WE_29(5)_07-Moller 2/2/06 12:31 pm Page 463

W IND E NGINEERING VOLUME 29, N O . 5, 2006 PP 463–470 463

CUT-IN NOTE

Efficient Offshore Wind Turbine Foundations

Anders Moller
Densit A/S, P.O.Box 220, DK 9100 Aalborg, Denmark.
Phone +45 9816 7011, Fax +45 9933 7850, Mobile +45 20320142; E-mail: amo@densit.dk.

ABSTRACT
In the oil and gas industry, the foundations of offshore platforms have, for decades, used the
grouted technique. This technology has now been transferred into the offshore wind turbine
industry. This paper gives details of the use of the technology in some of the first offshore
windfarms in Europe and considers future design possibilities.

1. INTRODUCTION
Offshore windfarms using the grouted junction technique, as a new and efficient method for wind
turbine foundations, include Bockstigen, Utgrunden, Blyth, Yttre Stengrund, Horns Rev, Samsoe,
North Hoyle, Arklow Bank, Kentish Flats and Barrow. At Utgrunden, Horns Rev, Samsoe, North
Hoyle, Arklow Bank, Kentish Flats and Barrow, grouted solutions have been used to connect the
wind turbine towers to the monopile foundation. At Bockstigen, Blyth and Yttre Stengrund the
technique is also used for connecting monopiles to the drilled rock socket at the seabed. Each
type of foundation has its own advantages, dependent upon location, soil condition and loading.
Fig 1 shows a range of foundation designs where grouting techniques have been used.

2. FOUNDATION DESIGNS AND METHODS

(a) Drilled Monopile Foundations
On the projects at Bockstigen, Blyth, and Yttre Stengrund,, the monopiles have been installed
in a hole drilled into the sea bed. This set an upper limit to the pile diameter; at these three
projects, where the monopole diameter ranged from 2.1 m to 3.5 m. The monopiles were
secured with cementious grout, pumped through grout lines displacing the seawater away
from the bottom of the pile. The verticality of the pile was assured by keeping the pile in
position with the Jack-Up (Drill Rig) until the grout had sufficient strength to keep the pile in
position. For this purpose, a fast curing grout was necessary.

(b) Driven Monopile Foundation

On the projects at Utgrunden, Horns Rev, Samsoe, North Hoyle, Arklow Bank, Kentish Flats
and Barrow, driven monopiles were used, with transition pieces at the top to be able to adjust
for out-of-verticality of the pile, as well as being the base for the tower flange and a number of
accessories (Fig 2). The transition piece is then connected with High Performance Grout. The
pile diameters ranged from 4.0 m to 5.1 m. At Arklow Bank, the Monopiles had a diameter of
5.1 m, length of 45 m and a weight of 281 tonnes for the heaviest.
• The method allows for pile installation tolerances in the grouted connection and is
designed to compensate for ‘out of verticality’ of the monopile.
WE_29(5)_07-Moller 2/2/06 12:31 pm Page 464

464 E FFICIENT O FFSHORE W IND T URBINE F OUNDATIONS

(a) (b)

Figure 1: Grouting locations of various offshore foundation arrangements.

Grout pipe with tree inlets

Transition piece
with tower flange

Brackets for. hydraulic

Jacks

Grout seal

Monopile

Figure 2: Connecting a wind turbine tower to a driven monopole with a grouted transition piece.

• There is no risk of damaging attachments or coatings of the tower junction when

driving the pile.
• The transition piece with the tower section is simply lowered over the pile until it
rests on the inside mounted brackets.
• Adjustment of verticality is easily done by a hand pump connected to hydraulic
adjustment cylinders mounted on the inside mounted brackets.

(c) Installation Efficiency

• Boat landing, J-tubes, offer anodes, platform attachment, and integrated tower
section are with the transition piece and so installed in one operation. This reduces
costly offshore work and thereby weather down-time dramatically.
• Installation, adjustment and grouting can be performed in 3-4 hours.

3. GROUT MATERIAL
The Ducorit® grout is based on the revolutionary concept DSP (Densified Systems with ultra-
fine Particles). DSP was optimized by Densit a/s as a result of many years of intense research
WE_29(5)_07-Moller 2/2/06 12:31 pm Page 465

W IND E NGINEERING VOLUME 29, N O . 5, 2005 465

Table 1: Mechanical properties of Ducorit grout

D4W S5W S1W
Mean Mean Mean
Compressive strength fc [MPa/psl] 210/30,400 130/18,850 111/16,000
Static modulus of elasticilty Ec [GPa/ksl] 70/10,000 55/8,000 35/5,000
Dynamic modulus of elasticity Ed [GPa/ksl] 88/12,800 60/8,700 37/5,400
Tension strength ft [MPa/psl] 10/1,500 7/1,000 5/725
Flexural strength fbt [MPa/psl] 23.5/3,400 18/2,600 13.5/2,000
Density p [kg/m3] 2740 2440 2250
Poisson’s ratio v 0.19 0.19 0.19
Fracture energy Gr [kN/m] 12 5.6 4.0
Static coefficient of friction µ 0.6 0.6 0.6

