Despite rapid development of the offshore windfarm industry in Europe over the past decades, it is still considered a new industry in many Asian countries. The continuous economic growth in the East Asia Region, and the increasing public concerns in the vulnerability and environmental issue of nuclear plants, particularly after the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster in 2011, have prompted the energy business to shift towards renewable energy. Offshore windfarm, taking advantage of the long coast line in the East Asia Region, offers advantageous solution. This paper discusses the geotechnical challenges experienced in a number of projects associated with the emerging Asian offshore energy market with a focus on offshore monopile wind turbine foundation design. The design challenges due to the difference in local and international practice in soil investigations are presented. Practical design solutions in tackling variable ground conditions with limited ground investigations are discussed based on real case projects. A sensitivity study is conducted to illustrate the implication of adopting different design parameters on monopile foundation design.
Arthur K. C. Cheung, Aslan S. Hokmabadi, Honest P. O. Tang and Jack Yiu
Keywords: offshore windfarm, offshore soil investigation, monopile, foundation design, geotechnical challenge
Publisher: DFI