Impedance of surface footings on layered ground

Traditionally only the static bearing capacity and stiffness of the ground is considered in the design of wind turbine foundations. However, modern wind turbines are flexible structures with resonance frequencies as low as 0.2 Hz. Unfortunately, environmental loads and the passage of blades past the tower may lead to excitation with frequencies of the same order of magnitude. Therefore, dynamic soil–structure interaction has to be accounted for in order to get an accurate prediction of the structural response. In this paper the particular problem of a rigid foundation on a layered subsoil is discussed. Based on the Green’s function for a stratified half-space, the impedance of a surface footing with arbitrary shape is computed. A wind turbine foundation is analysed in the frequency range 0–3 Hz. Analyses show that soil stratification may lead to significant changes in the impedance related to both rocking and translation at frequencies close to the first resonance frequency of an offshore wind turbine.