Proceedings of the ASME 2020 39th International

Conference on Ocean, Offshore and Arctic Engineering

OMAE2020
August 3-7, 2020, Virtual, Online

OMAE2020-18775

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LARGE-SCALE TESTS WITH HYDRAULIC AND PNEUMATIC OVERPRESSURE FOR
MONOPILE DECOMMISSIONING OF OFFSHORE WIND TURBINES

Nils Hinzmann 1, Jörg Gattermann, Patrick Lehn

Institute of Geomechanics and Geotechnics, Technische Universität Braunschweig
Braunschweig, Germany

ABSTRACT INTRODUCTION / MOTIVATION

The complete decommissioning of an offshore wind farm can
be considered as a highly complex and hazardous approach. An
unknown number of variables and unforeseen circumstances are
involved in the decommissioning process.
On the one hand the decommissioning of the top structure,
such as blades, turbine and mast, can be handled relatively risk
free by reversing the installation steps. More focus needs to be
given to the recycling method and logistic. The foundation
decommissioning on the other hand is a much more challenging
procedure. Originally designed for high axial and lateral loads,
the foundations are generally oversized concerning the loading
capacity. With a diameter up to nine meter, an embedment of
about 40 meter and a set up effect over 25 years, the necessary
force to pull the pile out of the seabed can be assumed, if at all
determinable, to be enormous.
Different methods and techniques for a complete removal of
offshore pile foundation are currently investigated within the
project DeCoMP. Vibratory extraction and jet drilling aim for a
reduction of the pile skin friction by creating a layer of less
density between the pile shaft and pending soil.
In a different approach the seabed is used as an abutment
and a pressing force is applied by creating an overpressure
inside the pile. The results of pilot test, presented in this paper,
show the capability of overpressure pile decommissioning. On
this basis scaled test with an extensive measurement concept will
be carried out in 2020.
Keywords: Monopile, offshore foundation,
decommissioning, offshore wind, life cycle, overpressure
decommissioning.
During the last decades the German offshore wind market is
steadily growing. By the end of 2018 the capacity of offshore
wind energy exceeded the 6,5 GW mark alone within the
German Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) and will probably
increase to 7,6 GW by the end of 2020. With all the growth and
project development the end of life time scenario is still not
investigated entirely. The German Bundesamt für Seeschifffahrt
und Hydrographie (BSH) has set the operating time, if not
approved differently, for all German offshore wind farms to a
maximum of 25 years [1]. After that time everything above and
below the waterline has to be decommissioned according to the
state of the art.
As of now, only a small number of offshore foundations,
related to offshore wind energy, were decommissioned in
Europe. The piles that were decommissioned were cut beneath
the mud line. To reach a required depth, approx. 2 meter below
the seabed, the internal soil is excavated by means of a dredging
tool. After the soil is removed the cutting tool can be lowered to
the designed depth, the internal cut can be performed [2].
The Institute of Geomechanics and Geotechnics of the
Technische Universität Braunschweig (IGG-TUBS) got the
funding for a research program on technical solutions with large-
scale tests for DeCommissioning of offshore MonoPiles in its
entirely named DeCoMP [3]. The aim is to develop and adapt
technics to reduce the pile shaft resistance to such an extent, that
a crane can lift the pile, only with the weight of the pile, out of
the seabed. A different approach is to simply overcome the total
loading capacity by creating an overpressure in a sealed up pile
and using the present seabed as an abutment.
This paper focusses on the overpressure decommissioning
of pile foundations. First results of four pilot tests will be
presented.

