See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.

net/publication/281292928

An investigation of a rock socketed pile with an integral bearing plate founded

over weak rock

Conference Paper · September 2011

CITATIONS READS

16 1,315

2 authors:

Harry Arshi K.J. Stone

University of Brighton University of Brighton
13 PUBLICATIONS 113 CITATIONS 43 PUBLICATIONS 664 CITATIONS

SEE PROFILE SEE PROFILE

All content following this page was uploaded by Harry Arshi on 28 August 2015.

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

 15th European Conference on Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering: Geotechnics of Hard
Soils - Weak Rocks: 2011

An investigation of a rock socketed pile with an

integral bearing plate founded over weak rock
Étude d'une pile avec une plaque encastrée dans une roche
molle

H.S. Arshi1 & K.J.L. Stone

University of Brighton, Brighton, United Kingdom

ABSTRACT

Current offshore technology is being transferred successfully to the renewable energy sector but there is clearly scope to develop
foundation systems which are more efficient, economic and satisfactory for the particular case of a wind turbine. One such ap-
proach is that foundation systems are developed which combine several foundation elements to create a ‘hybrid’ system. In this
way it may be possible to develop a foundation system which is more efficient for the combination of vertical and lateral loads
associated with wind turbines. In many of the proposed offshore European wind farms sites, it is often the case that the surficial
seabed deposits are underlain by a weak rock. This paper presents the results of a series of small scale single gravity tests to in-
vestigate the performance of a monopile and combined monopile and bearing plate foundation where the pile is socketed into a
weak rock. In the model studies the weak rock layer is modelled by a weak sand and gypsum mix. The results of the study pro-
vide an insight into the effect of the various foundation elements (i.e. pile, plate and rock socket) and their contribution to the
overall performance of the foundation system.

RÉSUMÉ
La technologie actuelle utilisée en offshore est reutilisée avec succès dans le secteur de l’énergie renouvelable, cependant il est
possible de développer des systèmes de fondations plus efficaces, économiques et statisfaisants dans le cas des éoliennes. Une
approche du problème consiste à développer un système de fondation qui combine plusieurs éléments de fondation pour créer un
système hybride. De cette façon, il peut être possible de développer un système de fondation qui soit plus efficace pour des eoli-
ennes qui subissent une charge laterale et verticale. La plupart des parcs éoliens Européens proposés se trouvent dans le cas ou
les dépôts des fonds marins reposent sur une roche molle. Cet article présent les résultats d'une série de tests à petite échelle et de
même gravité. Ce document a pour but d’étudier la performance d'une pile et le cas d’une pile combinée avec une plaque, où la
pile est encastrée dans une roche tendre. Dans cette étude, la roche molle est réalisée par le mélange de gypse et de sable faible.
Les résultats donnent un aperçu de l’effet des différents éléments de fondation et leur contribution à la performance globale du
système de fondation.

Keywords: Offshore turbine, weak rock, monopile, rock socket, laterally loads.

1
Corresponding author
 15th European Conference on Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering: Geotechnics of Hard
Soils - Weak Rocks: 2011

