Scour is induced in the seabed surrounding the foundation of an
offshore wind turbine due to hydraulic actions, resulting in the loss of ambient
soil. Due to this soil loss, foundation stiffness is degraded, which leads to a
decrease in the natural...
Scour is induced in the seabed surrounding the foundation of an
offshore wind turbine due to hydraulic actions, resulting in the loss of ambient
soil. Due to this soil loss, foundation stiffness is degraded, which leads to a
decrease in the natural frequency of the wind turbine system when soil-structure
interaction is considered. Furthermore, a reduction in the bearing capacity of
the foundation is also induced by the loss of surrounding soil. Regarding the
reduction in natural frequency due to scour, soil-structure interaction effects are
more accurately captured when the soil reactions are represented using a
discrete spring model. Additionally, regarding the degradation of bearing
performance, the characteristics of offshore wind turbines with tripod suction
bucket foundations must be considered. Consequently, the moment-horizontal
failure envelope and the foundation rotation angle associated with serviceability limits require simultaneous evaluation. In this study, a three
dimensional finite element model was established for a 4.2 MW tripod suction
bucket offshore wind turbine installed on the west coast of South Korea,
Gunsan. For the soil constitutive model, the Hardening Soil model with small
strain stiffness was employed to simulate soil plasticity, with input parameters
derived from seabed cone penetration test data obtained from the west coast of
Korea. First, an integrated structure-foundation model accounting for soil
structure interaction was developed to assess the natural frequency. The
superstructure was modeled using beam elements, while the soil was
represented by discrete springs with stiffness values derived from analyses
performed using PLAXIS 3D. Second, for the evaluation of bearing
performance, the moment-horizontal failure envelope of the tripod foundation
was obtained by applying the vertical load of the superstructure followed by the
displacement probe method. The validity of these numerical models was
verified against centrifuge model test results. It was indicated by the analysis
results that a reduction in natural frequency and contraction of the moment
horizontal failure envelope is induced by increasing scour depth. Consequently,
a critical scour depth was derived based on the 1P design frequency range and
the allowable mudline rotation criterion.