Response of stiff piles to random two-way lateral loading

Abstract

A model for predicting the accumulated rotation of stiff piles under random two-way loading is presented. The model is based on a strain superposition rule similar to Miner's rule and uses rainflow-counting to decompose a random time-series of varying loads into a set of simple load reversals. The method is consistent with the work of LeBlanc et al. (2010 ) and is supported by 1g laboratory tests. An example is given for an offshore wind turbine indicating that accumulated pile rotation during the life of the turbine is dominated by the worst expected load.