Experimental investigation of the current induced local scour around a jacket foundation

The jacket foundation is a complex superstructure and has been recently used in offshore wind farms in the deep-sea regions. As a relatively new foundation structure, there lack the relevant data, such as topographic field surveys and laboratory tests that can be used to optimize the engineering design of such structure. This study presents the experimental results to investigate sediment transport and scour evolution around the jacket foundation under the unidirectional flow actions. Experimental data are analyzed to evaluate the effects of flow strength, water depth and the foundation angle on the development characteristics of the local scour around each pile leg of the jacket foundation. The influences of the superstructure and pile legs on the local scour are investigated. The results of this study are expected to be useful for assessing the stability of the jacket foundation and proposing the subsequent protective measures for such offshore structure.