The Catapult is a consortium partner in Grouted OPC Connections with Annuli of Large Dimension (GOAL), a joint industry project aiming to develop reliable, industry-wide design guidelines for the design of large leg-pile connections for jacket substructures used in offshore wind applications.
Led by RWE, GOAL is a discretionary project under the Offshore Wind Accelerator Programme, part funded by The Carbon Trust and including partners SSE, ScottishPower Renewables, and Statkraft.
The design guidelines currently available for leg-pile connections for jacket substructures in the offshore wind industry are based on historical testing carried out by the oil and gas industry. This project will carry out fatigue testing on samples representative of leg-pile connections for jacket substructures in order to develop guidance that is more appropriate for offshore wind applications, ensuring efficient design and reducing risk.
The testing also aims to validate the use of Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC), which is used to form the connection between the jacket leg and the pile, as a lower cost alternative to the high-strength grouts that are currently being considered.
