Application of in-flight robot in centrifuge modeling of laterally loaded stiff pile foundations

Offshore structures such as wind turbines are usually founded on mono-piles, with 4 to 5m in diameter. These structures are subjected to environmental lateral loading due to the action of wind and waves. Centrifuge testing of these kinds of structures requires the uncommon in-flight capability to apply lateral loading to the pile. This paper presents the results of two 70 g centrifuge tests conducted at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, RPI, on a 4.4m diameter, 40m long mono-pile embedded in a 25m high layered saturated soil. The RPI in-flight robot was used to apply different lateral forces to the top of the pile, including typical and extreme loading conditions associated with the wind load acting on the wind turbine. Pile deflection due to bending moments and pile rotation were measured and analyzed.