Posters

Abstract

The offshore wind energy sector is scaling rapidly, driven by global demand for sustainable power. As turbines increase in size and are installed in deeper waters, foundation installation has become increasingly complex and precise. A widely used foundation type is the jacket: a steel lattice structure anchored to the seabed with pin piles, designed to withstand harsh offshore conditions. To install jacket (pin) piles, a pre-piling template is required — a temporary seabed frame that ensures accurate placement. Its two main functions are (1) securing the required centre-to-centre distance between piles and (2) maintaining pile verticality. Template design depends on environmental conditions, pile dimensions, hammer properties, water depth, and soil characteristics. With growing turbine sizes, pin piles and templates have also scaled up. In the past decade, while pile weights have tripled, template weights have increased tenfold — a trend that is neither scalable nor sustainable. This disproportionate growth creates significant engineering and logistical challenges, particularly for offshore handling and installation. Another critical challenge lies in the dynamic behaviour of piles standing freely in the template before driving. Once the hammer is positioned, the piles act like inverted pendulums. As stick-up length grows, piles become more sensitive to wave-induced dynamic excitation. Often, their natural frequency coincides with wave frequencies, leading to resonance, oscillations, and high loads on the template. These effects must be carefully addressed in design. This presentation explains how TWD has tackled these issues by developing an automated simulation framework within a dynamic software environment. The tool accurately models hydrodynamic and damping effects, enabling better prediction of pile behaviour and reducing template loads. This innovation provides a more scalable, reliable approach to supporting the offshore wind sector’s continued growth.