Effects of scour on the first natural frequency of monopile in different layered foundations

Abstract

Scour is ubiquitous in offshore wind farms and threatens the stable state of the natural frequency of offshore wind turbines. The foundation of offshore wind turbines is a layered seabed, which mainly consists of clay, silt, and fine sand layers. However, little published literature can be found on the natural frequencies of monopiles in layered foundations with scour. The objective of this study was to reveal the influence of scour in layered foundations on the natural frequencies of monopoles and study its mechanism based on the dynamic characteristics of layered foundations. Therefore, based on an actual layered seabed, three typical layered foundations were established, and the first natural frequency of the monopile in terms of sensitivity to scour as well as the ability to resist continuous scour in the layered foundations were revealed. Moreover, the experimental results were analysed based on the stiffness and damping variations of the layered foundations under scour conditions. Importantly, a competitive relationship between the stiffness and damping of the layered foundations on the variation of the first natural frequency with scour was found and elaborated for the first time. The competitive relationship was influenced by the proportion of clay in the layered foundation.