• Wind and Structures
• /
• v.21 no.6
• /
• pp.625-639
• /
• 2015

Monopiles have been most widely used for supporting offshore wind turbines (OWTs) in shallow water areas. However, multi-member lattice-type structures such as jackets and tripods are also considered good alternatives to monopile foundations for relatively deep water areas with depth ranging from 25-50 m owing to their technical and economic feasibility. Moreover, jacket structures have been popular in the oil and gas industry for a long time. However, several unsolved technical issues still persist in the utilization of multi-member lattice-type supporting structures for OWTs; these problems include pile-soil-interaction (PSI) effects, realization of dynamically stable designs to avoid resonances, and quick and safe installation in remote areas. In this study, the effects of PSI on the dynamic properties of bottom-fixed OWTs, including monopile-, tripod- and jacket-supported OWTs, were investigated intensively. The tower and substructure were modeled using conventional beam elements with added mass, and pile foundations were modeled with beam and nonlinear spring elements. The effects of PSI on the dynamic properties of the structure were evaluated using Monte Carlo simulation considering the load amplitude, scouring depth, and the uncertainties in soil properties.

• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
• /
• v.33 no.4
• /
• pp.245-253
• /
• 2020

In this study, natural frequencies are compared using several pile-soil interaction (PSI) models to evaluate the effects of each model on resonance safety checks for a monopile type of wind turbine structure. Base spring, distributed spring, and three-dimensional brick-shell models represented the PSIs in the finite element model. To analyze the effects of the PSI models on a natural frequency, after a stiffness matrix calculation and Winkler-based beam model for base spring and distributed spring models were presented, respectively; natural frequencies from these models were investigated for monopiles with different geometries and soil properties. These results were compared with those from the brick-shell model. The results show that differences in the first natural frequency of the monopiles from each model are small when the small diameter of monopile penetrates hard soil and rock, while the distributed spring model can over-estimate the natural frequency for large monopiles installed in weak soil. Thus, an appropriate PSI model for natural frequency analyses should be adopted by considering soil conditions and structure scale.

• Journal of the Society of Naval Architects of Korea
• /
• v.55 no.5
• /
• pp.438-447
• /
• 2018

For a fixed jacket type offshore structure directly supported by the seabed, the structural behavior of offshore structure depends on the soil properties. Soil properties affect on the stiffness of the piles and the boundary condition in the structural analysis. The structural analysis is performed using PSI (Pile-Soil Interaction) suggested in the code and design rule. PSI analysis of the jacket structure is carried out after various soil types are selected according to the soil properties like internal friction angle, undrained shear strength, unit weight and so on. Three types of soil are selected by varying strength for a clay and sand, respectively. The structural analysis of the jacket structure is performed using these soils. The results about axial and lateral reaction force and the stress and displacement on the structure are compared. As a results, the structural response is smaller as the soil becomes more stiff. In conclusion, it is confirmed that the structural response of fixed jacket type offshore platform supported by seabed is sensitive to the change of soil properties.