Cyclic Loading Effects of Rock Scour Protection for Offshore Wind Applications

海上风电（OW）在向低碳能源供应过渡中发挥着重要作用，并具有在地球仪提供可再生能源的巨大潜力，东亚和美国开始开发项目。大多数为海上风电建造的基础由直径达10米的钢桩组成。越来越多地使用岩石保护来保护安装在海底的海上基础免受冲刷。松散岩石保护是目前用于保护海上基础的主要方法。随着海上风电项目向东亚和美国的扩展，人们越来越关注岩石保护在循环荷载（特别是地震事件）期间的表现，以及在地震事件之后的表现。同样的问题也适用于评估地震对海底电缆稳定堆石的影响。 该项目旨在通过评估循环和地震对冲刷防护性能的影响来填补这一研究空白。这项工作将涉及实验测试和设计方法。

Offshore wind (OW) plays an important role in the transition to low carbon energy supply, and has enormous potential for providing renewable energy across the globe, with projects starting to be developed in East Asia and the USA. The majority of foundations built for offshore wind consists of steel monopiles of up to 10 m in diameter. The use of rock protection to protect seabed mounted offshore foundations from scouring is growing. Loose rock protection is currently the primary method used to protect offshore foundations. With the expansion of Offshore Wind projects to East Asia and the USA, there is an increasing concern as to how rock protection would behave during cyclic loading, and in particular seismic events, and its performance subsequent to that event. The same concern also applies to evaluating seismic effects on rockfill placed for submarine cable stabilisation. The project will aim at addressing this research gap by assessing cyclic and seismic effects on scour protection performance. The work will involve experimental testing and design methodology.