Long-term cyclic behavior of soils supporting offshore wind turbine foundation

Abstract

Offshore wind farms are being built in pursuit of sustainable and environment-friendly energy. In order to construct these offshore wind farms with a reliable degree of safety, the seabed foundation of these turbines should be able to withstand the forces applied to it. Hence, it is necessary to investigate the dynamic behavior of the seabed under cyclic conditions due to long-term wave, wind, and tidal loading. In this paper, the long-term cyclic behavior of soils supporting wind turbine foundations is presented. Numerical analysis is conducted in order to simulate the behavior of sand at the center of the foundations, in addition to laboratory dynamic testing. The results show that long-term behaviors of marine soil could be very different from short-term behaviors, and should be considered in the dynamic design of offshore wind turbines.