해상풍력타워 석션기초의 설치시 거동에 대한 모형 시험 연구

Installation of Suction Caisson Foundation for Offshore Wind Turbine : Model Test

The global and domestic market for offshore wind farm is expected to grow fast, and the design and installation of substructure and foundation is getting more important. As for the offshore wind farms located in the shallow(depth < 20m) water, the construction and installation of the substructure and foundation makes up about 1/4 ~1/3 of the offshore wind farm construction cost, and the portion is expected to increase because the turbine capacity is increasing from 2 ~ 3MW to 5MW or larger and the water depth of wind farms is also increasing over 30m. As a foundation for offshore wind turbine, the suction caisson foundation is being considered to be a highly competitive alternative to the conventional monopile or gravity based structure, because it has features suitable for the offshore construction such as quick installation, no heavy equipment for penetration and no hammering noise for driving. In order to study the installation behaviour of the suction caisson, laboratory tests were performed with sand. The pore water pressure and displacement were measured to analyze the suction pressure during penetration, the penetration speed and the amount of heaving.