Influence of scour depth and type on p–y curves for monopiles in sand under monotonic lateral loading in a geotechnical centrifuge

The influence of scour on the lateral response of monopile foundations for offshore wind turbines is investigated in this paper. Application of lateral load-displacement (p-y) curves to predict the lateral pile behaviour is subject to uncertainty as many of the presently used design approaches have been derived for long, slender piles. These...

Influence of vertical loading on behavior of laterally loaded foundation piles: A review

The majority of installed offshore wind turbines are supported on large-diameter, open-ended steel pile foundations, known as monopiles. These piles are subjected to vertical and lateral loads while in service. In current design practice, interaction of vertical and lateral loads are not considered, rather piles are designed to resist...

Simulation of debris flow on an instrumented test slope using an updated Lagrangian continuum particle method

We present an updated Lagrangian continuum particle method based on smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) for simulating debris flow on an instrumented test slope. The site is a deforested area near the village of Ruedlingen, a community in the canton of Schaffhausen in Switzerland. Artificial rainfall experiments were conducted on the slope...

Pile driving and submarine slope stability: a hybrid engineering approach

During pile installation into a submerged, sandy slope, liquefaction mechanisms including flow and cyclic liquefaction warrant attention. Because of the interconnection of these mechanisms, evaluating slope stability during and as a result of vibration-inducing construction activity is not trivial. This paper presents a practical approach to...

Centrifuge modelling of submarine landslides due to static liquefaction

Sand erosion and scouring caused by waves and marine currents result in gradual increase of local seabed inclination and formation of slopes around hydraulic structures and offshore foundations. During this process, shear stresses in the soil body increase monotonically which may lead to static liquefaction and damage of the adjacent offshore...

Precursors of instability in a natural slope due to rainfall: a full-scale experiment

A full-scale landslide-triggering experiment was conducted on a natural sandy slope subjected to an artificial rainfall event, which resulted in mobilisation of 130 m³ of soil mass. Novel slope deformation sensors (SDSs) were applied to monitor the subsurface pre-failure movements and the precursors of the artificially triggered...

Effect of scour on the behavior of a combined loaded monopile in sand

Pile foundations used for offshore wind structures are subjected to large lateral loading from wind and waves while in service as well as significant vertical loading from the top structure. Erosion of soil from around these structures, termed scour, poses a significant problem for the structural stability. In order to better understand the...

Finite element simulation of static liquefaction of submerged sand slopes using a multilaminate model

Static liquefaction is one of the principal triggering mechanisms of failure in fully saturated loose sand slopes both in offshore and onshore regions. Static liquefaction induced landslides are known for their significant softening and a fluid-like behavior at the onset of failure. However, the literature lacks experimentally verified advanced...

Effect of pore fluid on the cyclic behavior of laterally loaded offshore piles modelled in centrifuge

The common practice in centrifuge modelling of dynamic processes is to use high-viscosity pore fluids to unify the time scaling factors for the generation and dissipation of pore pressures. This paper focuses on the effects of the density and viscosity of the pore fluid on the behaviour of an offshore rigid pile subjected to cyclic and monotonic...

Preliminary results of instrumented laboratory flow slides

The liquefaction tank is an experimental facility developed to conduct physical scale model tests of liquefaction flow slides. We developed the liquefaction tank to evaluate the performance of advanced numerical models for submerged slopes composed of sand. For the long-term, the research with the liquefaction tank aims at composing a database...

Numerical modelling of slope–vegetation–atmosphere interaction: An overview

The behaviour of natural and artificial slopes is controlled by their thermo-hydro-mechanical conditions and by soil–vegetation–atmosphere interaction. Porewater pressure changes within a slope related to variable meteorological settings have been shown to be able to induce soil erosion, shrinkage–swelling and cracking, thus leading to an...

Evaluation of Soft Boundary Effects (SBE) on the Behaviour of a Shallow Foundation

The increase in complexity of geotechnical problems demand for more advanced physical modelling and instrumentation approaches. However, the limitations in the space, especially for the centrifuge modelling, and hence the boundary effects are often present in such experiments. This paper shortly reviews the common quantification methods of hard...

Infiltration-induced Slope Instability: A multi-scale approach

Precipitation, together with erosion and earthquakes, have been recognized as the main triggering factors of shallow landslides. However, there are relatively few well-documented cases where direct relationships could be established between occurrence and features of shallow landslides, the rainfall characteristics (e.g. intensity, duration) and...

Physical modelling of landslides induced by rainfall

Landslides triggered by hydraulic perturbations are initiated by a decrease in the effective stress, and hence the shear strength of the soil, as a result of the increase in pore water pressure which might occur due to either rain infiltration or exfiltration of water from the bedrock. However, several factors including the shape and hydraulic...

Physical modelling of rainfall induced landslides under controlled climatic conditions

A series of small scale physical modelling tests are performed in a geotechnical drum centrifuge in order to investigate the triggering mechanisms of landslides due to rainfall. They are conducted under controlled conditions of rainfall intensity and duration, ambient relative humidity, wind, and temperature. These tests have been designed to...