Offshore Wind Turbine Foundation Under Action of Wind Loads: Numerical Analyses

Abstract

Renewable energy is energy derived from renewable sources that replenish themselves naturally, such as sunlight, waves, and tides. Offshore wind turbine converts wind energy to electric energy. According to the Global Wind Energy Council, by the second decade of the twenty-first century, it will account for roughly 10% of global wind capacity. The government of India has identified the coasts of Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, and Maharashtra as suitable destinations. These wind turbines are high-rise structures that are vulnerable to lateral earthquake failures. Monopile substructures are commonly used to support offshore wind turbines in shallow waters. Monopiles transfer lateral loads by bending action into the soil strata through the foundation. In this study, we use a monopile foundation. A monopile is a large-diameter steel tube driven into the seabed with a slenderness ratio of less than 10. As a result, the monopile behaves as a rigid structure with rotation taking precedence over bending. The monopile can be put into the seabed by drilling and grouting, driving with massive impact or vibratory hammers, or a combination of both, depending on the subsoil condition. The behavior of monopile subjected to wind waves is investigated in this paper. For Finite Element Modelling, PLAXIS is used in this study. Studies are also carried out under various loading circumstances (e.g. amplitude, frequency) and other parameters. The effects of different pile diameters, pile length, pile depth inside the soil on monopile behavior are investigated. © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2025.