PISA design model for monopiles for offshore wind turbines: application to a marine sand

TLDR

The PISA project developed new procedures for designing monopile foundations for offshore wind turbines, and this paper presents an alternative formulation of soil reaction curves for homogeneous sand sites. The study introduces a 1D computational model to analyze and design laterally loaded monopile foundations for offshore wind turbines. The model represents the monopile as an embedded beam, employs soil reaction curves to capture soil forces, is calibrated against 3‑D finite‑element analyses across typical design geometries and loads, and applies to homogeneous soil under monotonic loading with possible extensions to layered soils and cyclic loading. The model’s performance is demonstrated through analysis of example design cases.

Abstract

This paper describes a one-dimensional (1D) computational model for the analysis and design of laterally loaded monopile foundations for offshore wind turbine applications. The model represents the monopile as an embedded beam and specially formulated functions, referred to as soil reaction curves, are employed to represent the various components of soil reaction that are assumed to act on the pile. This design model was an outcome of a recently completed joint industry research project – known as PISA – on the development of new procedures for the design of monopile foundations for offshore wind applications. The overall framework of the model, and an application to a stiff glacial clay till soil, is described in a companion paper by Byrne and co-workers; the current paper describes an alternative formulation that has been developed for soil reaction curves that are applicable to monopiles installed at offshore homogeneous sand sites, for drained loading. The 1D model is calibrated using data from a set of three-dimensional finite-element analyses, conducted over a calibration space comprising pile geometries, loading configurations and soil relative densities that span typical design values. The performance of the model is demonstrated by the analysis of example design cases. The current form of the model is applicable to homogeneous soil and monotonic loading, although extensions to soil layering and cyclic loading are possible.