GENERATION OF P-Y CURVES FOR LARGE DIAMETER MONOPILES THROUGH NUMERICAL MODELLING

B.Krishnaveni, Satya Kiran Raju Alluri, M.V.Ramana Murthy

Abstract: In recent years, immense requirement for energy all over the world and exploitation of available conventional resources has urged the demand for renewable energy such as wind energy. As large land areas and greater wind speeds are required for increased production the concept of offshore wind farms has come into existence. The complexity in design and higher cost of substructure raises the need for optimization of suitable substructure concept for offshore wind turbine. Among various substructure concepts available for offshore wind turbine, the most suitable one is open ended large diameter (>4m) steel monopile. In monopile design, studying the soil reaction plays a vital role which is usually done through p-y curves. These p-y curves are developed by API which is verified for piles up to 2m diameter. As piles used for offshore wind turbine are of greater diameter, Finite element modelling can be developed to account for diameter effects. In this paper, monopiles of shorter and larger diameters are studied through Finite element modelling and compared with the tip deflection generated by conventional API method. Further p-y curves are generated for both smaller and larger diameter pile from Finite element modelling, compared and studied with API method of generating p-y curves

Keywords: Offshore wind turbine, Monopile; p-y curves; Pile-Soil interaction; API method; FEM method; Plaxis

DOI: https://doi.org/10.15623/ijret.2016.0507060