Behavior of monopile foundations under cyclic lateral load

This paper describes the development and application of design charts for monopile foundations of offshore wind turbines in sandy soil under long-term cyclic lateral load. It outlines a numerical model, working with a numerical concept, which makes the calculation of accumulated displacements based on cyclic triaxial test results possible, and it describes important factors affecting the deformation response of a monopile to cyclic lateral loads. The effects of pile length, diameter and loading state on the accumulation rate of lateral deformation are presented and design charts are given, in which a normalized ultimate lateral resistance of a pile is used. For monopiles with very large diameter, the suitability of the "zero-toe-kick" and "vertical tangent" design critera for determining the required embedded length is discussed. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.