Experimental study of long-term scour damage for protected offshore wind foundations

The offshore wind sector has been experiencing considerable growth due to the need to counteract climate change and the increase in fossil fuel prices Offshore wind turbine (OWT) foundations represent roughly 25% to 34% of the overall investment. In order to prevent scour, which can cause ultimate or service limit failures, the installation of protection mechanisms has an impact on costs. Since protections’ design and optimization have been kept private by stakeholders, the scientific community has been focusing on dynamic scour protections, where armor layer units can have a controlled degree of movement. Within the climate change scenario, OWTs are expected to operate longer and with re-powered turbines. In this context, this paper presents an experimental study on long-term scour damage for monopile scour protections. Results show filter exposures after 5000 waves, underlining the necessity for further research in dynamic scour protections and their long-term damage behavior.