Dear All,

Below is a reminder of the lecture today on 
Monday the 26th of November 2012 at Loughborough 
University, organised by the ICE's East Midlands Geotechnical Group (EMGG) :

Date :Monday 26th November 2012, 6.00 for 6.30pm

Subject :  Foundation design for offshore wind turbines


Venue: Room RT037, Sir Frank Gibb Building (Civil 
Engineering Building) Loughborough University. 
Loughborough LE11 3TU (Map shown at the following 
link : http://www.lboro.ac.uk/about/findus.html ).

Light refreshments will be available from 6.00 pm.

Speakers : Byron Byrne (Oxford University)

Abstract :

The UK Government has put in place ambitious 
plans for energy generation from renewable 
sources for the next decade, and beyond. To 
achieve these targets a substantial contribution 
from offshore wind is required. At present there 
are almost six hundred offshore wind turbines 
installed and operating, with nearly 700 being 
constructed and plans to build many thousands 
more. Similar developments are expected in 
countries around Europe and elsewhere in the 
world, such as offshore China. The foundation 
design is critical to the overall turbine design, 
influencing the structural layout, the turbine’s 
dynamic and fatigue response as well as the 
construction and installation approach. Not 
unexpectedly these all have significant effects 
on the overall project economics.

This lecture draws on work published in 
Géotechnique covering foundation design for 
offshore wind turbines. The lecture is split into 
two parts. The first half covers current 
foundation designs, concentrating particularly on 
the response of monopiles to cyclic lateral 
loading. A framework for calculating accumulated 
rotations, based on small scale laboratory tests, 
will be presented. The work has highlighted that 
the stiffness of the pile response can change 
with the number of cycles applied, an important 
consideration for the fatigue design. The second 
part of the lecture looks forward to new designs, 
concentrating on suction installed foundations 
(suction caissons), a promising alternative to 
piled foundations, but as yet unused for offshore 
wind turbines. A wide ranging programme of 
research at Oxford has explored caisson design, 
from stiffness of response through to ultimate 
capacity, and the key outcomes of the research will be presented.


Speaker's Biography :

Dr Byron Byrne is a University Lecturer in Civil 
Engineering at Oxford University and a Fellow of 
St Catherine’s College. After completing degrees 
in Civil Engineering and Commerce at the 
University of Western Australia, and a short 
period of industrial experience, he came to 
Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar, specialising in 
offshore foundations. He has held a prestigious 
1851 Research Fellowship and a Fellowship by 
Examination at Magdalen College. His research on 
soil-structure interaction is mostly applied to 
offshore engineering. He has published widely on 
foundations for offshore structures, particularly 
for offshore renewable energy, and also carries 
out research on offshore pipelines. His work has 
been supported by EPSRC, the Royal Society, the 
Government and the industry. A strong feature is 
the industrial involvement in his research and he 
is active in providing advice to the industry. He 
is currently on the Editorial Board of Géotechnique Letters.


If you would like to be on our mailing list, 
please send me an e-mail. More information may be 
obtained about the various talks at :

http://emgg.lboro.ac.uk/

Regards,

Ashraf

---------
Dr A. El-Hamalawi BEng,(Hons) PhD (Cantab), MASCE,MCGS,MILT,PEng
Senior lecturer in Geomechanics
Civil and Building Engineering Department,
Loughborough University,
Loughborough LE11 3TU
United Kingdom

Tel: +44-1509-223206
Fax: +44-1509-223981
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