Physical Modelling of Bucket Foundation Under Long-Term Cyclic Lateral Loading

Offshore wind farms are a promising renewable energy source. The monopod bucket foundation has the potential to become a reliable and cost-effective concept for offshore wind turbines. The bucket foundation must be designed by accounting for the cyclic loading which might endanger the turbine functioning. In this article a 1g physical model of bucket foundation under horizontal and moment cyclic loading is described. A testing program including four tests was carried out. Every test was conducted for at least 30000 cycles, each with different loading features. The capability of the model to represent the cyclic loading is discussed based on example results.