Table 2: Chemical properties of Ducorit‚ grout

Water permeability Acid resistance Carbonation Chloride permeability Electircal resistivity
according to DIN 1408 according to DIN 1091
Weight loss after 28 days Carbonation depth after Diffusion coefficient for Resistivity after 0.5 year at
in 70% sulphuric acid at 2.5ºC 3.5years at 65% RH 20ºC chloride ions 22ºC 100% RH

Concrete
20 mm Concrete Concrete
313 g/m3 26×10–3 Densit
m2/sec 20
Densit Concrete Densit Concrete k ohm m
114 g/m3
Densit 5 mm 0.6×10–3 <0.1
Densit
1 mm 0 mm m2/sec k ohm m

in cement technology and fine particle packing. Today, it forms the basis of the unique
properties of all Ducorit materials which have been used successfully to install approximately
199 wind turbines offshore.
Among the properties which make the material ideal for such connections are:

(a) Mechanical Properties

These are shown in Table 1.

(b) Chemical Properties Compared to Normal Concrete

These are shown in Table 2.
The Ducorit® grout from Densit offers, in addition to the properties in Table 2, ,the following
important factors for reliable grouting of joints:
• Low heat of hydration.
• Very small shrinkage.
• Early strength development; after 24 hours curing at 20° C the strength reaches 50%
of the long term value.
• The material has unique fatigue strength.
• The material is delivered as dry material which then is batch-mixed at site, so
ensuring uniformity.
• Pumpability and underwater casting is ensured through viscosity and high inner
cohesion.

4. DESIGN CONSIDERATIONS
(a) Practical Sizing and Installation
• Minimum grout gap: 25 mm.
• Maximum grout gap: due to low heat of hydration; generally there is no limit.
WE_29(5)_07-Moller 2/2/06 12:31 pm Page 466

466 E FFICIENT O FFSHORE W IND T URBINE F OUNDATIONS

• Transition piece overlap length on existing projects (1.33 to 1.5) x (pile Outer
Diameter).
Until now the transition pieces have been centred in the top and the full adjustment have been
done by tilting the transition piece around the top of the Monopile. Thereby the grout gap
increases with increasing pile diameter if an adjustment of 0.5 to 1.0 degree is maintained.
Increasing the grout gap increases both the demand on grout-seal performance, and the cost,
since the grout volume increases with (diameter)2. The sketches in Fig 3.1 demonstrate ways
of reducing grout volume.

(b) Structural Design

DNV (Det Norske Veritas) has published methods for calculating the grouted connection, [1],
which described the tools and calculations necessary to have the structure approved by
certifying bodies.
Reference can also be made to DNV Offshore Standard for design of Offshore Wind
Turbine Structures, DNV-OS-J101. ref. [2].

(c) Design Verification

To verify the grouted connection between the monopile and the transition piece for the Horns
Rev concept, model tests were carried out at the University of Aalborg, [3]. The tests included
successful demonstration of sufficient static capacity of the grouted connection, against the
extreme loads of the connection, and of the fatigue performance of the connection. Tests were
made on 3 experimental pieces whereof 2 were identical and the third deviated only by
having shear key welds in the grouted zone. All 3 pieces were made as accurate copies of the
full scale connection for Horns Rev, at the scale of 1 / 7.9.

1 2 3

1 2 3a 3b

1. Transition Piece centred around the top of the pile.

2. Transition Piece centred in the middle of the transition length; this increase the tilt adjustment
for the same grout gap, as compared with. (1).
3. Concical pile top; transition piece centred at its base, so reducing grout volume and increasing
tilt adjustment as compared with (1).. (a) titled pile, (b) vertical pile.

Figure 3.1: Methods of decreasing grout volume, and hence cost.

WE_29(5)_07-Moller 2/2/06 12:31 pm Page 467

W IND E NGINEERING VOLUME 29, N O . 5, 2005 467

Ground
D Load beam

Figure 3.2: Test piece design.