1 INTRODUCTION In the monopile plate foundation a circular

plate is rigidly attached to the monopile at the
The design of offshore foundation systems is mudline. The 2-D analogy of this system is that
constantly evolving. The target for this change is of a retaining wall with a stabilising base [1].
meeting the needs of on-going developments in Where the plate diameter is relatively small then
the oil and energy sector. In the hydrocarbon ex- the system is similar to a single capped pile, for
traction sector, exploration and development is which methods have been developed for analys-
moving in to ever deeper water resulting in ever ing the influence of the pile and pile cap under
more challenging geotechnical conditions. Simi- axial loading [2], and the effect of the pile cap on
larly, the development of sites for offshore wind- the lateral performance of single piles has also
farms is also extending into deeper water as the been investigated by others [3], [4], [5], [6].
supply of shallow near shore sites is exhausted. The effect of the pile cap or bearing plate is to
Similarly the capacity of wind turbine generators provide a degree of rotational restraint at the pile
is also increasing requiring significant develop- head, leading to an improvement in the lateral re-
ment in foundation approaches to generate eco- sistance of the pile. It has also been shown that
nomic and practical solutions to the installation the use of a relatively thick pile cap leads to an
of these deep water wind farms. increase in the lateral resistance through the de-
The loadings associated with wind turbines velopment of passive soil wedges [7], in a simi-
consist of relatively low vertical loadings but lar way to the behaviour of skirted foundations
high lateral loads resulting in very large over- [8].
turning moments. The preferred foundation sys- The lateral response of piles is well reported
tem to date has been the monopile which has in the literature, and various methods of analysis
been successfully employed for the majority of have been proposed by numerous researchers,
the offshore wind farms installed to date. The [9],[10],[11],[12],[13],[14],[15]. The bearing ca-
popularity of this type of foundation is due to its pacity problem has also been investigated under
employability in a variety of different soil condi- different loading conditions relevant to offshore
tions. foundations, see for example refs [16],[17].
In many of the proposed offshore wind farm
locations, it is often the case that the surficial
seabed deposits are underlain by rock, generally
weak rocks such as mudstones and chalk. Con-
sequently it becomes necessary to install the
monopiles, generally by driving, to significant
depth into the rock to achieve adequate lateral
stiffness and moment resistance to carry the ap-
plied loads.
This paper presents the results of a series of
small scale single gravity tests to investigate the
performance of a rock socketed pile installed in a
weak rock and fitted with an integral bearing
plate, schematically shown in Figure 1. The ob-
jective is to investigate the effect of the bearing
plate on the lateral response of the monopile. It
is hoped that the results of the study will provide
some insights into the effect of the various foun-
dation elements (i.e. pile, plate and rock socket)
and their contribution to the overall performance Figure 1. Schematic arrangement of monopile-footing with
of the foundation system. rock socketed pile.
 15th European Conference on Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering: Geotechnics of Hard
Soils - Weak Rocks: 2011

Pervious investigations carried out at one In the study reported here the influence of the
gravity in ‘sand box’ tests [18], [19], [20] has bearing plate on the monopile response is inves-
shown that the lateral stiffness and ultimate ca- tigated for the case of a rock socketed monopile
pacity of the monopole is enhanced by the addi- with an overlying layer of cohesionless soil. This
tion of the bearing plate. Centrifuge model tests ground model is felt to be of particular relevance
have also indicated that for cohesionless soils the for offshore wind farm development since the
ultimate lateral capacity of a monopole is en- potential economical benefits of reducing the pile
hanced by the presence of a bearing plate [20]. penetration into the underlying rock layer are
However, centrifuge tests performed on clay significant.
samples did not indicate much improvement in
the lateral performance of the monopole due to
the presence of the bearing plate [21]. It should 2 EXPERIMENTAL PREOCEDURE
be noted that these centrifuge tests are not direct-
ly comparable since the relative geometries of
the pile and bearing plates were significantly dif- 2.1 Materials and model preparation
ferent in both studies.
All the model tests were conducted in a ‘sand
box’ of internal dimensions 363 mm x 244 mm x
203 mm deep. The stratigrahpical profile con-
sisted of a layer of cohesionless material overly-
ing a layer of weak rock. The cohesionless mate-
rial consisted of a fine grained (d50=0.25mm)
rounded to sub-rounded uniformly graded quartz
sand. The maximum and minimum void ratios
were 1.1 and 0.68 respectively, corresponding to
dry unit weights of 12.9 and 17.0 kN/m3. A crit-
ical state angle of friction of 32 degrees was de-
termined from direct shear tests.
-a- The weak rock layer was modelled using a
sand and gypsum mix. The mix proportions of
70% sand and 30% gypsum by dry weight was
used. The wet mixture was poured into the mod-
el container and the piles installed to their em-
bedment depth in the still wet mix. Once the
gypsum mix had set the sand layer was placed by
dry pluviation to the desired height. The bearing
plate was then threaded along the pile and was
clamped to the pile once it was firmly resting on
the sand surface.
The model pile was fabricated from a 10 mm
diameter solid aluminium rod, the bearing plate
consisted of a 40 mm diameter 5 mm thick alu-
minium plate. The pile was threaded through the
bearing plate which in turn was clamped to the
pile. Thus the location of the bearing plate on
-b-
the pile shaft could be adjusted.
Figure 2. a) Photograph of model container showing socketed
piles cast into rock prior to pluviation of overlying sand layer
and b) schematic diagram of testing rig.
 15th European Conference on Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering: Geotechnics of Hard
Soils - Weak Rocks: 2011

