This page contains a Flash digital edition of a book.
FOUNDATIONS


FEATURE SPONSOR


IMPROVING THE FOUNDATIONS OF MARINE ASSET STABILITY


Over the last decade, the drive for developing offshore renewable resources, in particular offshore wind, has led to specific requirements for scour hazard assessment of the associated marine assets (foundation structures and the cabling necessary for in-field transmission and power export).


EXPERIENCED ADVICE AND RESEARCH The company has most recently supported DONG Energy to refine the design of a novel suction bucket foundation, as part of a research project to determine how these structures interact with, and impact upon, the hydrodynamic conditions and the seabed.


The action of waves and currents can lead to erosion of the seabed around wind turbine foundations which poses a risk to the stability of the foundation and, in extreme cases, has the potential to cause structural failure. The forces acting


a requirement for the technology to be proven before its application for use in large-scale developments. As a recognised leader in scour around marine structures, HR Wallingford’s clients benefit from the latest generation of physical modelling facilities, Fast Flow Facility, which uniquely provides a controlled environment in which to evaluate new and innovative scour protection systems for investigating the performance of novel foundation designs.


RECOGNISING THE CHALLENGES John Harris, Technical Director at HR Wallingford said: “We recognise the challenges that continue to face offshore wind developments with respect to seabed hazards and the development of cost-effective and structurally efficient foundations.


Whilst a substantial amount of knowledge has been gained over the last 60 years, there is still a need to better understand the scour and erosion processes, particularly with respect to scouring around more complex foundation structures, and in the non-uniform soils that, typically, are found offshore.


WORLD LEADER


HR Wallingford is world-leading in the prediction and analysis of scour in non- uniform soils, and has an active programme of research looking at this, as well as at scouring around more complex foundation structure designs, which is becoming increasingly relevant as we see a drive to reduce the costs of offshore wind developments.


This has to be driven by more efficient foundations as we head further offshore. HR Wallingford is actively working with developers to help deliver the next generation of offshore wind foundations through state-of-the-art physical modelling facilities, as well as advanced computational fluid dynamic models.


on offshore wind foundations will typically increase as water depth increases. For complex foundations, a combination of approaches is used to estimate likely scour, and this introduces a level of uncertainty in the design process.


The research with DONG Energy will help to develop greater certainty in the prediction of seabed response and design more efficient foundation solutions. Ultimately, this will help to make offshore wind developments more cost-effective, and developments in exposed locations and deeper waters more economically viable.


FAST FLOW FACILITY


Designs that have been shown to be reliable in the laboratory are likely to be adopted by developers, as there is also


70 www.windenergynetwork.co.uk


“With respect to on-going and future research, HR Wallingford is continuing to invest in increasing the understanding of scour in non-uniform soils, efficient scour protection measures, the assessment of scour development at more complex foundation types, as well as developing the next generation of computational fluid dynamics models capable of accurately modelling scour in a range of soil conditions.


“Scour hazards will continue to remain a challenge for next generation foundations, and it is important that these are addressed at the design stage, in order to reduce the cost over the lifetime of a project.”


HR Wallingford


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82