Growth through Research, development & demonstration in Offshore Wind

GDP DEMO Day Successful

On Friday the 1st of November the Gentle Driving of Piles (GDP) project hosted a demonstration day of the field tests at the second Maasvlakte in the Netherlands. On that day the use of a newly developed pile installation method based on simultaneous application of low-frequency and high-frequency vibrations was demonstrated.

Over 100 visitors witnessed a successful test installation and attended the symposium in the afternoon with technical presentations about GDP and other related subjects within the Offshore engineering research group of the TU Delft.

The field tests are part of the GDP research project that aims to develop a novel pile driving technique that simultaneously improves drivability, reduces noise emission, and ensures that the soil bearing capacity stays intact. In this experimental campaign that is executed from October to December 2019, the newly developed GDP shaker is tested and compared to traditional vibratory and impact hammers. In total eight piles were installed of which four were driven with the GDP shaker, three by impact hammering and one by vibratory driving. At the end of this year the field test finishes, and the piles will be removed.

In the next 2 months the installed piles will be laterally loaded and the behavior of the soil around the piles is monitored. The highly instrumented pile and soil monitoring will provide a unique set of data which will be used to validate three new prediction tools. These numerical models will provide the required tools to be able to predict the drivability of offshore monopiles, the state of the soil during and after driving the piles, and the noise generated during gentle driving of piles. Next step is the development of the GDP shaker in an offshore full-scale test and in stiffer soil types.

GDP is a project within GROW, the joint research programme in offshore wind that initiates research and accelerates innovations. Delft University of Technology (TU Delft) is coordinating the project with the following project partners; Boskalis, Cape Holland, Deltares, DOT, Eneco, IHC IQIP, Innogy, Seaway7, Shell, SIF, TNO and Van Oord. This project is funded by RVO and supported by TKI Wind Op Zee.


            Gentle Driving of Piles Demoday
Gentle Driving of Piles Demoday
magnify