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Reinforced concrete (RC) marine piles usually suffer from local stiffness deterioration caused by chloride attack in splash and tidal zones. Moreover, pre-existing concrete cracks and defects at the steel–concrete interface usually lead to nonuniformly localized corrosion, which has seldomly been discussed. In this study, the effects of nonuniformly localized corrosion on the lateral behaviours of piles were experimentally studied. The localized electrochemical chloride erosion (LECE) technique was employed, and the corrosion level was represented by the number of corroded steel bars and the length of the corroded sections. Results show that the nonuniform localized corrosion caused asymmetric force–displacement hysteresis curves and changed the failure mode of pile structure under cyclic loading. The highly contrast mechanical responses suggest the importance of the loading directions in assessing the mechanical behaviours of corroded piles. Skeleton curves, stiffness degradation and energy dissipation capacity were further analysed to investigate the bearing capacity of corroded piles. These findings can benefit the comprehensive understandings and assessment of the asymmetric stiffness deterioration of corroded marine RC piles.

The surcharge load at the ground surface inevitably breaks the original equilibrium state between the underneath tunnel and the surrounding soil, which will impact the service performance of a subway tunnel. This paper presents a novel semi-analytical approach for assessing the time-dependent, longitudinal responses of a subway tunnel in soft soil strata induced by the surcharge load. The solution is developed based on the framework of the classical “two-stage method” but innovatively incorporates the effects of ground stratification, the consolidation process, and the longitudinal stiffness reduction of the lining. Biot’s poroelastic theory in conjunction with the Laplace-Fourier transform technique is selected to model the deformation of the stratified ground, while the Timoshenko beam on a Pasternak foundation is employed to model the mechanical responses of the tunnel. The proposed semi-analytical solution is validated not only by comparison with benchmark solutions and a finite element model, but also by predicting a well-documented field measurement. Parametric analyses are conducted to investigate the effects of the elastic modulus and the permeability coefficient of the stratified ground on the longitudinal responses of the tunnel. It is expected that the proposed solution can serve as a useful tool for evaluating the effects of the surcharge load on the longitudinal responses of a subway tunnel.

Numerous offshore wind turbines (OWTs) with bucket foundations have been installed in seismic regions. Compared to the relative development of monopiles (widely installed), seismic design guidelines for bucket-supported OWTs still need to be developed. Moreover, scour around bucket foundations induced by water–current actions also creates more challenges for the seismic design of OWTs. In this study, a simplified seismic analysis method is proposed that incorporates the soil–structure interaction (SSI) for the preliminary design of scoured bucket-supported OWTs, aiming to balance accuracy and efficiency. The dynamic SSI effects are represented using lumped parameter models (LPMs), which are developed by fitting impedance functions of the soil–bucket foundation obtained from the four-spring Winkler model. The water–structure interaction is also considered by the added mass in seismic analysis. Based on the OpenSees 3.3.0 platform, an integral model is established and validated using the three-dimensional finite element method. The results indicate that the bucket-supported OWT demonstrates greater dynamic impedance and first-order natural frequency compared to the monopile-supported OWT, which has an increased seismic response. Seismic spectral characteristics and intensities also play an important role in the responses. Additionally, scour can change the bucket impedance functions and the frequency characteristics of the OWT system, leading to a significant alteration in the seismic response. Scour effects may be advantageous or disadvantageous, depending on the spectral characteristics of seismic excitations. These findings provide insights into the seismic response of bucket-supported OWTs under scoured conditions.

