Experimental study on axial compression fatigue of grouted connection in jacket offshore wind turbines: Fid-Bau Portal

Experimental study on axial compression fatigue of grouted connection in jacket offshore wind turbines

Chen, Tao / Lei, Tiange / Fang, Qi / Chen, Ke / Yuan, Guokai

Abstract The grouted connection (GC) of the offshore wind turbine (OWT) jacket foundation mainly bears axial loads, the wind and wave load in the working environment make the structure prone to fatigue problems. The construction environment of the OWT foundation is relatively harsh, so there will be vertical and horizontal errors during the construction process. In this paper, the fatigue test of 9 specimens were designed to analyze the influence of vertical and horizontal errors, water ingression and other factors on the axial fatigue performance of the GC section. The static ultimate bearing capacity test was carried out to determine the load ranges of the fatigue test. Results of fatigue tests indicate that the fatigue performance of the GC considerably degenerates with the load eccentricity, especially at the end sections of the inner and outer tubes. Water ingression has a significant negative influence on the fatigue performance of the GC section. The presence of water contributes to the propagation and development of cracks in the grout layer. Load range, vertical and horizontal errors and grout material have negligible effect on the fatigue performance of the structure.

Highlights • Fatigue test of grouted connections under axial loading with constructional errors. • Effects of load range, load eccentricity, water ingression, constructional errors and grout material were investigated. • The water ingression speed is measured during the test to assess the grout damage. • The fatigue performance of the grouted connection significantly deteriorates with increasing load eccentricity. • Water presence promotes crack propagation and development of the grout layer.