There are clear advantages in the establishment of reliable, direct cone penetration test (CPT) based methods for assessment of the axial capacity of driven piles. These advantages motivated the formation of a joint industry project (JIP) under the management of the Norwegian Geotechnical Institute (NGI), which initially led to the creation of a unified database of high-quality pile load tests in sand and clay. The unified database has the consensus approval of representatives of the profession and personnel in multiple companies from the offshore energy sector. This paper presents a component of the research from the second phase of the JIP, which had the objective of developing a new CPT-based method for driven piles in clay to unify several CPT-based methods that are in use today. First, a rational basis for the CPT-based formulation is described, using trends from instrumented pile tests; the description facilitates an understanding of the approach and illustrates its empirical nature and limitations. The unified database was used to calibrate the formulation and it led to good predictions for an independent database of pile load tests and for measured distributions of shaft friction.

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The results obtained from a field testing campaign on laterally loaded monopiles, conducted at a dense sand site in Dunkirk, northern France are described. These tests formed part of the PISA project on the development of improved design methods for monopile foundations for offshore wind turbines. Results obtained from monotonic loading tests on piles of three different diameters (0·273 m, 0·762 m and 2·0 m) are presented. The piles had length-to-diameter ratios (L/D) of between 3 and 10. The tests consisted principally of the application of monotonic loads, incorporating periods of held constant load to investigate creep effects. The influence of loading rate was also investigated. Data are presented on the overall load-displacement behaviour of each of the test piles. Measured data on bending moments and inclinations induced in the piles are also provided. Inferences are made for the displacements in the embedded length of the piles. These field data will support the development of a new one-dimensional modelling approach for the design of monopile foundations for offshore wind turbines. They also form a unique database of field measurements in a dense sand, from lateral loading of piles at a vertical distance above the ground surface.

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This paper is the first of a set of linked publications on the PISA Joint Industry Research Project, which was concerned with the development of improved design methods for monopile foundations in offshore wind applications. PISA involved large-scale pile tests in overconsolidated glacial till at Cowden, north-east England, and in dense, normally consolidated marine sand at Dunkirk, northern France. The paper presents the characterisation of the two sites, which was crucial to the design of the field experiments and advanced numerical modelling of the pile-soil interactions. The studies described, which had to be completed at an early stage of the PISA project, added new laboratory and field campaigns to historic investigations at both sites. They enabled an accurate description of soil behaviour from small strains to ultimate states to be derived, allowing analyses to be undertaken that captured both the serviceability and limit state behaviour of the test monopiles.

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This paper describes the results obtained from a field testing campaign on laterally loaded monopiles conducted at Cowden, UK, where the soil consists principally of a heavily overconsolidated glacial till. These tests formed part of the PISA project on the development of improved design methods for monopile foundations for offshore wind turbines. Results obtained for monotonic loading tests on piles of three different diameters (0·273 m, 0·762 m and 2·0 m) are presented. The piles had length-to-diameter ratios (L/D) of between 3 and 10. The tests included the application of monotonic loading incorporating periods of constant load to investigate creep effects, and investigations on the influence of loading rate. Data are presented on measured bending moments and inclinations induced in the piles. Inferred data on lateral displacements of the embedded section of the piles are determined using an optimised structural model. These field data support the development of a new one-dimensional modelling approach for the design of monopile foundations for offshore wind turbines. They also form a unique database of field measurements in an overconsolidated clay, from lateral loading of piles at a vertical distance above the ground surface.

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The PISA Joint Industry Research Project was concerned with the development of improved design methods for monopile foundations in offshore wind applications. PISA involved large-scale pile tests in overconsolidated glacial till at Cowden, north-east England, and in dense, normally consolidated marine sand at Dunkirk, northern France. This paper describes the experimental set-up for pile testing, with unique features of load-application mechanisms and built-in fibre optic strain gauges. New procedures are described for the interpretation of pile loading data, and specifically for providing precise interpretation of pile displacements.

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This paper investigates the influences that steel type, in situ soil properties, water table depth, pile diameter, roughness and driving procedures have on the ageing behaviour of piles driven in sand. Tension tests have been performed on 51 open-ended steel micro-piles, with 48 to 60 mm outside diameter, driven at well-established research sites at Larvik in Norway, Dunkirk in France and Blessington in Ireland to better understand the processes that control axial capacity set-up trends in the field. Mild steel, stainless and galvanised steel micro-piles were driven and left to age undisturbed for periods of between 2 h and 696 days before being subjected to first-time axial tension load tests. In addition to reporting and interpreting these experiments, further investigations of the sites' geotechnical profiles are reported, including new piezocone and seismic cone penetration soundings as well as laboratory tests. Integration with earlier ageing studies at the same sites with larger (340 to 508 mm outside diameter) open-ended steel piles driven to 7 to 20 m embedments and experiments that varied the piles' initial surface roughness shows that corrosion, pile scale, roughness, the bonding of soil particles and the driving process can all be highly significant. New insights are gained into the mechanisms that control the axial capacity of piles driven in sand.

