Verification of Buckling Assessment and Behaviour in Large Monopiles (VERBATIM)

Increasing the understanding of monopile buckling to enhance the lifetime of offshore wind assets.

Verification of Buckling Assessment and Behaviour in Large Monopiles (VERBATIM) addresses the challenges posed by the increasing size of monopiles used as foundations for offshore wind turbines. Led by BAM in collaboration with TU Berlin and JBO, the project was funded by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi) and supported by an industry consortium coordinated by the Carbon Trust.

The project focused on two key aspects:

Monopile tip buckling during installation
Local buckling of embedded piles during operation

During offshore installation, large deformations can occur at the monopile tip, a phenomenon known as "pile tip buckling." VERBATIM aimed to optimize monopile design to minimize foundation costs while preventing such failures.

To address this issue, the project developed numerical models to predict deformation risks and validated these models by comparing results across different numerical approaches. This verification process ensured greater accuracy in predicting and mitigating buckling risks in large monopiles.

Project start and end dates

Jan 2020-Dec 2023

Partners

Delivery team: BAM, JBO, TU Berlin, The Carbon Trust
Funders: EnBW, Equinor, RWE, Ørsted, Shell, SPR, Vattenfall + German public sector funding from Bundersministerium fur Wirtschaft und Energie