IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jeners/v18y2025i10p2573-d1656782.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Effect of Combined Wave and Current Loading on the Hydrodynamic Characteristics of Double-Pile Structures in Offshore Wind Turbine Foundations

Author

Listed:
  • Yongqing Lai

    (Power China Huadong Engineering Corporation Limited, Hangzhou 311100, China)

  • Li Cai

    (Power China Huadong Engineering Corporation Limited, Hangzhou 311100, China)

  • Xinyun Wu

    (Power China Huadong Engineering Corporation Limited, Hangzhou 311100, China)

  • Bin Wang

    (Power China Huadong Engineering Corporation Limited, Hangzhou 311100, China)

  • Yiyang Hu

    (State Key Laboratory of Coastal and Offshore Engineering, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian 116024, China)

  • Yuwei Liang

    (State Key Laboratory of Coastal and Offshore Engineering, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian 116024, China)

  • Haisheng Zhao

    (State Key Laboratory of Coastal and Offshore Engineering, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian 116024, China)

  • Wei Shi

    (State Key Laboratory of Coastal and Offshore Engineering, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian 116024, China)

Abstract

The multi-pile structure is a common and reliable foundation form used in offshore wind turbines (such as jacket-type structures, etc.), which can withstand hydrodynamic loads dominated by waves and water flow, providing a stable operating environment. However, the hydrodynamic responses between adjacent monopiles affected by combined wave and current loadings are seldom revealed. In this study, a generation module for wave–current combined loading is developed in waves2Foam by considering the wave theory coupled current effect. Subsequently, a numerical flume model of the double-pile structure is established in OpenFOAM based on computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and SST k-ω turbulence theory, and the hydrodynamic characteristics of the double-pile structure are investigated. It can be found that, under the combined wave–current loading, the maximum wave run-up at the leeward side of the upstream monopile is significantly reduced by about 24% on average compared with that of the individual monopile when the spacing is 1.25 and 1.75 times the wave length. At the free water surface height, the maximum discrepancy between the maximum surface pressure on the downstream monopile and the corresponding result of the individual monopile is significantly reduced from 37% to 19%. Compared to the case applying the wave loading condition, the wave–current loading reduces the influence of spacing on the wave run-up along the downstream monopile surface, the maximum surface pressure at specific positions on both upstream and downstream monopile, and the overall maximum horizontal force acting on the double-pile structure.

Suggested Citation

  • Yongqing Lai & Li Cai & Xinyun Wu & Bin Wang & Yiyang Hu & Yuwei Liang & Haisheng Zhao & Wei Shi, 2025. "Effect of Combined Wave and Current Loading on the Hydrodynamic Characteristics of Double-Pile Structures in Offshore Wind Turbine Foundations," Energies, MDPI, vol. 18(10), pages 1-17, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:18:y:2025:i:10:p:2573-:d:1656782
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/18/10/2573/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/18/10/2573/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Libo Chen & Xiaoyan Yang & Lichen Li & Wenbing Wu & M. Hesham El Naggar & Kuihua Wang & Jinyong Chen, 2020. "Numerical Analysis of the Deformation Performance of Monopile under Wave and Current Load," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(23), pages 1-14, December.
    2. Zeng, Xinmeng & Shi, Wei & Michailides, Constantine & Zhang, Songhao & Li, Xin, 2021. "Numerical and experimental investigation of breaking wave forces on a monopile-type offshore wind turbine," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 175(C), pages 501-519.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Shan Liu & Zhenyu Liu, 2022. "Influence of Currents on the Breaking Wave Forces Acting on Monopiles over an Impermeable Slope," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(1), pages 1-14, December.
    2. Zeng, Xinmeng & Shao, Yanlin & Feng, Xingya & Xu, Kun & Jin, Ruijia & Li, Huajun, 2024. "Nonlinear hydrodynamics of floating offshore wind turbines: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 191(C).
    3. Zhu, Kai & Cao, Feifei & Wang, Tianyuan & Tao, Ji & Wei, Zhiwen & Shi, Hongda, 2024. "A comparative investigation into the dynamic performance of multiple wind-wave hybrid systems utilizing a full-process analytical model," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 360(C).
    4. Xiaoyan Yang & Lixing Wang & Wenbing Wu & Hao Liu & Guosheng Jiang & Kuihua Wang & Guoxiong Mei, 2022. "Vertical Dynamic Impedance of a Viscoelastic Pile in Arbitrarily Layered Soil Based on the Fictitious Soil Pile Model," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(6), pages 1-21, March.
    5. Hao Liu & Jiaxuan Li & Xiaoyan Yang & Libo Chen & Wenbing Wu & Minjie Wen & Mingjie Jiang & Changjiang Guo, 2022. "Lateral Dynamic Response of Offshore Pipe Piles Considering Effect of Superstructure," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(18), pages 1-20, September.
    6. Liu, Tingting & Mi, Hanning & Wen, Jiahao & Zhang, Hongfu & Zhou, Daocheng, 2025. "Large eddy simulation of a small horizontal axis wind turbine near a low-rise large-span structure," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 245(C).
    7. Sudip Basack & Ghritartha Goswami & Zi-Hang Dai & Parinita Baruah, 2022. "Failure-Mechanism and Design Techniques of Offshore Wind Turbine Pile Foundation: Review and Research Directions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(19), pages 1-20, October.
    8. Ying Li & Jinghui Li & Wei Shi & Xin Li & Bin Wang, 2022. "Analysis of the Dynamic Characteristics of the Top Flange Pile Driving Process of a Novel Monopile Foundation without a Transition Section," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(10), pages 1-12, May.
    9. Wenbing Wu & Yunpeng Zhang, 2022. "A Review of Pile Foundations in Viscoelastic Medium: Dynamic Analysis and Wave Propagation Modeling," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(24), pages 1-24, December.
    10. Zhang, Zhihao & Kuang, Limin & Han, Zhaolong & Zhou, Dai & Zhao, Yongsheng & Bao, Yan & Duan, Lei & Tu, Jiahuang & Chen, Yaoran & Chen, Mingsheng, 2023. "Comparative analysis of bent and basic winglets on performance improvement of horizontal axis wind turbines," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 281(C).
    11. Qin, Mengfei & Shi, Wei & Chai, Wei & Fu, Xing & Li, Lin & Li, Xin, 2023. "Extreme structural response prediction and fatigue damage evaluation for large-scale monopile offshore wind turbines subject to typhoon conditions," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 208(C), pages 450-464.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:18:y:2025:i:10:p:2573-:d:1656782. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.