Thorben Hamann

On the Set-Up of Piles

It is well known that the bearing capacity and stiffness of displacement piles depends on short term effects during and shortly after pile installation as well as long term effects, a phenomenon usually referred to as set-up. During pile installation the surrounding soil is influenced by the installation process. The soil state e.g. the stress state, pore pressure or void ratio are changing due to complex mechanical processes in the soil. The change of the soil state has a great influence on the pile capacity and the behavior of the pile under vertical and horizontal loading. During the installation process phenomena like a temporary and locally limited liquefaction of the soil can occur. After the pile installation the bearing capacity may increase significantly with time due to set-up effects. In cohesive soils the set-up is commonly explained by consolidation processes in which the dissipation of the excess pore pressures around the pile leads to an increase in effective radial stresses. Case histories show that set-up may also occur in sand over a period which exceeds by far the consolidation process. Therefore, other effects apart from the dissipation of excess pore pressures must contribute to this long-term set-up effect. An understanding and a correct estimation of these effects is of great importance for a economical design of pile-founded structures e.g. offshore wind turbines. For the investigation of these phenomena different methods like numerical simulations, model scale or full scale tests are applicable. In this paper two methods are used: The installation process is investigated with numerical simulations and the set-up effects are investigated by long term in-situ measurements.Copyright

Numerical Simulation of Ship Collision With Gravity Base Foundations of Offshore Wind Turbines

For the installation of offshore foundations several countries (e.g. Germany) require a proof of averting environmental disasters in case of ship collision. The aim is to prevent possible discharge of supplies or even loss of the vessel. Especially for gravity base foundations this load case is problematic due to their larger stiffness and mass compared to monopiles, tripods or jacket foundations. The finite element method provides a powerful tool to predict the collision behaviour in a realistic way taking into account the complex interaction between vessel, foundation and soil. The collision between a fully loaded single hull tanker and a gravity base foundation is subject of numerical analysis. The calculated contact forces between vessel and foundation are compared to a simplified calculation approach. For evaluation of the foundation deformations and areas of failure of the vessel are investigated. The influence of the water depth, the diameter of the foundation and an embedment in the seabed are determined in a parametric study. It can be shown that the finite element method is a suitable approach for investigation of the collision behaviour of offshore structures. The design of gravity base foundations can be optimized with respect to ship collision in a fast and cost-effective manner using this method.Copyright

Leg-Seabed Interactions of Jack-Up Vessels due to Motions in Irregular Waves

This paper analyzes the leg-seabed interaction due to motions of a 3rd generation jack-up vessel in irregular waves. The proposed model considers hydrodynamic forces on the hull as well as on the legs. The sea floor reaction forces are analyzed with a Coupled Eulerian-Lagrangian (CEL) method. The results are used to develop a mechanical rheological model for the sea floor. With computational efficiency in mind a state-space representation in time domain is derived. The excitation of the system is caused by irregular waves, which are described by the JONSWAP spectrum. The proposed method allows the efficient computation of short term (2–15 min) scenarios and events through sampling of realizations. It is used to compute the impact forces on the legs from the seabed induced by irregular vessel motions. The presented framework is suitable for the planning of jack-up operations in the offshore wind industry. It can also be applied for the design of dynamic positioning and jacking systems.Copyright

A Case Study: Construction of Bucket Foundations for Jackup Ships

Jackup ships are built to transport wind turbines foundation between offshore logistics center and the installation site. It require sufficiently stable seabed next to quay walls. Otherwise jackup processes may reduce the stability of the quay wall and remained footprints of the legs could induce unsafe jackup procedures in the future. Foundations have been planned to improve the strength of seabed in front of the quay wall. The numerical analyses of the penetration/extraction processes of the legs into/out of the foundations were presented in OMAE2011-49928 to study the bearing capacity of two foundation designs (open-ended cylinder and bucket foundation).In consequence of the numerical studies, the bucket foundation was selected and was improved by reduction the height of the foundations and adjust the inclination of the inner wall to reduce the construction costs. Four bucket foundations have been built in Bremerhaven, Germany. This paper provided of a resume of design, construction and set-up process. The penetration and extraction processes of the jackup legs were tested the results were compared with the numerical predictions.Copyright