2.2 Test setup and procedure bled when the bearing plate is present; for the
20% socketed pile the ultimate capacity is only
The completed model was placed in a loading
marginally increased. It is however apparent that
frame and lateral loading to the pile was applied
for all cases the lateral stiffness of the monopile
via a wire and pulley arrangement connected to a
is enhanced by the presence of the bearing plate.
vertical actuator, refer to Figure 2b. Vertical
This is particularly evident for the deep rock
loads were applied by dead weights (10N) placed
socketed pile (20%) where a significant im-
on the bearing plate. For the pile only tests the
provement in the initial lateral stiffness is ob-
bearing plate supporting the dead weights was
served. It is also apparent that the form of the
raised clear of the soil surface. Two LVDT
monopiled-footing response for the deep rock
transducers were located to record the lateral
socket suggests that a passive failure of the soft
displacement of the pile at two locations, one at
rock occurs. This is inferred by the plastic type
the line of action of the lateral load, 52mm above
response of the foundation suggesting a yielding
the soil surface, and the other at a higher loca-
of the soft rock.
tion.
The model test program comprised of a total
of three pairs of tests. Each test pair consisted of
a single monopile and a monopiled-footing foun-
dation, and were performed in the same prepared
soil model. In order to assess the influence of
the rock socket, three socket depths were tested
corresponding to 0%, 5%, and 20% of the total
embedment length of the pile. Table 1 shows a
summary of the model tests performed.

Table 1. Summary of model tests

Foundation type Embedment depth (mm)

Monopile (P 0%) 0.0 mm (Sand only)

Monopile (P 5%) 7.5 mm (5% of pile length)
Monopile (P20%) 30 mm (20% of pile length)
Monopile-footing (H 0%) 0.0 mm (Sand only)
Monopile-footing (H 5%) 7.5 mm (5% of pile length)
Monopile-footing (H 20%) 30 mm (20% of pile length)

Figure 4. Moment capacity versus rotation at pile head for

monopiles and monopile-footings with 0%, 5% and 20% em-
3 TEST RESULTS AND ANALYSIS bedment on soft rock

The results obtained from the tests are best pre-

sented through plots of the applied pile head
moment against the pile head rotation. Figure 3 4 DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS
summarises the response of both the monopiles
and the monopiled-footings for the different rock From the limited study reported here it is appar-
socket depths of 0%, 5% and 20% respectively. ent that the depth of the rock socket has an im-
From this figure it is apparent that the ulti- portant influence on the behaviour of the founda-
mate moment capacity of the monopile is en- tion systems.
hanced by the presence of the bearing plate. For Figure 6 shows a schematic representation of
the unsocketed monopile (0%) and the 5% sock- the soil stresses developed by the rotating mono-
eted pile ultimate capacity is approximately dou- piled-footing foundation. It is apparent that the
 15th European Conference on Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering: Geotechnics of Hard
Soils - Weak Rocks: 2011

