• Journal of the Society of Naval Architects of Korea
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• v.51 no.1
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• pp.78-87
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• 2014

Recently the offshore wind turbine development is requested to be installed off south-west coast and Jeju island in Korea. Reliable and robust support structures are required to meet the demand on the offshore wind turbine in harsh and rapidly varying environmental conditions. Monopile is the most preferred substructure in shallow water with long term experiences from the offshore gas and oil industries. This paper presents an optimum design of a monopile connection with grouted transition piece (TP) for the reliable and cost-effective design purposes. First, design loads are simulated for a 5 MW offshore wind turbine in site conditions off the southwest coast of Korea. Second, sensitivity analysis is performed to investigate the design sensitivity of geometry and material parameters of monopile connection based on the ultimate and fatigue capacities according to DNV standards. Next, optimization is conducted to minimize the total mass and resulted in 30% weight reduction and the optimum geometry and material properties of the monopile substructure of the fixed offshore wind turbine.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.37 no.2
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• pp.167-178
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• 2024

The natural frequency shift under cyclic environmental loads is a key issue in the design of monopile-based offshore wind power turbines because of their dynamic sensitivity. Existing evidence reveals that the natural frequency shift of the turbine system in sand is related to the varying foundation stiffness, which is caused by soil deformation around the monopile under cyclic loads. Therefore, it is an urgent need to investigate the effect of soil deformation on the system frequency. In the present paper, three generalized geometric models that can describe soil deformation under two-way cyclic loads are proposed. On this basis, the cycling-induced changes in soil parameters around the monopile are quantified. A theoretical approach considering three-spring foundation stiffness is employed to calculate the natural frequency during cycling. Further, a parametric study is conducted to describe and evaluate the frequency shift characteristics of the system under different conditions of sand relative density, pile slenderness ratio and pile-soil relative stiffness. The results indicate that the frequency shift trends are mainly affected by the pile-soil relative stiffness. Following the relevant conclusions, a design optimization is proposed to avoid resonance of the monopile-based wind turbines during their service life.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.160-168
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• 2020

Depending on the water depth and composition of seabed, there exist different alternatives for the wind turbine supporting structures. Among several types of the structures, the monopile foundation is the dominant solution for support structure, accounting for over 80% of the offshore wind turbines in Europe. To develop the monopile foundation suitable for domestic ocean environment, a basic design of a transition piece was carried out. This paper presents the design procedure of a flange connected transition piece and results of the structural safety assessment.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.667-681
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• 2015

The scour induced by strong currents and wave action decreases the embedded length of monopiles and leads to a decrease of their structural stability. The objective of this study is the development and consideration of scour-monitoring techniques for offshore monopile foundations. Tests on physical models are carried out with a model monopile and geo-materials prepared in a cylindrical tank. A strain gauge, two coupled ultrasonic transducers, and ten electrodes are used for monitoring the scour. The natural frequency, ultrasonic reflection images, and electrical resistivity profiles are obtained at various scour depths. The experimental results show that the natural frequency of the model monopile decreases with an increase in the scour depth and that the ultrasonic reflection images clearly detect the scour shape and scour depth. In addition, the electrical resistivity decreases with an increase in scour depth. This study suggests that natural frequency measurement, ultrasonic reflection imaging, and electrical resistivity profiling may be used as effective tools to monitor the scour around an offshore monopile foundation.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2009.06a
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• pp.480-485
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• 2009

Offshore wind energy is gaining more attention. Ensuring proper design of offshore wind turbines and wind farms require knowledge of the external conditions in which the turbines and associated facilities are to operate. In this work, a three-bladed 5MW upwind wind turbine, which is supported by the monopile foundation, is studied by use of fully coupled aero-hydro-servo-elastic commercial simulation tool, 'GH-Bladed'$^{(R)}$. Specification of the structures are chosen from the OC3 (Offshore Code Comparison Collaboration) under "IEA Wind Annex XXIII-subtask2". The primary external conditions due to wind and waves are simulated. Design Load case 5.2 is investigated in this work. The steady state power curve and power production loads are evaluated. Comparison between different codes is made.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.257-282
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• 2015

In this study, the authors present a coupled fluid-structures-seabed interaction analysis of a monopile type of wind turbine foundations in liquefiable soils. A two dimensional analysis is performed with a nonlinear stiffness degradation model incorporated in the finite difference program Fast Lagrangian Analysis of Continua (FLAC), which captured the fundamental mechanisms of the monopiles in saturated granular soil. The effects of inertia and the kinematic flow of soil are investigated separately, to highlight the importance of considering the combined effect of these phenomena on the seismic design of offshore monopiles. Different seismic loads, such as those experienced in the Kobe, Santa Cruz, Loma Prieta, Kocaeli, and Morgan Hill earthquakes, are analyzed. The pore water pressure development, relative displacements, soil skeleton deformation and monopile bending moment are obtained for different predominant frequencies and peak accelerations. The findings are verified with results in the liter.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Process Engineers
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.31-38
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• 2022

