ABSTRACT

Investigation of soil-pile interaction is the foundation for fixed wind turbines design. It's necessary to find the methods to build different soil-pile-interaction models for the difference of modeling capability between the simulation codes and for time saving purpose. Taking the monopile as an example, three simplified models—distributed springs model, apparent fixity model and coupled springs model—were analyzed and derived. And a monopile was designed for the NREL 5-MW offshore wind turbine. The natural frequencies were calculated for the wind turbine with these simplified pile foundation models and a numerical model. From the results, it's reliable to use the simplified foundation models for dynamic response analysis of wind turbines. Finally, the characteristics, applications and the modeling methods of these simplified models are concluded.

This content is only available via PDF.
You can access this article if you purchase or spend a download.