Abstract
The composite bucket foundation (CBF) with seven honeycomb subdivisions is a new foundation for offshore wind turbine structures. The bearing capacity of CBF can be improved by consolidation of soil inside the CBF, which is caused by the vacuum preloading method after installation. A three-dimensional numerical model is established to simulate the consolidation process of soil for CBF with and without subdivisions in terms of vertical settlement, pore water pressure and void ratio of the soil. This analysis investigates the reinforcement effect of the two foundation types to assess the influence of the bulkheads. The results obtained show that there are obvious reinforcement effects for both foundation types. In the early stage of consolidation, vertical settlement is rapid, and this becomes stable with time. The depth at which the pore water pressure becomes negative is the depth showing the main reinforcement. Vacuum pressure decreases continuously with increase in soil depth and time. In addition, the excess pore water pressure in the soil dissipates, which turns into the soil effective stress. Bulkheads provide vertical drainage channels in the soil and shorten the seepage path, allowing the extraction of more pore water. This is conducive to the improvement of shallow soil, while also decreasing the extraction of pore water in deep soil and the region of the soil that can be reinforced.
Highlights
Offshore wind power is a thriving renewable energy source
Composite bucket foundation (CBF) is a new type of offshore wind turbine foundation proposed by Tianjin University and Daoda Company, which has a rapid construction process of structural design, onshore bulk prefabrication, integrated transportation and one-step overall installation in the appointed sea area [3–6]
It has been paid more and more attention due to its remarkable advantages of simple construction, low-cost, repeatability and excellent stability against overturn, and it can be applied in soft geological environment. It is applied for offshore wind turbine foundations with a competitive bid price in Sanxia Dafeng offshore wind farms
Summary
Offshore wind power is a thriving renewable energy source. the development of offshore wind farms is costly due to the complexity of the marine environment. Composite bucket foundation (CBF) is a new type of offshore wind turbine foundation proposed by Tianjin University and Daoda Company, which has a rapid construction process of structural design, onshore bulk prefabrication, integrated transportation and one-step overall installation in the appointed sea area [3–6] It has been paid more and more attention due to its remarkable advantages of simple construction, low-cost, repeatability and excellent stability against overturn, and it can be applied in soft geological environment. This paper investigates the reinforcement effect of both foundations as well as the bulkheads,ofthrough a three-dimensional numerical modelnumerical using the model finite element software influence bulkheads, through a three-dimensional using the finiteABAQUS This simulates the consolidation process of soil under vacuum pressure. Void ratio of the reinforced soil for both types of bucket foundation
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