Developing screw piles for offshore renewable energy application

This paper details the work undertaken at the University of Dundee in the last 5 years to develop understanding of screw piles to allow them to be deployed offshore as an alternative foundation type to driven piles used in jacket structures. This has been prompted by several UK and European funded research initiatives to develop silent foundation techniques to mitigate affects on marine mammals and other animals. Current mitigation systems also have significant associated costs and questionable environmental credentials. Prior to starting this work, it was recognized that development would not progress unless the ability to predict installation requirements did not form an early part of the research investigation. This then led to investigation of methods to reduce installation requirements and development of new design approaches for the required new screw pile geometries. This paper details the progress of these investigations which are still ongoing.