Experimental Investigation on Buckling Behavior of soil‐embedded Piles

Abstract

Monopiles are currently the predominant foundation type for offshore wind turbines in Europe. Due to the increasing dimensions of the turbines, pile diameters beyond 10m become necessary. A design‐relevant failure mode of monopiles is the local buckling of the pile wall in the embedded sections. Relevant buckling guidelines do not consider the soil‐structure interaction specifically, although the embedment may allow for a reduction of wall thickness. However, Eurocode‐based design concepts require a validation with comparative buckling cases for validation, either in terms of buckling curve parameters for both the algebraic stress‐based and semi‐numerical LBA/MNA design concept or as a calibration factor kGMNIA for fully numerical GMNIA calculations. These parameters are not yet available for embedded shells. To close this gap, we have conducted experiments on piles embedded in sand to investigate local buckling under soil‐structure‐interaction. The results will be used to calibrate numerical models. This research was carried out as part of the VERBATIM research project, funded by PTJ/BMWK and supported by the Carbon Trust's Offshore Wind Accelerator consortium.