Bearing and deformation characteristics of monopile foundation under monotonic and cyclic horizontal loads

The bearing and deformation characteristics of monopile foundation under the monotonic and cyclic loads are key factors to consider in the design of the transmission tower structure or offshore wind energy converters. The model tests and numerical simulations of monopile foundation under monotonic and cyclic horizontal loads were performed in sand to explore the bearing characteristics and the deformation characteristics of pile. The potentially affected factors including loading height, relative density of soil, displacement amplitude were analyzed. The results show that with the loading height varies from 1 D to 4 D, the horizontal static bearing capacity of the pile under different the soil relative density decreased by 1.63–1.9 times, and the peak bending moment increased by 22.9%–36.8%. Under the cyclic loads, the peak load on the pile top increased by 31.7%–56.1% for each 1 mm increase in displacement amplitude. The stiffness of soil around pile varies as the number of cycles increases with the development trend of decreases first and then increases gradually. As the horizontal load and cycle number increase, the range of the displacement of soil extends towards the bottom of pile, until it covers the entire lower part of the model.