back to basics

for
Foundation design
of
Monopile Support Structures
By

Victor Krolis

05/12/2007
2007

European Offshore Wind energy conference

Monopile design
sequence
The turbine
manufacturers
indirectly
shape the
design criteria
for the foundation

The foundation
takes about 30%
of the total costs
for one offshore
wind turbine

Monopile design
sequence
The turbine
manufacturers

Correct direction
of input of design
criteria?

Offshore
engineers

Monopile design
sequence
The turbine
manufacturers

Mutual input of
design criteria
seems to be the
way

Offshore
engineers

Why mutual input of design criteria?

Future:
5 MW and larger turbines

Why mutual input of design criteria?

Future:
5 MW and larger turbines
Heavier turbines

Why mutual input of design criteria?

Future:
5 MW and larger turbines
Heavier turbines
Moving into deeper waters

Why mutual input of design criteria?

Future:
5 MW and larger turbines
Heavier turbines
Moving into deeper waters
Larger Monopiles (> 5 m.) are needed
since this is still an attractive type of
support structure economic wise

Goal:
To quantify the effects of design
choices on the total mass (= ) by
visualizing the mutual influences of
basic design parameters such as the
natural frequency, soil stiffness and
the penetration depth

SoIf larger pile diameters are needed,

may the current API design methods
be correlated to large diameter piles
and still be considered to be an efficient
method of foundation design?

SoIf larger pile diameters are needed,

may the current API design methods
be correlated to large diameter piles
and still be considered to be an efficient
method of foundation design?
API is based on empirical research
conducted on pile diameters ranging from
0.2 to 2 meters

How due high numbers of cyclic

loading effect these large diameter
piles?

Shouldnt we go back to basics and

evaluate the basic foundation
design parameters for these large
diameter piles?

Answer:

YES!!
Why?

Scale effects of large diameter

monopiles

p-y method can become unconservative

for large diameter piles:
University of Duisburg-Essen performed
Finite Element simulations for piles
ranging from 1 to 6 m.

Scale effects of large diameter

Pile deflection y [m]
monopiles

Depth z
[m]

33 %
SWM
SWM
SWM
SWM
P-Y
method
P-Y
method
P-Y
P-Ymethod
method
FE
FE
FE
FE

20 %

1m

Deflection lines of
pile according to p-y method & SW method
compared to the FE results [University of Duisburg-Essen, K. Lesny])

Scale effects of large diameter

Pile deflection y [m]
monopiles

Depth z
[m]

50 %
SWM
SWM
P-Y
P-Ymethod
method
FE
FE

120 %

6m

Deflection lines of
pile according to p-y method & SW method compared to
the FE results [University of Duisburg-Essen, K. Lesny])

Effects of high numbers of cyclic

loading
Cyclic soil degradation: decrease of
soil stiffness and strength

Effects of high numbers of cyclic

loading
How can this be quantified for large
diameter piles?

Research approach
Simulation model:
Simulations for :
Vestas V90
NREL 5MW

Monopile:
Various Diameters
Wall thickness Diameter ratio over
whole
Length of pile is: 1:80
Soil profile:
Loose
Medium dense
Dense Sand

Research approach
Chosen location:

Research approach
Environmental data:
Mostly sandy soils
Wave data from the NEXTRA database
Wind data from K13 buoy

Scale effects of large diameter

monopiles
Suggestion of a modified factor for
the
initial coefficient of subgrade
modulus k :

zref
k ( z ) Es ( z ) / z k
z
*

1 a

[University of Duisburg-Essen, K.
Lesny]

Effects of high numbers of cyclic

loading
Cyclic soil degradation: decrease of
soil stiffness and strength
Structural shakedown: stabilizing
of permanent deflections after N
number of cycles. If notthe pile will
fail

Effects of high numbers of cyclic

loading
Cyclic soil degradation: decrease of
soil stiffness and strength
Structural shakedown: stabilizing
of permanent deflections after N
number of cycles. If notthe pile will
fail

