Numerical Simulation of the Installation of Monopiles Driven Under Static Load

Monopiles are widely used for offshore wind turbines with diameters up to 10 m and weight of more than 2000 Mg. A safety and efficient installation of this kind of super-large steel open-ended pipe pile is crucial, especially for commonly encountered complex geological conditions, during which pile running or refusal may happen. To study the interaction between soil and monopile, a sophisticated three-dimensional Large Deformation Finite Element (3D-LDFE) model is constructed with the technique of Coupled-Eulerian-Lagrangian (CEL) approach with ABAQUS software. This model was first verified against the field observation on a monopile’s installation in an offshore wind farm located in the Yellow Sea of China, which shows the relatively good agreement between measured and calculated blow counts. The development of soil resistance on the shaft and tip of the monopile is retrieved and investigated, which shows that the soil resistance during monopile penetration is mainly from the shaft as the penetration depth increasing, and a higher resistance is developed on the inner side of monopile tube.