Bearing behavior assessment of wind turbines' s shallow foundations, comparison of gravity-based foundations and suction buckets

The rapid growth of offshore wind energy has driven the need for advanced foundation designs to support larger turbines in challenging marine environments. This study evaluates the performance of two key shallow foundation types for offshore wind turbines—gravity-based foundations (GBFs) and monopod suction buckets (MSBs)—using finite element analysis (FEA) in ABAQUS. Conducted at a site in the Dorood Oil Field in the Persian Gulf, the analysis compares soil stress, foundation settlement, lateral displacement, and rotation under gravitational and environmental loads. Eight GBF configurations with varying height-to-diameter ratios and ten MSB configurations with different skirt length to diameter ratios were examined. Results show that MSB foundations generally exhibit lower settlement and comparable lateral stability compared to GBFs, particularly for larger configurations, due to effective load transfer to deeper soil layers. However, GBFs demonstrate lower rotation angles at higher h/D ratios. Optimal configurations, GBF-1 and MSB-1, were identified as balanced designs offering reliable performance. These findings provide valuable insights for optimizing foundation design in offshore wind turbine projects, emphasizing the critical role of foundation geometry and soil-structure interaction.