B-SDM: A bounding surface stiffness degradation method for modelling the long-term ratcheting response of offshore wind turbine foundations

Long-term cyclic loading from environmental conditions can lead to excessive permanent rotation of offshore wind turbines (OWTs) due to the ratcheting response of sand.A practical hybrid strain accumulation approach, termed the bounding surface stiffness degradation method (B-SDM), for finite element analysis (FEA)-based design of OWTs under cyclic loading is presented. This method includes a base elastoplastic constitutive model that captures the stress–strain relationship in the first load-unload cycle and a cyclic strain accumulation scheme for modelling the subsequent cycles. The presented approach allows for a versatile overlay scheme that calculates cyclic strain accumulationto be applied to a range of base elastoplastic models. The base constitutive model utilisedis established based on the bounding surface concept and considers strain-hardening and plastic volume change before failure. The method has been validated by single element test data on sand and used in finitesingle-element element modelling of monopile response in cyclic loading. When the monopile response is modelled in 3D FEA, the conventional step-by-step modelling approach is used until the end of the first regular cycle. Strain accumulation in subsequent cycles is modelled using the B-SDM, in which the plastic modulus and dilatancy relationship are scaled based on a strain accumulation law.