As wind energy evolves, so do the tools for optimizing turbine foundation designs. The industry is increasingly turning to advanced numerical modeling—like 3D finite element analysis (FEA)—to refine and validate both conventional and innovative foundation concepts. Read this article by Eric Ntambakwa, P.E., G.E and Bruno Mendes to learn about best practices to facilitate implementation of reliable FEA models in geotechnical applications for wind turbine foundation assessment.
Finite Element Analyses (FEA) are becoming more common for geotechnical engineering designs of wind turbine foundations. Implementing these advanced analysis techniques has the advantage of allowing optimization and understanding soil-structure interaction and potential failure modes of the wind turbine foundations. However, advanced analysis techniques, such as geotechnical FEA, do require careful calibration of input parameter values to higher quality field and laboratory testing data to take full advantage of the capabilities numerical models offer. Without taking the necessary steps of calibration and validation of the input parameter values and model conditions, finite element analyses can yield unrealistic results which misrepresent actual foundation and soil behavior and could result in unsatisfactory foundation performance or failure. This blog post presents a summary of best practices to facilitate implementation of reliable FEA models in geotechnical applications for wind turbine foundation assessment from a DNV perspective.