Recently, the development of offshore wind farms based on past technical experiences from onshore wind turbine installations has become a worldwide issue. This study investigated the technical issues related to offshore wind farms and large-diameter monopiles from an economic perspective. In particular, the monopile foundation system (MFS), which is the most important part of the proposed fast construction system, is applied for the first time in Korea, and structural verification is essential because it supports large-diameter monopiles and is in charge of excavation. Therefore, in this study, a rapid construction system for large offshore wind power generators was introduced, and stability verification was performed through the structural analysis of the MFS.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.10 no.5
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• pp.1143-1179
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• 2016

Offshore wind turbines are considered as a fundamental part to develop substantial, alternative energy sources. In this highly flexible structures, monopiles are usually used as support foundations. Since the monopiles are large diameter (3.5 to 7 m) deep foundations, they result in extremely stiff short monopiles where the slenderness (length to diameter) may range between 5 and 10. Consequently, their elastic deformation patterns under lateral loading differ from those of small diameter monopiles usually employed for supporting structures in offshore oil and gas industry. For this reason, design recommendations (API and DNV) are not appropriate for designing foundations for offshore wind turbine structures as they have been established on the basis of full-scale load tests on long, slender and flexible piles. Furthermore, as these facilities are very sensitive to rotations and dynamic changes in the soil-pile system, the accurate prediction of monopile head displacement and rotation constitutes a design criterion of paramount importance. In this paper, the Fourier Series Aided Finite Element Method (FSAFEM) is employed for the determination of static impedance functions of monopiles for OWT subjected to horizontal force and/or to an overturning moment, where a non-homogeneous soil profile has been considered. On the basis of an extensive parametric study, and in order to address the problem of head stiffness of short monopiles, approximate analytical formulae are obtained for lateral stiffness $K_L$, rotational stiffness $K_R$ and cross coupling stiffness $K_{LR}$ for both rough and smooth interfaces. Theses expressions which depend only on the values of the monopile slenderness $L/D_p$ rather than the relative soil/monopile rigidity $E_p/E_s$ usually found in the offshore platforms designing codes (DNV code for example) have been incorporated in the expressions of the OWT natural frequency of four wind farm sites. Excellent agreement has been found between the computed and the measured natural frequencies.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.33 no.6
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• pp.2401-2409
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• 2013

Reliability analysis with response surface method (RSM) was peformed for a offshore wind turbine (OWT) monopile, which is one of mostly used foundations under 25m seawater depth in the world. The behaviors of a real OWT monopile installed into sandy soils subjected to offshore environmental loads such as wind and wave were analysed using reliability design program (HSRBD) developed in KIOST. Sensitivity analysis of design variables for a OWT monopile with 6m diameter showed that the larger in pile diameter the smaller in probability of failure ($P_f$) of a horizontal deflection and a rotational angle at a pile top, but at a greater than 7m of pile diameter, the reduction rate of $P_f$ was almost constant. It is a necessary that appropriate local design criteria should be designated as soon as possible because there were significant differences on horizontal deflections; $P_f$ was 60% at a minimum criteria 15mm deflection, however, 1.5% $P_f$ when 60mm deflection using 1% of pile diameter from local design criterion standard. Finally, friction angle of sand among many design variables was found most influential design factor in OWT monopile design, and a sensitivity analysis is found an important process to understand which design variables can mostly reduce $P_f$ with a optimum design for maintaining OWT stability.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.13 no.6
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• pp.91-100
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• 2012

Wireless monitoring system for the structural health evaluation has a limit to the reliability of measured response. The objective of this study is to evaluate an effective measurement range of the wireless monitoring system on the analyzed data. For the wireless monitoring system, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi are applied to datalogger-receiver and receiver-personal computer, respectively. For the model of the monopile structure response, a laboratory-scale monopile is manufactured with Mono Cast Nylon and a lateral loading is applied by hammer impacting. Strain gauges attached on the model monopile are connected with the datalogger. The distances of datalogger-receiver and receiver-personal computer are changed for the evaluation of the measurement range. Experimental results show that the receiving rates of the response remain almost constant within limited distance, while the receiving rates dramatically decrease out of effective range. In addition, the receiving rates affect on the measured natural frequencies of the model monopile. This study suggests that the effective range evaluation of the wireless monitoring system may be used for the determination of a monitoring distance to the monopile installed in the offshore wind farm.