Effects of high numbers of cyclic

loading
Cyclic soil degradation: decrease of
soil stiffness and strength

Effects of high numbers of cyclic

loading
Important parameters to account for:
Type of cyclic loading:
one-way

two way cyclic loading

Effects of high numbers of cyclic

loading
Important parameters to account for:
Type of cyclic loading:
one-way

Similar effect as wind load

Conservative approach

Effects of high numbers of cyclic

loading
Important parameters to account for:
Type of cyclic loading
Numbers of cyclic loading
Magnitude of cyclic loading

Effects of high numbers of cyclic

loading
Methods studied to quantify effects of
soil stiffness degradation:
API 2000 (= p-y method)
Deterioration of Static p-y Curve
(DSPY) method

Effects of high numbers of cyclic

loading
Methods studied to quantify effects of
soil stiffness degradation:
API 2000 (= p-y method)

Effects of high numbers of cyclic

loading
API 2000 (= p-y method)

Effects of high numbers of cyclic

loading
Difference between API & DSPY
method:
API recommends a factor of A = 0.9
to reckon with stiffness degradation:

Effects of high numbers of cyclic

loading
Difference between API & DSPY
method:
API recommends a factor of A = 0.9
to reckon with stiffness degradation:
Lateral pile deflection according to API:

k s ,0 .z

p( y , z ) A. pu ( z ).tanh
.y
A. pu ( z )

Effects of high numbers of cyclic

loading
Difference between API & DSPY
method:
API recommends a factor of A = 0.9
to reckon with stiffness degradation:
Lateral pile deflection according to API:

k s ,0 .z

p( y , z ) A. pu ( z ).tanh
.y
A. pu ( z )

Effects of high numbers of cyclic

loading
Difference between API & DSPY
method:
Lateral pile deflection according to API:

k s ,0 .z
p( y , z ) A. pu ( z ).tanh
.y
A. pu ( z )

Effects of high numbers of cyclic

loading
DSPY:

K hN ( z ) K h1( z ).N

KhN = horizontal subgrade modulus at N cycle

[N/m]
KhN = horizontal subgrade modulus at first cycle

[N/m]
t = factor that takes into account the
type of cyclic loading, installation method,
soil
density & precycled piles

Effects of high numbers of cyclic

loading
Simulation approach:
1. Model with environmental data available
2. Simulate for static load case determines
static API p-y curves and static lateral
deflections
3. Determine cyclic p-y curves with DSPY
method
4. Simulate cyclic load case determines
cyclic API p-y curves

Effects of high numbers of cyclic

loading
Simulation approach:

5. Compare cyclic API p-y curves with cyclic

DSPY p-y
curves rate of degradation of Kh can be
determined for both cases and compared

Esoil

Effects of high numbers of cyclic

loading
Simulation approach:
6. Simulate relative pile-soil stiffness ratio as a
function of number of cycles

Numerical model for parametric

studies
Basic design parameters considered
are:
Natural frequency
Soil stiffness (= subgrade modulus)
Penetration depth

Numerical model for parametric

studies

Monopile Offshore Wind

Turbine

Beam on Elastic
Foundation

Numerical model for parametric

studies

The model:

Three sections with

various diameter,

L3, D3, t3

wall thickness and

length
Modified subgrade

MSL
L2, D2, t2

modulus included
Variation of mass
turbine

k*(z)

L1, D1, t1

Analytical model for parametric

studies
Approach:
Perform parametric studies for existing
offshore wind turbines such as the
Vestas V90 and future turbines NREL
5MW

Analytical model for parametric

studies
Make 3D diagrams in which the effect
of the diameter on the natural
frequency, soil stiffness and
penetration depth is visualized

Analytical model for parametric

studies
With this approach the ability will
emerge to constantly relate the
preliminary design choices with the
rotational frequency ranges

Acknowledgement

This research is sponsored by

Geodelft
From January 2007 it will be
incorporated in Deltares
www.Deltares.nl

THANK YOU!!