Rationalising offshore wind-turbine pile design and assurance in difficult ground

几乎所有的海上风力涡轮机基础，无论是支柱式、三脚架式、导管架式还是浮动式风力涡轮机，都依赖于坚固的桩基础。然而，在北海和波罗的海地区经常遇到困难的地面条件，这使得很难设计既有效又经济的基础。基础可能会消耗项目成本的25%至30%，而桩基的不确定性可能会限制或阻碍海上可再生能源的发展。一个代表主要开发商苏格兰电力可再生能源公司、一所领先的大学、伦敦帝国理工学院和一家小型专业岩土工程师公司（GCG，伦敦）的财团正在努力降低整个行业的成本，特别是在以白垩为主，但在其他方面有前途的开发地区。正在采取的关键步骤是：（一）开发新的海上测试程序，可以在所有不确定的地面条件下应用，（二）进行了一系列独特的现场测试，在粉笔，利用研究和开发团队取得的最新进展和（三）综合所有可用数据，以开发新的更可靠的设计程序。这项工作将降低未来许多重大项目所面临的成本和风险。

Nearly all offshore wind turbine foundations, whether monopile, tripod, jacket or floating wind turbines rely on strong piled foundations. However, difficult ground conditions are often encountered at North Sea and Baltic sites that make it hard to design foundations that are both effective and economic. Foundations can consume 25 to 30% of project costs and uncertainty over piled foundations can restrict or block the development of offshore renewable energy. A Consortium representing a major developer, Scottish Power Renewables, a leading University, Imperial College London, and a small firm of specialist geotechnical engineers (GCG, London) is working to drive costs down across the Industry, especially in Chalk-dominated, but otherwise promising, development areas. The key steps being taken are: (i) developing novel offshore test procedures that can be applied in all uncertain ground conditions, (ii) conducting a unique set of field tests in Chalk, drawing on recent advances made by the research and development team and (iii) synthesis with all available data to develop new more reliable design procedures. The work will cut the costs and risks faced by many major future projects.