Keynote Speaker

Prof. Byron Byrne

Oxford University, the UK

Offshore Wind Power and Coastal Geotechnics

Design of Monopiles for Offshore Wind Turbines

Biography

Professor Byron Byrne holds the Ørsted / Royal Academy of Engineering Research Chair in Advanced Geotechnical Design at the University of Oxford where he leads on research into geotechnical engineering for offshore wind and other offshore renewable energy structures. He works collaboratively with industry to solve practical problems applying experimental work, at both laboratory scale and larger scale in the field, theoretical analysis and computational techniques, to develop simplified design methods for the engineer. He was Principal Investigator for the Carbon Trust / Ørsted / Industry funded PISA project (2013-2018), which has delivered new design methods for large diameter offshore wind turbine monopiles, now applied to many constructed offshore wind farms. He currently leads on the Oxford–Ørsted Research Framework PICASO project (2018-2028) on cyclic loading for offshore wind foundations and was a Co-Investigator on the EPSRC / industry ALPACA Project (2018-2023). He is a Co-Investigator on the Strathclyde / Oxford / Edinburgh EPSRC CDT for Wind and Marine Energy Systems and Structures (2019-2027), and was the Oxford Director, and Co-Investigator, for the Cranfield / Oxford / Strathclyde EPSRC CDT for Renewable Energy Marine Structures (2014-2022). He is a Co-Director of the EPSRC Supergen Offshore Renewable Energy Impact Hub 2023 led by Plymouth University. He is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering and of the Institution of Civil Engineers.

Weblinks to relevant publications:

Abstract

Design of Monopiles for Offshore Wind Turbines

The monopile is the most common foundation for an offshore wind turbine. It is a singular tubular pile, often driven into the ground, upon which a wind turbine can be located. Monopiles must be designed to safely resist the lateral loading and overturning moments derived from the environmental conditions acting on the turbine structure, including the wind, wave and current loading, as well as the continuing operation of the turbine itself. The applied loading can range from one-off extreme peaks (e.g. rotor emergency stop, extreme wave), to regular and repetitive cycling (e.g. waves, rotor operation), often combined with a sustained load (e.g. current, wind). It is also possible that the loads derived from waves and wind may not be aligned. This paper will provide an overview of the development, over the past decade, of new design methods that address monotonic and cyclic loading of monopiles, as well as looking forward to new opportunities and challenges. The paper will highlight the outputs from medium scale pile field testing, as well as laboratory model testing, exploring the results within an appropriate framework that can be applied in design.