Kaolin Cyclic - LIN05, in Centrifuge Modelling of the Cyclic Response of Ring Anchors in Shared Configuration for Floating Offshore Wind Turbines

The deeply embedded ring anchor is a new anchorage system for floating offshore wind that can offer higher material efficiency compared to traditional anchors like monopiles and caissons. The ring anchor is also compatible with the shared anchor configuration, which can significantly reduce the quantity of required anchors for an offshore shore wind array. Two series of centrifuge load tests on ring anchors were performed at the University of California Davis Center for Geotechnical Modeling (CGM) at an acceleration of 70g to further investigate the behavior of ring anchors subjected to long-term cyclic loading in both clay and sand deposits. The cyclic tests (experiments LIN04 and LIN05) on the ring anchors investigated their long-term performance. Cyclic tests were performed using three independently controlled actuators that simulated a three-way shared anchor scenario or one actuator to simulate a single-line anchor scenario. Each shared anchor was subjected to load packets that covered a 180° back-and-forth sweep in the out-of-plane angle to investigate their behavior during multiple storm events. Results from these tests can be used to validate numerical models in predicting the behavior of ring anchors in sand and clay under both monotonic and cyclic loading conditions, and advance the development of the simulation models.