Reducing geotechnical design conservatism to secure floating wind energy

海上风能的下一个前沿是进一步向海上移动，以利用更强、更稳定的风速。在这些水深，风力涡轮机被安装在与海底锚系在一起的漂浮物上。锚杆的岩土工程设计本质上是保守的，这是由石油和天然气设施的技术和经济考虑所形成的。如果漂浮式风能要在商业上可行，海上风能产业就不能采取这种保守主义。该项目将通过数值开发、土工离心机建模和现场测试，开发出一种基于可靠性的土工设计方法，使浮动海上风能经济可行。

The next frontier for offshore wind energy is moving further out to sea to avail of stronger and more consistent wind speeds. In these water depths, wind turbines are installed on floaters tethered to anchors in the seabed. Geotechnical design of anchors is inherently conservative, having been shaped by technical and economic considerations of oil and gas facilities. The offshore wind energy industry cannot afford to adopt such conservatism if floating wind is to become commercially viable. This project will, through numerical developments, geotechnical centrifuge modelling and field testing, develop the science that will lead to a reliability-based geotechnical design approach to make floating offshore wind energy economic and viable.