1
Contact author: n.hinzmann@tu-braunschweig.de

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 a low amplitude, and sand cemented to pile shaft which also
resolves in higher friction [6].
PILE LOADING CAPACITY
In order to remove a pile, the pile loading capacity needs to

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be overcome. The different capacities and load combinations are
described in the following chapter.
The 'normal' axial pile loading capacity is composed of shaft
and toe resistance. For pulling out a pile, the toe resistance is not

Fs/Fs0
necessary anymore. The shaft resistance or shaft capacity can
further be separated in inside and outside resistance. Figure 1
displays the resistance of an open ended pipe pile. For slender
piles the development of a pile plug is also possible (Figure 1,
right). In the case of an existing pile plug, the total breakout
resistance composes of the outside shaft resistance and combined
weight of the pile and the plugged soil and water.

load direction

GPile GPile

shaft resistance
Gplug
FIGURE 2: TIME-DEPENDENT INCREASE OF THE PILE
CAPACITY IN SAND [7]

According to [8], the maximum tensile resistance Rg in the

FIGURE 1: TENSION WITH INNER ultimate limit state (ULS) with the boundary displacement shg,
SHAFT RESISTANCE (LEFT) AND TENSILE FORCE can be determined with empirical values. First results of static
WITH A PLUG FOR SLENDER PILES (RIGHT) load test in the context of DeCoMP have shown, that the
necessary tensile force, to actually pull the pile out, is greater
As mentioned in [4] and [5] it is expected that the loading
than the maximum force predictable with the [8] approach [3].
capacity of driven piles increases over time after the installation.
[4] investigated steel, reinforced concrete and wooden piles in In Figure 3, the maximum tensile resistance Rg in the ULS with
saturated and unsaturated marine sands. During the analysis a the maximum displacement shg is plotted in an normalized static
gain in shaft resistance, with the same level of toe resistance, was resistance – uplift curve (RUC). After [8] shg characterizes the
detected. moment a pile loses its bearing capacity in the ULS. As displayed
Various load tests and analyses of different pile setups are in Figure 3, the total tensile resistance increases even after the
displayed in Figure 2, where Fs/Fs0 is the relative loading bearing capacity is exceeded.
capacity at the time T compared to T0. It can be seen that shaft
capacity increases between 25 % and 75 % compared to the
initial capacity after installation. Part a) of Figure 2 shows the
overall capacity and part b) shows the shaft capacity only.
Reasons for the increasing load capacity can be corrosion on the
pile shaft, which results in a higher friction and therefore a higher
resistance. Other documented causes are growing radial stresses
acting on the pile shaft, due to many periods of load changes with

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 uplift s
sPOR
shg
Rg RPOR
FIGURE 3: NORMALIZED STATIC RESITANCE –
DISPLACEMENT (UPLIFT) CURVE
In order to close the gap between literature and test results,
a correction factor λPOR is implemented. The term pullout
resistance (POR), is introduced to delimit the designation of the
maximum tensile resistance according to [8] and the total pullout
resistance. The POR can be described by the following equation:
𝐹𝐹𝑃𝑃𝑃𝑃𝑃𝑃 = 𝐺𝐺 + 𝐹𝐹𝑠𝑠 ∗ 𝜆𝜆𝑃𝑃𝑃𝑃𝑃𝑃
where:
Gi : sum of weight force
Fs : sum of shaft resistance
λPOR: correction factor (λPOR > 1)
OVERPRESSURE DECOMMISSIONING
Previous scientific studies for the complete dismantling of
offshore foundation piles are mostly concentrating on numerical
modeling and prediction of the expected resistances of offshore
foundations [9]. The planned large-scale tests of the various
decommissioning methods as part of the DeCoMP project are
intended to help achieve reliable results for a complete removal
of offshore foundations. The goal is to develop techniques which
can then be upscaled to in-situ conditions. In total five different
decommissioning techniques are developed and tested in large-
scale tests [3].
One of these methods is the decommissioning of a pile by
using overpressure. Figure 5 visualized the schematics structure.
To build up overpressure, the model pile has to be closed
pressure-tight with a sealing cap. In the idealized case, the
increasing pressure inside the pile has the same effect in all
directions. The pile wall and the built-in sealing cap can be
assumed to be immovable. Therefore, the only possible
movement of the pile is upward. In this case, the floor inside the
pile serves as an abutment and the pile is pushed out. The
pressure load on the pile cap is therefore opposed to the existing
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pile skin friction.
crane uplift
high pressure high pressure
pipe pipe
overpressure
hydraulic pneumatic
fracturing fracturing
R
shaft resistance shaft resistance shaft resistance
≈0 ≈0
FIGURE 4: HYDRAULIC AND PNEUMATIC OVERPRESSURE
OFFSHORE MONOPILE DECOMMISSIONING
If the existing pressure is not sufficient to push the pile out of
the ground, another phenomenon can occur. In such a case, a
(1) flow around the pile wall occurs (see Figure 4). The medium
(e.g. water or air) inside the pile takes the path least resistance
and therefore flows along the inner wall of the pile toe and
along the outer wall of the pile to the seabed surface. With
enough flow, a layer of imperfections between the pile surface
and the pending soil is created. The resulting reduction in
friction acts as a reduction of shaft resistance on the inside and
outside. Combined with a constant pressure and therefore a
constant pressing force, against the pile cap, the pile can be
pushed out of the seabed.
LARGE-SCALE OVERPRESSURE TEST - SETUP
At the Institute for Geomechanics and Geotechnics of
Technische Universität Braunschweig (IGG-TUBS), the test
facilities for the scale model investigations, consist of two
cylindrical buckets with a height of 5 m and a diameter of 4 m.
The dimensions of the geotechnical facilities are shown in
Figure 5. The soil parameters are given in Table 1.
V010T10A012-3 Copyright © 2020 ASME
 sealed steel pipe pile in the limited geometry of the testing buckets. Soil conditions in
offshore applications are somewhat similar due to glacial
0.61 m x 0.003 m preloading (over consolidated sands).
To seal the pile, a cap (blind flange) was installed on the pile

