The objective
is the development and validation of design tools for offshore wind turbine support structures. The goal is to implement a combination of numerical modelling and experimental results to enable tuning and adaptation of the currently used design methods to better design the sizes of the next generation of wind turbines (above 10-20MW). Contrary to the work performed within WP6, the focus in WP7.2 will be on structural details of the support structures, such as the grouted joints and the soil structure interaction base, closing the knowledge gaps identified for the design of these structures undertaking millions of fatigue cycles in harsh environmental conditions. For this, properly designed experimental campaigns, with emphasis on fatigue, have to be implemented covering these structural details, so that the data base created can then be taken up on the advanced design tools.