| Summary: | This paper describes and interprets tests on piles driven through glacial tills and chalk at a Baltic Sea windfarm, covering an advance trial campaign and later production piling. The trials involved six instrumented 1.37m diameter steel open-ended tubes driven in water depths up to 42m. Three piles were tested statically, with dynamic re-strike tests on paired piles, at 12-15 week ages. Instrumented dynamic driving and re-strike monitoring followed on up to 3.7m diameter production piles. During driving, the shaft resistances developed at fixed depths below sea-bed fell markedly during driving, with particularly sharp reductions occurring in the chalk. Shaft resistances increased markedly after driving and good agreement was seen between long-term capacities interpreted from parallel static and dynamic tests. Analyses employing the sites’ geotechnical profiles show long-term shaft resistances in the chalk that far exceed those indicated by current design recommendations, while newly proposed procedures offer good predictions. The shaft capacities mobilised in the low-plasticity tills also grew significantly over time, within the broad ranges reported for sandy soils. The value of offshore field testing in improving project outcomes and design rules is demonstrated; the approach described may be applied to other difficult seabed conditions.
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