Calculation of the Lateral Cyclic Response of Monopiles in Sand

Monopiles are widely used to support the upper structures of wind turbines in offshore engineering. Due to the harsh environment conditions, they are subjected to long-term lateral cyclic loading from waves and winds through the design life. In this paper, a robust and practical beam on Winkler foundation model is presented for the behavior of monopiles under cyclic lateral load, in which the stiffness degradation of sand is incorporated based on the accumulated soil strain from results of drained cyclic triaxial tests. The reasonability of the model is proved by comparisons with a published centrifuge model test.