Field testing on foundation damping for offshore wind turbines supported by large diameter monopiles
Field testing on foundation damping for offshore wind turbines supported by large diameter monopiles
Foundation damping holds considerable potential for the design optimisation of monopile-supported offshore wind turbine structures. In recent years, various models have been developed to quantify foundation damping, and its influence on system dynamics has been investigated using integrated time-domain analyses. However, physical model testing and experimental validation of such models remain scarce. To address this gap, a series of field-based, medium-scale physical model tests were conducted at a homogeneous marine clay site near the coast. The monopile foundation, tower structure and wind turbine system were scaled following a geometric scaling ratio of 1:10. The testing programme comprised monotonic loading tests, free-vibration tests and frequency sweep tests conducted under different load amplitudes. This paper presents representative experimental results together with preliminary interpretation.
Youhu Zhang; Peng Guo; G Tian; Ying Huang; Tao Qi; Weidong Ji; Rongfu Li; Ruiyang Yan; Emily Anderson; Per Sparrevik; A. Page
11th International Conference on Physical Modelling in Geotechnics (ICPMG2026)
Session 6: Onshore and offshore foundation systems
https://doi.org/10.53243/ICPMG2026-88