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top. The cap was equipped with a pressure sensor, pressure

0.6 m
connector and crane hook connection (s. Figure 6). To determine
an additional crane uplift, a load cell was positioned between the
cap and the crane hook.

2.4 m
5.0 m

filter layer

4.0 m
FIGURE 5: SKETCH OF THE GEOTECHNICAL TESTING
BUCKETS (CYLINDRICAL) AT IGG-TUBS AND MODEL PILE

To achieve a high soil resistance comparable to offshore

conditions, approximately 50 m³ sand was installed in layers of
about 25 cm and compacted by means of a vibratory plate with a
weight of 350 kg and a centrifugal force of 50 kN. Thus, a dense
packing of the sand could be achieved. Total pressure sensors
and pore water transducers were placed on different layers FIGURE 6: TEST SETUP PNEUMATIC OVERPRESSURE
during soil installation. Afterwards, the soil was saturated by
flooding the testing buckets up to the mudline.
The pneumatic und hydraulic overpressure test were performed
as pilot tests during the parallel ongoing research project
TABLE 1: SOIL PARAMETERS OF THE MODEL SAND ZykLaMP at the IGG-TUBS. Due to that circumstance, each test
soil parameter value unit has a different load history, displayed in table 2. A comparison
of the test with one another appears as not promising.
angle of shear friction φ' 39 [°]
Nevertheless, each test provides valuable experience for the
cohesion c' 0 [kPa]
scheduled tests in DeCoMP in 2020 and 2021.
relative density D 0.63 [-]
max. bulk density ρmax 1.79 [g/cm³] TABLE 2: BOUNDARY PARAMTER – PILOT TEST
effective specific weight γ' 10.3 [kN/m³] POP1 POP2 HOP1 – HOP2
median particle size d50 0.39 [mm] POP3
coefficient of ununiformity Cu 2.4 [-] pressure air air water / Water
medium air
The primary stress state could be investigated and the earth pile vibration vibration vibration vibration
pressure coefficient could be determined to k0 ≈ 1.0 by installation
comparison of measurements of earth pressure cells installed in set up time 88 days 5 days 8 day 10 days
horizontal and vertical orientations. The high horizontal earth load history 18 kN, 15-20 kN 15-25 kN 15-25 kN
pressure can be explained by effects of the compaction procedure # cycle 1 48.000 60.000 60.000