response of the system is the result of a complex Whilst the study reported here is limited, the
ground-structure interaction problem. For the results are encouraging, and it is hoped that fu-
basic one gravity tests conducted in this study the ture studies, including geotechnical centrifuge
piles were extremely stiff and excavation after modelling, will provide a clearer picture of the
the tests indicated that rotation had occurred complex response of rock socketed monopiled-
about the pile toe. Clearly the point of rotation footings.
of the piles would be influenced by the relative
pile/soil stiffness and further study is required to
investigate the performance of more flexible REFERENCES
piles.
[1] W. Powrie, and M.P. Daly, Centrifuge modeling of
embedded retaining wall with stabilizing bases, Ge-
otechnique, 57(6) (2007), 485-497.
[2] H.G. Poulos, and M.F. Randolph, Pile group analysis:
a study of two methods, ASCE Journal of Geotech-
nical Engineering, 109(3) (1983), 355-372.
[3] J.B. Kim, L.P. Singh, and R.J. Brungraber, Pile cap
soil interaction from full scale lateral load tests, ASCE
Journal of Geotechnical Engineering, 105(5) (1979),
643-653.
[4] R.L. Mokwa, and J.M. Duncan, Experimental evalua-
tion of lateral-load resistance of pile caps, ASCE Jour-
nal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineer-
ing, 127(2) (2001), 185 - 192.
[5] R.L. Mokwa, and J.M. Duncan, Rotational restraint of
pile caps during lateral loading, ASCE Journal of Ge-
otechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering, 129(9)
(2003), 829 - 837.
[6] D.K. Maharaj, Load-Deflection Response of Laterally
Loaded Single Pile by Nonlinear Finite Element Anal-
ysis, EJEG (2003).
[7] R.L. Mokwa, Investigation of the Resistance of Pile
Caps to Lateral Loading, Ph.D Thesis, Virginia Poly-
technic Institute, Blacksburg, Virginia, 1999.
Figure 6. Schematic representation of soil stresses on a rock
[8] M.F. Bransby, and M.F. Randolph, Combined loading
socketed monopile-footing foundation with rotation about the
of skirted foundations. Géotechnique, 48(5) (1998),
pile toe.
637–655.
[9] H. Matlock, and L.C. Reese, Generalized solutions for
The study presented here is very much a fea- laterally loaded piles. ASCE Journal of Soil Mechanics
sibility study investigating the potential of en- and Foundations Division, 86(SM5) (1960), 63-91.
[10] B.B. Broms, Lateral resistance of piles in cohesionless
hancing the lateral performance of monopiles soils, ASCE Journal of the Soil Mechanics and Foun-
through the use of a bearing plate. The study dation Division, 90(SM3) 1964, 123-156.
has considered the case of a rock socketed [11] H.G. Poulos, Behaviour of laterally loaded piles: Part
monopile to supplement other studies carried out I-single piles, ASCE Journal of the Soil Mechanics
and Foundations Division, 97(SM5) (1971), 711-731.
in uniform soils, both cohesionless and cohesive. [12] L.C. Reese, W.R. Cox, and F.D. Koop, Analysis of
The results are consistent with the previous stud- laterally loaded piles in sand, Offshore Technology
ies undertaken in cohesionless soils, with similar Conference, Vol. II(Paper No. 2080) (1974), 473-484.
pile and plate geometries, and confirm that the [13] M.F. Randolph, The response of flexible piles to lat-
eral loading, Géotechnique, 31(2) 91981), 247-259.
bearing plate appears to provide a method of en- [14] J.M. Duncan, L.T. Evans, and P.S. Ooi, Lateral load
hancing the lateral capacity of monopile founda- analysis of single piles and drilled shafts, ASCE Jour-
tions. It is also apparent that the use of a bearing nal of Geotechnical Engineering, 120(6) (1994), 1018-
plate with a well socketed pile can considerably 1033.
[15] L. Zhang, F. Silva, and R. Grismala, Ultimate Lateral
improve the initial lateral stiffness of the mono- Resistance to Piles in Cohesionless Soils, Journal of
pile.
 15th European Conference on Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering: Geotechnics of Hard
Soils - Weak Rocks: 2011

Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering,

Vol. 131(1) (2005), 78–83.
[16] G.T. Houlsby, and A.M. Puzrin, The bearing capacity
of a strip footing on clay under combined loading,
Proc. R. Soc. London Ser. A, 455 (1999), 893–916.
[17] S. Gourvenec, and M. Randolph, Effect of strength
non-homogeneity on the shape of failure envelopes for
combined loading of strip and circular foundations on
clay, Géotechnique, 53(6) (2003), 575–586
[18] K.J.L. Stone, T.A. Newson, and J. Sandon, An inves-
tigation of the performance of a ‘hybrid’ monopole-
footing foundation for offshore structures. Proc. 6th
Int. Offshore Site Investigation Conf., 11-13th Ssept
2007, London, UK, 2007.
[19] K.J.L. Stone, T.A. Newson, and M. El Marassi, An in-
vestigation of a monopiled-footing foundation. Int.
Conf. Phys. Modelling in Geotech., ICPMG2010 (Zur-
ich), Balkema, Rotterdam, 2010.
[20] M. El-Marassi, T. Newson, H. El-Naggar, and K.
Stone, Numerical modelling of the performance of a
hybrid monopiled-footing foundation. GeoEdmon-
ton2008: Proceedings of the Canadian Geotechnical
Conference. (Paper No. 420, 1-8), 2008.
[21] B.M. Lehane, W. Powrie, and L.P. Doherty, Centri-
fuge model tests in piled footings in clay for offshore
wind turbines. Int. Conf. Phys. Modelling in Geotech.,
ICPMG2010 (Zurich), Balkema, Rotterdam, 2010.

View publication stats