Abstract

The offshore wind industry has in recent years showed an interest for using suction buckets for foundations of Offshore Wind Turbines (OWT). Bucket foundations can be used both with monopod support structures and multi-leg support structures as an alternative to monopiles, gravity based foundations and piles. This paper discusses whether the experience from design of foundations for oil and gas structures and the general procedure considering cyclic loading of soils are applicable to bucket foundations for OWTs. The general framework based on the stress path method and the accumulation procedure have earlier shown to be applicable for different foundation problems. The procedure has been verified in model and field tests and some of them are relevant for OWT conditions. Tests and findings from research outside NGI focusing on buckets foundations for OWT are discussed in light of the NGI-procedure. The paper explain why some of the recommendations in literature regarding tension loading of buckets are too conservative. Uncertainties and shortcomings in the procedure are discussed with respect to conditions relevant for OWTs.

Keywords:
renewable energy, tension loading, cyclic strain, cyclic loading, reservoir characterization, upstream oil & gas, pore pressure, wind energy, history, houlsby
Subjects:
Offshore Facilities and Subsea Systems, Facilities and Construction Project Management, Reservoir Characterization, Platform design, Offshore projects planning and execution, Reservoir geomechanics
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2014. International Society of Offshore and Polar Engineers
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