Viewpoint: Basements and Subterranean development: It’s time for engineers to engage with duty of ca

One of the Institution's oldest Regional Groups has its sights fixed firmly on the future...

Topics of importance openly discussed...

A transition piece is used on monopile wind turbine foundations for transmitting the large moment from the wind on the tower. A grouted connection is generally adopted to connect the transition piece to the pile that is driven into the seabed. The grout connection has been successfully used in the offshore oil and gas industry on drilling and production platform jackets for the last 40 years. However the major difference for a wind turbine structure is that while the grout connection in jackets is mainly intended for large axial forces, the wind turbine grout connection is predominantly subjected to bending. The ability of the grout connection to transfer large moment is not fully understood due to lack of experiments and size effects. The theory that has been used for designing the grout is reviewed thoroughly here in order to understand the limitations.