Drift of Piles subjected to cyclic lateral loading from a varying direction: System vs. Soil element behavior

Copyright © 2014 by ASME. Offshore monopiles are usually designed using the p-y method for cyclic loading. While the method works for static loading, it was not developed for high numbers of cycles. Since the turbines are highly sensitive towards tilting, cyclic loading must be considered. The static results should therefore be combined with results from cyclic model tests with a high number of cycles to account for the accumulation of displacement or rotation during the lifetime of these structures. These model tests can underestimate the accumulation, however, as it has recently been shown that a change of loading direction can increase the accumulation considerably. These results have been verified using small scale modeling and centrifuge testing. The results from modeling the full problem of a laterally loaded pile are compared here with results from cyclic simple shear tests with a change of shearing direction during the cyclic loading. For these tests, a newly developed apparatus is used. This allows further insight into the question how a soil can "retain a memory" of its loading history.