A SIMPLIFIED ASSESSMENT OF THE LOAD BEARING CAPACITY OF SUCTION CAISSON FOR OFFSHORE WIND TURBINES BASED ON FINITE ELEMENT ANALYSIS

Abstract

Suction caisson is widely used for offshore wind turbine applications. Its loadbearing capacity depends on the bucket geometry and its embedded soil properties. This paper presents a simplified assessment of the loadbearing capacity of suction caisson based on finite element analysis using the Plaxis 2D program. The load-bearing capacity of the suction caisson is determined based on the resulting load-displacement curve via the tangent intersection method. In addition, this study developed an equivalent equation exploring the relationship between the load-bearing capacity of the suction caisson and the surface foundation. The findingsin the study showed that the geometry of the suction has a significant influence on its loadbearing capacity. The suction caissons whose aspect ratios are larger resulted in higher loadbearing capacities. Besides, the equivalent equation in this study could be applied to effectively estimate the load-bearing capacity of suctioncaisson based on its geometry. The finite element program and the soil ground model analyzed in this study was only an assumption. In the future, experimental studies should investigate the loadbearing capacity of a suction caisson related to its geometry and the embedded soil profile using centrifuge models and large-scale models.