CENTRIFUGE MODELLING OF OFFSHORE MONOPILES SUBJECTED TO MONOTONICAND CYCLIC LATERAL LOADING

By increasing the demand for renewable, sustainable and greener energy sources, the offshore wind farm industry is experiencing rapid grow in many countries. It is expected for near-term (2020) and long-term (2050) offshore wind turbines play an important role in reducing greenhouse gas emission reduction [1]. Monopile foundations are the main type used for wind turbines at present. Monopiles are designed to suffer lateral cyclic loads produced by wind, waves and currents. Although many researches have done on the lateral response of monopiles (e.g. [2-5]) but still lack of comprehensive data exists to make general rules. In this study a series of displacement-controlled monotonic and cyclic centrifuge tests are set up to investigate the lateral response of a short monopile in medium dense sand.