The service environment of offshore wind turbine (OWT) support structures is harsh, and it is extremely difficult to replace these structures during their operational lifespan, making their failure a catastrophic event. The structural health monitoring (SHM) of OWT support structures is a crucial aspect of operational maintenance for OWT support structures, aiming to mitigate significant financial losses. This paper systematically summarizes the current monitoring methods and technologies for OWT support structures, including towers and foundations. Through the review of monitoring content and the evolution of monitoring techniques for supporting structures, it delves deeper into the challenges faced by wind turbine monitoring and highlights potential avenues for future development. Then, the current damage identification techniques for OWT towers and foundations are analyzed, exploring various methods including model-based, vibration-based, artificial intelligence and hybrid fault diagnosis methods. The article also examines the advantages and disadvantages of each approach and outlines potential future directions for research and development in this field. Furthermore, it delves into the current damage identification techniques for OWT towers and foundations, discussing prevalent challenges and future directions in this domain. This status review can provide reference and guidance for the monitoring design of OWT support structures, and provide support for the fault diagnosis of OWT support structures.

Offshore wind power is rapidly developing as a source of clean energy. However, as local scour of the foundation of an offshore wind turbine can create serious safety risks to the normal operation of the turbine, it is necessary to protect the foundation from scour. In this paper, a new scour protection countermeasure using solidified soil has been investigated via an updated apparatus for a simplified scour resistance test (SSRT). Two types of tests were carried out: an unconfined compressive test to determine geotechnical parameters and an SSRT test to reflect the scour resistance of the soil samples. The results show that unconfined strength is approximately related to the critical flow velocity of the scour resistance as a power function. Soil samples having an unconfined compressive strength of 300 kPa can resist erosion under flow conditions above 3.14 m/s after solidification. In addition, the solidification state of the solidified soil has a great impact on the scour resistance of the soil sample, and the critical scour velocity of the final solidified soil is increased by 80–150% as compared to an initial solidified soil having the same final unconfined strength. These results suggest that attention should be paid to the state of the solidified soil during the construction process. The engineers should control the ratio of cement, water, and soil of the solidified soil according to the hydraulic parameters at the time of construction so that no great loss of solidified soil will occur during the construction process.

A series of centrifuge model tests were conducted to study the interaction between successively constructed adjacent foundation pits. The stress, deformation, and earth pressure on retaining structures and the settlement of the soil between the two adjacent foundation pits during successive construction were investigated by a comprehensive instrumentation program. To reveal the effect of the construction sequence, both the stress and deformation of successively constructed foundation pits were compared. The results showed that the stress and deformation of the retaining structure in the foundation pit constructed first were larger than those in the foundation pit constructed later. Due to the inward displacement of the soil around the foundation pits excavated first, the first strut of the foundation pit constructed later underwent high tension during the construction of the first foundation pit. The lateral deformation of the retaining structure of the foundation pit excavated first increased with the increase of the excavation depth. However, the excavation of the second foundation pit reduced the earth pressure on the retaining wall between the two excavations, thus leading to the recovery of the inward deformation in the first excavation. However, the top of the retaining wall deformed into the first foundation pit during the whole construction. The settlement of the soil between the two foundation pits showed a superposition effect. During the construction of the two foundation pits, the settlement of the soil between them kept increasing. The active earth pressure on the middle wall of the foundation pit constructed later was lower than that on the middle wall of the first foundation pit. The excavation of the foundation pit constructed later had no significant effect on the passive earth pressure of the first foundation pit.

Simultaneous construction of adjacent projects may lead to emergencies in a foundation pit group, which significantly affects the deformation and safety of foundation pits. In this study, the deformation characteristics of a deep foundation pit group and the mutual interactions among the adjacent foundation pits were observed by a monitoring system during excavation. Field data of the foundation pit group, including the lateral deflections of the enclosure pile, the ground subsidence, as well as the vertical column movements, were analyzed and compared with individual excavations in Shanghai. The field data showed that the excavation of the adjacent foundation pit reduced the lateral deformation of the enclosure structure, caused by the reduction of active earth pressure acting on the retaining pile. Furthermore, the foundation pit excavated later caused upward movements of the soil between them. However, the foundation pit excavated earlier had a negligible influence on the vertical column movements of the foundation pit excavated later. Due to the optimized excavation sequence of the deep foundation pit group, the deformation of this special excavation was well controlled.