Test on muddy soil reinforcement by negative pressure and electro-osmosis inside cover-bearing-type bucket foundation for offshore wind turbines

Abstract

Cover-bearing-type bucket foundation for offshore wind turbines has been paid more and more attention due to its low cost and great bearing capacity. In order to ensure the cover-bearing mode, the muddy soil inside the bucket foundation should be reinforced by some soil consolidation methods, such as negative pressure and electroosmosis. Firstly, tests were conducted to obtain the reasonable current density. Meanwhile, to improve the electroosmotic speed and effectiveness, other factors such as intermittent power and layout of electrode, were also studied in the tests. Then, the soil reinforcing tests by negative pressure combined with electro-osmosis were performed for the muddy soil consolidation inside the bucket foundation. The results showed that soil reinforcement by negative pressure was quicker and more obvious during the early phase, and electro-osmotic method can affect more range of soil by rational arrangement of electrodes. Compared with negative pressure, the electro-osmotic method was a continuous and relatively slow process of reinforcement, which was complementary to the negative pressure method. The voltage value of electro-osmosis had little effect on the muddy soil reinforcement inside the bucket foundation, and 1.5 A was chosen as the most reasonable current value for scale model testing in the electro-osmotic method.