(d) Test Model

The test pieces were made of two pipe parts with the dimensions L 1250 mm (∅ 457 × 6 mm)
and L1500 mm (∅ 508 × 6 mm). Each inner pipe acted as monopile, and the outer pipe acted as
transition piece for the turbine. The monopile piece was mounted to a stiff construction and
ground-connected via a welded flange. The transition piece was also equipped with a flange
to which a 5.0 m long load-beam was connected, Fig 3.2.
All test pieces are equipped with transducers and strain gauges. The objective for the
instrumentation was:
• Documenting the load/ deformation applied.
• Recording movements between the monopile and the transition piece.
• Achieve knowledge about the transfer of load and stress distribution between the
monopile and the transition piece for later calibration of an FE-model.
The main conclusions from the test can be summarised as follows:
• The principle of using a grouted transition piece for foundations is a sound, reliable
and durable concept.
• The static strength of the eventual Horns Rev connection was sufficient.
• A grouted length of the connection of 1.5 times the diameter of the pile produces
large connection strength. Significantly shorter lengths may result in larger stress,
larger deformation or change in failure mode.
• Local deformation (‘denting’ and ‘ovalisation’) in the steel can be critical and should
be considered.
• The Ducorit® D4 material was shown to have adequate fatigue strength to sustain
the dynamic loading imposed for the Horns Rev connection.

5. FUTURE CHALLENGES FOR INSTALLATIONS

(a) Logistics, Assembly and Transportation.
In the future there will be a need to improve installation methods as the projects increase in
number and size. For instance, certain limiting factors have to be addressed in order to
improve logistics, such as: quay space at nearby harbours, reduction in times for structures to
be transported and installed.
To day most structures and components are transported to a nearby harbour where they
are unloaded and stored. Then further assembly is done before components are reloaded and
transported to site for final installation. All such handling is expensive and the larger projects
would require more storage space, unless methods are changed. For instance, new vessels
such as from A2SEA, MPI and others, will allow different logistics.
The new vessels open the possibility that the preassemblies can be prepared where the
main labour input and volume are installed. Thereafter the large assemblies can be
transported directly to the installation site. Fig 4 shows the deck lay out for Ocean Hanne from
A2SEA carrying 10 transition pieces and Fig 5 the deck lay out for the Resolution from MPI to
carry 6 monopiles and 6 transition pieces.
WE_29(5)_07-Moller 2/2/06 12:31 pm Page 468

468 E FFICIENT O FFSHORE W IND T URBINE F OUNDATIONS

Figure 4: Plan of the deck-assembly for the offshore wind farm ship, A2SEA to carry 10 transition
pieces.

Figure 5: Possible MP1 Resolution deck layout for 6 monopiles and transition pieces.

(b) Foundation Designs for Deeper Water.

The monopole foundation will not be used at significantly increased water depth. Exactly
at what water depth new designs will take over will depend on a number of factors, however
at depths of about 20 to 25 m other structures than monopiles will be considered, e.g. the
well known tripod and jacket structures used in the oil and gas industry. However using
such structures for wind turbine foundations, requires optimization of the designs, since
they will be built in relative big numbers and because they are labour intensive. For
optimizing such structures, well documented methods of using high strength grouts are
available [ 4 ].
Also other materials should be considered. Fig 6 shows a design for a multiple pile structure
in concrete, as made by the Danish Utility ENERGI E2. . ENERGI E2 has experience of making
the concrete gravity foundations for Middelgrunden and Nysted windfarms with 20 and 72
offshore turbines respectively. Their new multiple concept uses the advantage of low material
price for concrete, together with the well known method of securing the structure with small
piles, as for the tripod foundation.
WE_29(5)_07-Moller 2/2/06 12:31 pm Page 469

W IND E NGINEERING VOLUME 29, N O . 5, 2005 469

3101 5951
1311

4611

6162

3511

2251

3211
4726

2111

A A
9453

14179

Snit A-A
510

5810

4801

111
510
8648

2111

10.00
0000-

Figure 6: Design for a multiple-pile structure in concrete, made by the Danish Utility ENERHI E2.

6. CONCLUSIONS
The installation of offshore windfarms is progressing at an accelerating rate, with experience
being gained in several European countries. Obviously, the foundations are distinctive
features compared with onshore installations. This paper has reviewed the properties and
experience of grouted joints enabling such foundations. The methods have been successful,
and there is every indication of continued use as the industry expands.

REFERENCES
Morten S. Andersen and Petter Petersen, Structural Design of Grouted Connection in Offshore
Steel Monopile Foundations., Det Norske Veritas (DNV).
Det Norske Veritas, DNV-OS-J101, offshore Standard: “Design of Offshore Wind Turbine
Structures Draft, February 2004, DNV.
Tech-wise A/S (now Elsam Engineering A/S Model Tests of Grouted Transition Piece for the
Horns Rev Turbines,), 2001-08-22.
Strengthening of Offshore Steel Components Using High-Strength Grout: Component Testing
and Analytical Methods. OTC paper OTC 13192.
Fatigue characteristics, Technical Report, European Union EUREKA-Project, Contract
EU264–COMPRESIT, Sub-task 1.9.