Transient Analysis of Monopile Foundations Partially Embedded in Liquefied Soil

In this study, the authors present a coupled fluid-structures-seabed interaction analysis of a monopile type of wind turbine foundations in liquefiable soils. A two dimensional analysis is performed with a nonlinear stiffness degradation model incorporated in the finite difference program Fast Lagrangian Analysis of Continua (FLAC), which captured the fundamental mechanisms of the monopiles in saturated granular soil. The effects of inertia and the kinematic flow of soil are investigated separately, to highlight the importance of considering the combined effect of these phenomena on the seismic design of offshore monopiles. Different seismic loads, such as those experienced in the Kobe, Santa Cruz, Loma Prieta, Kocaeli, and Morgan Hill earthquakes, are analyzed. The pore water pressure development, relative displacements, soil skeleton deformation and monopile bending moment are obtained for different predominant frequencies and peak accelerations. The findings are verified with results in the liter.