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The paper presents the development of a three-dimensional finite-element model for pile tests in dense Dunkirk sand, conducted as part of the PISA project. The project was aimed at developing improved design methods for laterally loaded piles, as used in offshore wind turbine foundations. The importance of the consistent and integrated interpretation of the soil data from laboratory and field investigations is particularly emphasised. The chosen constitutive model for sand is an enhanced version of the state parameter-based bounding surface plasticity model, which, crucially, is able to reproduce the dependency of sand behaviour on void ratio and stress level. The predictions from three-dimensional finite-element analyses, performed before the field tests, show good agreement with the measured behaviour, proving the adequacy of the developed numerical model and the calibration process for the constitutive model. This numerical model directly facilitated the development of new soil reaction curves for use in Winkler-type design models for laterally loaded piles in natural marine sands.

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The PISA project was a combined field testing/numerical modelling study with the aim of developing improved design procedures for large-diameter piles subjected to lateral loading. This paper describes the development of a three-dimensional finite-element model for the medium-scale pile tests that were conducted in Cowden till as part of the PISA work. The paper places particular emphasis on the consistent interpretation of the soil data determined from the available field and laboratory information. An enhanced version of the modified Cam clay model was employed in the numerical analyses, featuring a non-linear Hvorslev surface, a generalised shape for the yield and plastic potential surfaces in the deviatoric plane and a non-linear formulation for the elastic shear modulus. Three-dimensional finite-element analyses were performed prior to the field tests. Excellent agreement between the measured and simulated behaviour for a range of pile geometries was observed, demonstrating the accuracy of the numerical model and the adequacy of the calibration process for the constitutive model. The developed numerical model confirmed the premise of the PISA design method that site-specific ground characterisation and advanced numerical modelling can directly facilitate the development of additional soil reaction curves for use in new design models for laterally loaded piles in a stiff clay till.

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This paper describes a one-dimensional (1D) computational model for the analysis and design of laterally loaded monopile foundations for offshore wind turbine applications. The model represents the monopile as an embedded beam and specially formulated functions, referred to as soil reaction curves, are employed to represent the various components of soil reaction that are assumed to act on the pile. This design model was an outcome of a recently completed joint industry research project - known as PISA - on the development of new procedures for the design of monopile foundations for offshore wind applications. The overall framework of the model, and an application to a stiff glacial clay till soil, is described in a companion paper by Byrne and co-workers; the current paper describes an alternative formulation that has been developed for soil reaction curves that are applicable to monopiles installed at offshore homogeneous sand sites, for drained loading. The 1D model is calibrated using data from a set of three-dimensional finite-element analyses, conducted over a calibration space comprising pile geometries, loading configurations and soil relative densities that span typical design values. The performance of the model is demonstrated by the analysis of example design cases. The current form of the model is applicable to homogeneous soil and monotonic loading, although extensions to soil layering and cyclic loading are possible.

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Offshore wind turbines in shallow coastal waters are typically supported on monopile foundations. Although three-dimensional (3D) finite-element methods are available for the design of monopiles in this context, much of the routine design work is currently conducted using simplified one-dimensional (1D) models based on the p-y method. The p-y method was originally developed for the relatively large embedded length-to-diameter ratio (L/D) piles that are typically employed in offshore oil and gas structures. Concerns exist, however, that this analysis approach may not be appropriate for monopiles with the relatively low values of L/D that are typically adopted for offshore wind turbine structures. This paper describes a new 1D design model for monopile foundations; the model is specifically formulated for offshore wind turbine applications, although the general approach could be adopted for other applications. The model draws on the conventional p-y approach, but extends it to include additional components of soil reaction that act on the pile. The 1D model is calibrated using a set of bespoke 3D finite-element analyses of monopile performance, for pile characteristics and loading conditions that span a predefined design space. The calibrated 1D model provides results that match those obtained from the 3D finite-element calibration analysis, but at a fraction of the computational cost. Moreover, within the calibration space, the 1D model is capable of delivering high-fidelity computations of monopile performance that can be used directly for design purposes. This 1D modelling approach is demonstrated for monopiles installed in a stiff, overconsolidated glacial clay till with a typical North Sea strength and stiffness profile. Although the current form of the model has been developed for homogeneous soil and monotonic loading, it forms a basis from which extensions for soil layering and cyclic loading can be developed. The general approach can be applied to other foundation and soil-structure interaction problems, in which bespoke calibration of a simplified model can lead to more efficient design.@en

