Cone Penetration Testing (CPTU) is widely used to assess soil conditions at offshore wind turbine locations. Design standards exist to relate the CPTU results to soil classifications and engineering design parameters in sand and clay soils, but not silts. Similarly, bearing capacities are specified for fully-drained and undrained conditions, but not partially-drained conditions. As the offshore wind industry moves into emerging markets where these silty soils are more common, it is more important than ever to understand their behaviour .The CSi project aims to:
- Gather a high-quality database of measured data from silty, partially-drained soils
- Combine this with data from lab testing and numerical modelling
- Derive recommendations for investigating and interpreting silty soils and silt mixtures
- Generate generalised, robust industry guidance for inclusion in future standards
- De-risk foundation design and installation
- Reduce costs by eliminating unnecessary conservatism
Project end date
March 2023 – initial findings presented at CPT conference on June 2022.Project lead
ØrstedPartners
Equinor, RWE, Vattenfall, ScottishPower Renewables, ShellSetup under
Offshore Wind Accelerator (OWA)
Contact
Neil Adams, Project Manager
neil.adams@maydaynursery.com