23 / 2025-04-24 11:27:22

Performance of single-layer scour protection systems in extreme conditions: field measurements vs design standard

In certain offshore wind farms, single-layer scour protection systems made of loose rock are installed at the pile foundations. There is a consensus that large-scale and field-scale performance of these systems exceeds expectations based on small-scale physical model tests. However, there is a scarcity of publicly available field-scale data. This paper addresses the question of how real-world applications compare to design standards. It presents a case study of scour protection performance for single-layer systems, where Multibeam Echosounder (MBES) bathymetric survey data is correlated with Metocean data. The observations aim to determine whether field-scale performance aligns with or surpasses design guidelines.