This paper provides a brief overview of the Pile Soil Analysis (PISA) project, recently completed in the UK. The research was aimed at developing new design methods for laterally loaded monopile foundations, such as those supporting offshore wind turbine structures. The paper first describes the background to the project and briefly outlines the key research elements completed. The paper concludes with a brief description of the anticipated impact of the work and describes initiatives that have followed since.@en

Comprehensive series’ of field pull-out tests have been carried out on small diameter (48 to 60mm outside diameter (OD)) open-ended steel driven piles at Larvik in Norway, Dunkirk in France and Blessington in Ireland to investigate the processes that affect the ageing of axially loaded piles in sand. This paper reports new investigations of the sites’ geotechnical profiles and tension tests on corroded mild steel (MS) piles conducted up to 315 days after driving. The potential influences of: (i) pile diameter, (ii) ground water, (iii) steel type and (iv) installation method are assessed and comparisons made with the ageing responses established in earlier tension tests on larger diameter industrial scale steel driven pipe piles. Steel corrosion and bonding of soil particles are shown to be particularly important with the small diameter piles; the driving process is shown to be significant.@en

In recent years, fibre Bragg grating (FBG) sensors have emerged as a relatively new strain sensing technology for civil engineering applications. This paper presents a field trial to assess the feasibility of using FBG sensor arrays to measure strain in driven steel piles. Two FBG arrays were installed in grooves within the wall of an open-ended steel pile such that the finished profile was completely flush with the pile shaft. The pile was then driven into a dense sand deposit using an impact hammer to provide the required installation energy. The FBG gauges were monitored throughout driving in conjunction with accelerometers to quantify the scale of the hammer impacts. The FBG sensors were subjected to hammer blows that yielded pile accelerations between 500 g and 1400 g during installation. The fibre optic sensors were measured throughout driving, where they were observed to respond to the hammer impacts, showing a rapid increase in strain and a return to their initial values between hammer strikes. After installation, a lateral load test was performed with independent load measuring devices. Excellent agreement was observed between the measured moments and those inferred from the FBG strain output. The output of this trial demonstrates that FBG strain sensors are a viable means of measuring load transfer in foundation systems and are suitably robust to withstand high pile driving accelerations.

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Offshore wind turbines are typically founded on single large diameter piles, termed monopiles. Pile diameters of between 5mand 6mare routinely used, with diameters of up to 10 m, or more, being considered for future designs. There are concerns that current design approaches, such as the p − y method, which were developed for piles with a relatively large length to diameter ratio, may not be appropriate for large diameter monopiles. A joint industry project, PISA (PIle Soil Analysis), has been established to develop new design methods for large diameter monopiles under lateral loading. The project involves three strands of work; (i) numerical modelling; (ii) development of a new design method; (iii) field testing. This paper describes the framework on which the new design method is based. Analyses conducted using the new design method are compared with methods used in current practice.

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Offshore wind power in the UK, and around Europe, has the potential to deliver significant quantities of renewable energy. The foundation is a critical element in the design. The most common foundation design is a single large diameter pile, termed a monopile. Pile diameters of between 5m and 6m are routinely used, with diameters up to 10m or more, being considered for future designs. Questions have been raised as to whether current design methods for lateral loading are relevant to these very large diameter piles. To explore this problem a joint industry project, PISA, co-ordinated by DONG Energy and the Carbon Trust, has been established. The aim of the project is to develop a new design framework for laterally loaded piles based on new theoretical developments, numerical modelling and bench- marked against a suite of large scale field pile tests. The project began in August 2013 and is scheduled to complete during 2015. This paper briefly outlines the project, focusing on the design of the field testing. The testing involves three sizes of pile, from 0.27m in diameter through to 2.0m in diameter. Two sites will be used; a stiff clay site and a dense sand site. Tests will include monotonic loading and cyclic loading. A suite of site investigation will be carried out to aid interpretation of the field tests, and will involve in-situ testing, standard laboratory testing and more advanced laboratory testing.

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A number of field studies suggest that the axial capacity of driven piles in sand increases with time. Field test programmes were performed by a number of research groups to examine this aspect of pile behaviour. The paper presents a summary of the findings from these experiments. It also reviews laboratory pile and element testing performed to provide further insights into the mechanisms controlling pile ageing.

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There is currently a significant focus on developing offshore wind power in the UK and Europe. The most common foundation type for wind turbines is a single large diameter pile, termed a monopile, on which the turbine is located. As the diameter of such piles is envisaged to increase in future installations, there are concerns that current design methods are not applicable. To explore this problem, the joint industry project PISA has been established, with the aim to develop a new design framework for laterally loaded piles utilised in the offshore wind industry, based on new theoretical developments, numerical modelling and large scale field pile testing. This paper presents an overview of numerical modelling undertaken as part of the project.

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