The seismic response of monopile foundations is a growing area of research as the offshore wind industry expands worldwide, including in earthquake prone regions of the world. This paper presents dynamic centrifuge tests aimed at investigating the dynamic response of monopiles in both dry and saturated sandy soils. The latter case includes soil liquefaction under strong input motions, with measured excess pore pressures indicating liquefaction. The natural frequency of the monopile-soil system is experimentally determined by measuring the response to a sine sweep motion. Strong earthquakes are then applied at this frequency and its harmonics. This paper discusses the response of the monopile in terms of the peak accelerations observed in the dry and saturated tests, as well as using response spectra and amplification ratios. The dynamic bending moments along the pile are also measured to infer the bending moment profile with depth. Finally, two identical monopiles are pushed-over in each of the centrifuge tests to establish the pre and post-earthquake monotonic response, including the lateral stiffness and capacity, which are compared for the dry model tests and the saturated case.

Centrifuge modelling is an effective tool to assess the response of reduced-scale structures subjected to earthquakes under increased gravity. Space limitations, however, force the model to be contained within relatively small boxes, whose boundaries may affect the seismic performance of the structure under consideration. In this paper, the influence of the proximity of the boundaries of an Equivalent Shear Beam (ESB) container during dynamic centrifuge tests of an onshore wind turbine resting on liquefiable soils is evaluated. To this end, numerical modelling of the ESB box was implemented in the Finite Element framework OpenSees, to replicate the results observed in the experiment. The hydraulic and mechanical soil parameters were calibrated against far-field centrifuge results only. From this calibration, the seismic performance of the raft foundation turned out to be in a good agreement with the experimental results for a seismic input capable of triggering liquefaction. A larger numerical model, where boundaries do not play any role, was then built, to compare its outcomes with those of the small model, thus allowing the effect of ESB boundaries to be assessed.

Understanding of dynamic response of offshore wind turbine is important to reduce vibration of offshore wind turbine induced by structural and environmental loadings. Although dynamic characteristics of the offshore wind turbine such as natural frequency and seismic behavior are affected by foundation and soil conditions, there are little experimental studies about the dynamic behavior of offshore wind turbine with consideration of proper soil–foundation–structure interaction (SFSI). The goal of this research is to evaluate the natural frequency and seismic behavior of offshore wind turbine with a monopod foundation considering SFSI. Scaled model of offshore wind turbine and monopod foundation is produced for this research. Geotechnical centrifuge tests in fixed‐based and SFSI condition were performed to measure natural frequency in each case. Also, a series of seismic loadings with different intensities are applied to observe seismic behaviors of the offshore wind turbine during the earthquake and permanent changes after the earthquake. Experimental results show apparent natural frequency reduction in SFSI condition compared with the fixed‐based condition, non‐linear changes in dynamic response during a series of earthquakes and permanent changes occurred in natural frequency and rotational displacement after earthquakes. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

As offshore wind turbines are now planned to be installed at seismic activity areas around Asia in large numbers, understanding of the seismic behavior of offshore wind turbine has become essential to evade structural hazards due to earthquake. Although the seismic behavior of the structure is largely affected by soil‐foundation‐structure interaction (SFSI), there is only a few experimental data about this subject as conventional offshore wind turbines are mostly located in the area where earthquakes are scarce. Geotechnical centrifuge experiment can provide reliable experimental data for this subject as it can reproduce field stress condition of the soil and simulate earthquake motion in a scaled model test. In this research, three case studies using centrifuge model test were performed to evaluate the seismic behavior of offshore wind turbine during the earthquake and permanent deformation after the earthquake. The results were compared with conventional seismic evaluation methods. Monopile, Monopod, and Tripod foundations were chosen for the experiment. Peak acceleration and rotational displacement of the wind turbine for three cases were evaluated under various intensities of seismic loading applied by centrifuge‐mounted shaking table. Results were compared with conventional evaluation method for design acceleration and conventional rotational displacement criteria suggested in DNV‐OS‐J101.

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