Development of foundations for renewable energy technologies

随着能源需求的不断增加和气候变化，确保低排放能源的供应是一项重大的全球挑战。尽管过去十年非水电可再生能源部门的增长令人印象深刻，但加拿大可再生能源的持续扩张正面临挑战。加拿大的电价是世界上最低的，虽然由于技术进步，可再生能源的成本已经下降，但这些能源仍然很难争夺市场份额。大多数可再生能源发电机（例如风力涡轮机和太阳能电池板）都固定在土壤上。这些设备上的环境和自重载荷会产生复杂的循环力，这些力会传递到它们的基础上。可再生能源项目需要降低基础工程的成本，使其在商业规模上具有经济可行性。一些技术的不成熟（例如海上风力涡轮机和地热桩）、增加发电能力的需要（例如更大的风力涡轮机）以及向更恶劣条件的过渡（困难的土壤和海上环境）加剧了这一挑战。此外，可再生能源的基础设计目前基于为其他部门和气候开发的知识和技术，这反映在当前的设计方法和我们对这些结构长期性能的理解中。该基金的目的是调查不同可再生能源基础的土壤-结构相互作用行为。将研究以下问题：a）风力涡轮机海上基础的波浪和冰载荷，B）地热桩系统的长期行为，c）风力涡轮机可膨胀基础对非饱和膨胀粘土的响应，d）太阳能发电场轻载荷桩的霜冻作用。不同的设计方法将被验证和校准，以预测这些基础系统的行为，由现场测试，土壤实验室测试，比例物理模型测试和计算机分析的数据支持。将使用随机环境过程的适当加载时间历史来开发这些预测方法。在资助期间，从研究中获得的数据和知识将被建筑，能源和海上工业的工程师使用。该赠款将使创建（i）基础和岩土工程过程的知识，（ii）现场规模行为的数据库，（iii）设计和施工信息，（iv）新的补救方法和（v）特定于可再生能源部门的分析方法验证数据。与可再生能源应用相关的新的岩土工程挑战将需要优化现有方法和开发新技术。发展可再生能源部门将提供机会，以促进加拿大的经济增长，创造新的就业机会，并提高人类健康，财富和安全。

With escalating energy demand and climate change, securing supplies of low-emission energy is a major global challenge. Although growth in the non-hydro renewable sector over the last decade has been impressive, continued renewable energy expansion in Canada is facing challenges. Canadian electricity prices are some of the lowest in the world, and whilst costs have decreased for renewable energy due to technological advances, it is still difficult for these sources to compete for market share. Most renewable energy generators (e.g. wind turbines and solar panels) are fixed to soil bodies. Environmental and self-weight loads on these devices result in complex cyclic forces that are transmitted to their foundations. Renewable energy projects need cost reductions in their foundation engineering to make them economically viable at commercial scales. This challenge is exacerbated by immaturity of some technologies (e.g. offshore wind turbines and geothermal piles), the need for increasing generating capacities (e.g. bigger wind turbines) and transitions to more aggressive conditions (difficult soils and the offshore environment). In addition, foundation design for renewables is currently based on knowledge and technology developed for other sectors and climates, and this is reflected in current design methods and our understanding of the long-term performance of these structures. The aim of this grant will be the investigation of the soil-structure interaction behavior of different renewable energy foundation. The following problems will be investigated: a) Wave and ice loading of offshore foundations for wind turbines, b) Long-term behavior of geothermal pile systems, c) Response of wind turbine monopile foundations to unsaturated, expansive clays and d) Frost action on lightly loaded piles on solar farms. Different design methods will be validated and calibrated for predicting the behavior of these foundation systems, supported by data from field testing, soil laboratory tests, scaled physical model testing and computer analysis. Appropriate loading time-histories for random environmental processes will be used to develop these predictive methods. Over the funding period, data and knowledge accrued from the research will be utilized by engineers working in the construction, energy and the offshore industries. The grant will enable the creation of (i) knowledge of foundations and geotechnical processes, (ii) databases of field-scale behavior, (iii) design and construction information, (iv) new remedial approaches and (v) data for analytical method validation that is specific to the renewable energy sector. New geotechnical challenges associated with renewable energy applications will require the optimization of current methods and development of new techniques. Developing the renewable energy sector will provide opportunities to increase economic growth, create new employment opportunities and enhance human health, wealth and security in Canada.