Dynamic Pile Response During Vibratory Driving and Modal-Based Strain Field Mapping

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Abstract

For offshore wind turbines (OWTs), the monopile comprises the most common type of foundation and vibratory driving is one of the main techniques for monopile installation (and decommissioning). In practice, prior to pile installation, a pile driving analysis is performed to select the appropriate installation device and the relevant settings. However, pile penetration results from a complicated vibrator-pile-soil interaction and better understanding of the latter is necessary for an efficient installation process. During the course of installation, the interface and boundary conditions of the pile continuously alter due to the soil layering and the non-linearity of the soil reaction. In this paper, a set of experimental data from an onshore experimental campaign are employed in a numerical scheme to identify the pile strain field based on in vacuo modes of simpler yet related systems. By mapping the pile strain field onto physically-based shape functions, the evolution of the soil reaction during pile installation can be studied, in order to facilitate the back-analysis of driving records and, by extension, improve pile drivability and vibro-acoustics predictions.