Analysis and Design of Monopile Foundations for Offshore Wind and Tidal Turbine Structures

Abstract

This paper aims to design an integrated offshore structure capable of supporting a hybrid assembly of one wind plus two tidal turbines. The monopile has been found to be a suitable foundation type as the most inexpensive solution in water depths of less than 30 m. The Cook Strait in New Zealand is an ideal location for wind and tidal renewable energy sources due to its strong winds and tidal currents. Finite element analysis was performed to determine the displacement of the structure for different types of soils using OPTUM G3. After that, a macro-element model for soil was represented, considering the monopile as a Euler–Bernoulli beam model. The results enable the finding of optimum dimensions of monopiles with allowable tilt and deflection. Based on this, the diameter, thickness, and length of the monopile can be 6, 0.083, and 60 m, respectively. The maximum load occurs in extreme wind load scenarios when wind and waves move in same direction.