Finite Element Modeling of Large Diameter Monopiles in Dense Sand for Offshore Wind Turbine Foundations

Abstract

With increasing demand of energy, attention to the alternative sources of sustainable energy is getting priority over the last decades. Offshore wind turbine is one of them. The most widely used foundation system for the wind turbine is the monopile, which is a large diameter single pile. In the present study, three-dimensional finite element (FE) analyses are performed to evaluate the capacity of large diameter monopiles in dense sand using the Arbitrary Lagrangian-Eulerian (ALE) approach available in Abaqus/Explicit FE software. The behavior of sand is modeled using the Mohr-Coulomb (MC) and a modified Mohr-Coulomb (MMC) model where the pre-peak hardening, post-peak softening and the effects of mean effective stress and relative density on stress-strain behavior of dense sand are considered. Comparison with physical model test results shows that the MMC model can simulate better the load-displacement response than that with the MC model. The mechanisms involved in soil deformation are also explained using FE results.