Field and numerical study of the lateral response of rigid piles in sand

Abstract Large diameter, short monopiles are the preferred foundation type for offshore wind turbines. These piles demonstrate a rigid response with significant rotation of pile base under ultimate lateral load. As traditional empirical p - y curves used in loaded analysis have been derived from tests on small diameter onshore piles, there is some doubt about their applicability to monopiles, particularly view difference compared typical pile. To address this issue, paper reports unique series field using instrumented driven pipe complimented by numerical analysis, which was performed examine explicitly contribution The tests, included that had sand plug removed below tip level prior testing, confirmed influence tested 273- and 457-mm-diameter negligible. Numerical analyses were calibrated test data showed capacity monopile as large 10 m Results also indicated p-y not affected length ratio can be predict sand.