Investigation of the monopile installation process and its effect on the lateral response
„Offshore wind farm developments are growing rapidly and entering new markets globally. The majority of offshore wind turbines (OWTs) are supported by monopiles, which are typically impact-driven into the seabed. The installation process itself has the potential to significantly change the soil state. This is important to understand as OWTs are dynamically sensitive systems, with the foundation stiffness contributing to the overall in-service response and accurate predictions required. Confidence in the foundation stiffness that can be relied upon following vibro-driving, and determination of the installation parameters required to achieve this, are key to unlocking this alternative monopile installation method. This presentation discusses recent research of monopile installation into sand that enables evaluation of the changes of soil state resulting from the installation process and implications for monopile performance under subsequent lateral loading.“
Britta Bienen is an Associate Professor at the Centre for Offshore Foundations Systems within the Oceans Graduate School at the University of Western Australia. Britta received her Dipl.-Ing. from RWTH Aachen, Germany, in 2002 and her PhD from UWA in 2008. Britta was appointed Lloyd’s Register Foundation (LRF) Chair in Offshore Foundations, leading this Centre of Excellence 2018-2020. Britta is the 2020 John Booker medal recipient, awarded by the Australian Academy of Science, for her contributions to the development of practical predictive methods for soil-structure interaction problems. Current research interests focus on challenges related to foundations for offshore wind turbines. She is actively involved in the development of industry guidelines.
