Offshore renewable energy (ORE) foundations on rock seabeds: Advancing design through analogue testing and modelling

该项目旨在促进对岩石海床基础系统的理解和设计，以支持海上可再生能源（ORE，例如风力涡轮机或波浪能转换器）的必要扩展。该项目将开发新的分析技术，灵感来自于安装在岩石材料中的小规模基础模型实验测试的新方法。ORE设备通常位于高能地点（如凯尔特海），那里的沉积物已被冲走，留下裸露的岩石海床。由于缺乏对岩石-基础相互作用和设计指导的了解，ORE装置的基础或锚（例如钻孔桩）的设计非常保守且成本高昂。需要创新和新的设计指导来降低基础成本，并且必须得到实验证据的支持。然而，大规模地基的现场测试是极其昂贵的。小规模的实验室测试仅限于完整的岩石样本，没有地质特征（例如不连续性）。因此，需要在中等规模上进行先进的建模。我们建议开发一种创建人造岩石样本（岩石模拟物）的过程，该过程将模拟现场遇到的岩体的主要地质特征。这将使小规模的基础测试在一个可重复的/可靠的方式。

This project aims to advance the understanding and design of foundation systems on rock seabeds, to support the necessary expansion of offshore renewables energy (ORE, e.g. wind turbines or wave energy converters). The project will develop new analysis techniques, inspired by new approaches for experimental testing of small scale foundation models installed in rock material.ORE devices are often located in energetic sites (e.g. Celtic Sea), where sediments have been washed away, leaving a bare rocky seabed. The design of ORE device's foundations or anchors (e.g. drilled piles) is very conservative and costly because of a lack of understanding of rock-foundation interactions and design guidance. Innovation and new design guidance are needed to drive foundation cost down, and must be supported by experimental evidence. However, field testing of large scale foundations is extremely expensive. Smaller scale lab testing is limited to intact rock samples, with no geological features (e.g. discontinuities). So advanced modelling is needed at an intermediate scale.We propose to develop a process to create artificial rock samples (rock analogues), which will mimic the main geological features of rock masses encountered in the field. This will enable the testing of small scale foundations in a repeatable/reliable way.