Behaviour of Cohesionless Soils During Cyclic Loading

Offshore wind turbine foundations are typically subjected to cyclic loading from both wind and waves, which can lead to unacceptable deformations in the soil. However, no generally accepted standardised method is currently available, when accounting for cyclic loading during the design of offshore wind turbine foundations. Therefore a literature study is performed in order to investigate existing research treating the behaviour of cohesionless soils, when subjected to cyclic loading. The behaviour of a soil subjected to cyclic loading is found to be dependent on; the relative density, mean effective stresses prior to cyclic loading, cyclic and average shear stresses and the drainage conditions.