Experimental study on local scour for large-diameter mono-column composite bucket foundation for offshore wind turbines

The issue of seabed scour around offshore wind turbine foundations is a significant safety concern. In this study, local scour around a specific type of foundation, known as the large-diameter Mono-Column Composite Bucket Foundation (MCCBF) with six connectors, has been investigated through physical experiments. The study involved various flow conditions, including unidirectional flows, tidal flows, and combinations of regular waves and currents. It has been found that under similar flow intensity and orientation angles, unidirectional flow tends to cause deeper scour depths, but with a more limited extent compared to scour induced by tidal flows. The disparity in maximum scour depth between tidal and unidirectional flows decreases as flow velocity increases. Under regular wave-current interaction, both the scour depth and the scour extent are larger than those induced by unidirectional flow. The presence of lee-wake vortices and streamline contractions near the connectors results in larger scour depths on either side of the foundation, especially when the orientation angle is set to 0°. Different methods for predicting scour depth of the MCCBF were applied and discussed. •The local scour around a mono-column composite bucket foundation under various flow conditions has been investigated.•The scour depth under tidal currents is smaller than that under unidirectional flow.•The impact of six connectors on local scour would be considered.•Different scour depth prediction formulas have been compared and discussed.