Monopfahlgründungen - Besonderheiten der stahlbaulichen Nachweisführung von gerammten Ringflanschen

Driven Monopiles - Specifics for structural verification of flanges.

The current trend in monopile foundations for offshore wind turbines is to use a flanged connection between the monopile and the transition piece. This trend is analogous to the conventional installation of different tower sections for the wind turbines. The monopile installation continues to be done using impact driving, in which the load transfer between the hydraulic hammer and the pile is achieved by direct contact on the top of the monopile flange. For this temporary state of construction, the verification of the monopile's flange and its connection to the rest of the monopile is of particular importance.
This article addresses the calculation assumptions, the stress determination methods, the material sided resistances and the verification methods. It further presents the norms and guideline differences in the determination of material sided resistance, particularly in the fatigue assessment. The specifics for determining or choosing the imperfections in the contact elements of the impact driving are discussed as well. The stress levels on a perfect system are compared to a system, in which the tolerances are modeled. In this article, particular attention is paid to the Specifics in the verification of the Ultimate Limit State (ULS), the Fatigue Limit State (FLS) and the differentiation between the two situations. Finally, instructions for the stress determination and the assessment are compiled.