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A master's thesis from Aalborg University
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Development of driveability model for piles for offshore wind turbines

Author

Term

4. term

Publication year

2017

Submitted on

Pages

157

Abstract

Dette speciale undersøger drivbarhedsanalyse af offshore‑monopæle, der neddrives i sand – altså hvor let og forudsigeligt en pæl kan installeres i havbunden. Arbejdet kortlægger de vigtigste komponenter, metoder og modeller. Det mest anvendte beregningsprogram på området er ikke fuldt dynamisk og bygger på forenklinger, som ikke nødvendigvis gælder i alle situationer. Centrale inddata – især SRD (statisk modstand mod neddrivning) samt parametre, der kobler modstand til jordens stivhed og dæmpning – er desuden ikke entydigt defineret, hvilket skaber usikkerhed. Vi gennemfører en grundig gennemgang af SRD‑modeller og finder, at de er semi‑empiriske og derfor ikke bør forventes at være pålidelige, når forholdene afviger fra dem, de er udviklet ud fra. For at imødegå nogle af disse begrænsninger udvikler vi en fuldt dynamisk model. Den repræsenterer pæl, sidefriktion og spidsmodstand med tre forskellige diskretiseringer og benytter en mere avanceret transient løsningsalgoritme. Modellen testes for følsomhed over for valg af parametre. SRD‑modellerne anvendes dernæst i den dynamiske model for at undersøge deres evne til at genskabe en tilgængelig kørelog fra en pæl installeret i Nordsøen. Resultaterne viser store variationer i nøjagtighed mellem modellerne.

This thesis examines driveability analysis for offshore monopiles installed in sand—that is, how predictably and effectively a pile can be driven into the seabed during installation. It maps the key components, methods, and models used. The most commonly used software for these predictions is not fully dynamic and relies on simplifying assumptions that may not hold in all cases. Important inputs—especially the static resistance to driving (SRD) and parameters that link resistance to soil stiffness and damping—are not uniquely defined, which introduces uncertainty. We provide a thorough review of published SRD models and find that they are semi‑empirical, so they should not be expected to perform reliably when conditions differ from those for which they were derived. To address some of these limitations, we develop a fully dynamic model. It represents the pile, side friction, and tip resistance with three different discretizations and uses a more advanced transient solver. We test the model’s sensitivity to parameter choices. We then apply the SRD formulations within the dynamic model to reproduce an available driving record from a pile installation in the North Sea. The results show large variations in accuracy across the SRD models.

[This abstract was generated with the help of AI]