Hybrid Foundation System for Offshore Wind Turbine

The demand on green and clean energy is increasing all over the world. This urge us to try to reduce the obstacles in this field. One of the main obstacles is the high cost of offshore foundation system of wind turbines. A novel offshore hybrid foundation system is proposed for large offshore wind turbines to try to reduce the construction cost. This new system consists of circular precast concrete plate connected on site (i.e. offshore) to a steel monopole that is smaller than the usual pile size used. Parametric study for different foundations systems including monopiles had been done. The displacements at different locations of the foundation and the rotation at the pile head were analyzed and evaluated using a 3D nonlinear finite element model under field-like loading conditions considering different foundation configurations. This work paves the way for the development of design guidelines for this novel foundation system in offshore wind turbine applications.