Formation of soil plug in bioinspired scaled suction caissons in sand for offshore wind turbine

Jipeng Zhao, Dayong Li, Yukun Zhang and Yuanzhen Zhang

Energy, 2025, vol. 332, issue C

Abstract: The scaled suction caisson (SSC) is an innovative foundation with a bio-inspired sidewall of the snake belly scale, which was first proposed by the corresponding author to be alterative to act as foundation for offshore wind turbines (OWTs). However, the soil plug will occur when the caisson penetrates the seabed, preventing from reaching its designed depth, and creating a gap between the soil plug top and caisson cap, thus leading to a reduction in bearing capacity. Existing research has not explored soil plug development process for the suction caisson, causing a large the predicted required suction. Therefore, this study develops a real-time measurement of a dynamic evolution test device for soil plug height during penetration. Model tests are conducted to investigate the penetration behavior of the SSCs under three types of penetration methods. This study proposes a viable way of installing a suction caisson by trial-and-error tests: low-speed startup with gradual ramp-up penetration at start, and then intermittent penetration until the penetration completion. Furthermore, the subsidence areas of the SSC and soil plug generation mechanism are studied. A comprehensive life-cycle model for the development of soil plug is proposed, providing a theoretical reference for predicting soil plug height.

Keywords: Scaled suction caisson (SSC); Sand; Penetration method; Soil plug; Subsidence area; Life-cycle model of the soil plug (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:energy:v:332:y:2025:i:c:s0360544225027999

DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2025.137157

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