Carbon Trust Offshore Wind Accelerator Publishes Guidelines for Suction Caisson Foundations

This important document brings together the latest understanding and research to provide clarity and guidance for engineers looking to design suction caissons for foundations in offshore wind. The guidelines provide an overview of the critical factors to consider when incorporating these designs and give practical support to engineers in order to manage the design process efficiently and cost-effectively.

Jamie Irvine, Senior Engineer from Cathie Associates commented: “The guidelines provide the industry with a long sought after methodology that gives greater clarity to designers and developers on the key issues concerning the design of suction caissons.  These guidelines are for the geotechnical design of suction caissons and present the current state of knowledge and good industry practice for SICF design. As lead authors, we hope this guidance enhances confidence in the use of suction caissons in the offshore wind industry and facilitates design and review process.”

Suction installed caissons have seen increased acceptance in the offshore wind industry due to their potential for low-noise and quick installation, and suitability to certain challenging soil conditions, which enables them to compete on a commercial basis with traditional monopile and jacket designs.

Suction installed caissons can be seen supporting the latest generation of 8MW turbines at Vattenfall’s European Offshore Deployment Centre in Scotland and Ørsted’s Borkum Riffgrund 2 in Germany.

The guidelines were written on behalf of the OWA by an expert author team, led by geotechnical consultancy Cathie Associates and consisting of subject matter experts from the University of Oxford and SPT Offshore. The participation of OWA partners ensured the guidelines matched expectations of developers, and are applicable to offshore wind projects in different geographies.

The Guidelines are available for download here.