V010T10A012-4 Copyright © 2020 ASME

PNEUMATIC OVERPRESSURE POP RESULTS increases again and the bearing capacity is exceeded again.
In Figure 7 the results for the first pneumatic overpressure
test POP 1 are displayed. To ensure a firm connection between
crane and pile cap, a preloading of 1 kN was applied via crane

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uplift, at the beginning of the test. At 300 s the pressure was
slowly increased, till the maximum pressure at 600 s of 1.50 bar
was reached. At this point the 1.50 bar created a compressive
force against the cap of 40 kN. The pressure was kept constant
until for approx. 190 s. During that time air bubbles have risen
throughout the test pit.
At around 800 s the load, initiated by the crane uplift, was
slowly raised to about 15 kN. At 900 s the pressure force drops
from previously 43 kN to 37 kN, which can be derived from a
first displacement of the pile. With every displacement the
volume between the ground level and the pile cape increases,
which results in a decrease of pressure. With a sufficient supply
the pressure was restored and the crane force was also increased
until the total max. force of 60 kN was reached. After that
maximum the displacement increases further and the pressure FIGURE 8: TENSILE FORCE DISPLACEMENT CURVE
decreases. The max. total force was constant for about 60 s and (LEFT) AND PRESURE DISPLACEMENT CURVE RIGHT - POP 1
then decreased. During that period the pile was pulled out at a
constant speed with small hold-ups, during which the pressure
force slightly increased before decreasing again. Once the max. The test setup for POP2, shown in Figure 9, was identical
total force decreased, the friction failure and increasing with the setup of POP1. However, the test procedure differed. At
displacement was audible with loud cracks. the beginning of POP2 a preload of about 9 kN was applied by
the crane. The pressure was then increased to 46 kN (1.60 bar).
Again air bubbles started to rise throughout the test pit.
Combined with the crane uplift the total force was increased
to 66 kN at 200 s. That load was kept constant until the first
failure in the shaft resistance occurred at 400 s. At 600 s the total
force rose again to 66 kN, during which a displacement of
approx. 150 mm occurred. After that, the pressure feed was
paused and a small static load test was performed at 1200 s. The
goal was to determine, if the gain scaffolding was permanently
changed and the effective stresses were significantly reduced.
The max. crane uplift of 35 kN was applied, but no displacement
was detected.

FIGURE 7: APPLIED FORCE AND DISPLACEMENT OVER

TIME FOR TEST POP 1

Figure 8 displays the applied force and pressure in relation

to displacement. At a displacement of 2.40 m the pile is fully
retrieved. The force visible after the full retrieval is the pile
weight. The force applied by the crane uplift increases until 23
kN. The pressure and pressure force is fully mobilized with no
displacement and decreases by further pile extraction. The edges
in the pressure indicate a stop in the pile movement and a
conversion of the effective stresses in the grain scaffolding. A
state of stability only lasts a short time befor the pressure force FIGURE 9: APPLIED FORCE AND DISPLACEMENT OVER
TIME FOR TEST POP 2

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 Again the pressure force was increased to 44 kN. After the
pressure increase 5-10 kN crane uplift was sufficient to
overcome the POR and retrieve the pile entirely.
The force and pressure displacement curve in Figure 10
shows the decrease of necessary force to extract the pile.
Visible again, is the pause in pressure feed and static load test
at a displacement of approx. 160 mm.
FIGURE 10: TENSILE FORCE DISPLACEMENT CURVE
(LEFT) AND PRESURE DISPLACEMENT CURVE RIGHT - POP 2
HYDRAULIC OVERPRESSURE HOP RESULTS
Figure 11 presents the first attempt to use water as a pressure
medium for an overpressure extraction. Analog to the tests POP1
and POP2 a preload of 10 kN was applied prior to the pressure
increase. The pressure level was increased over a period of
approx. 150 s until the max. pressure of 42 kN (1.45 bar) has
been reached. The water inlet was not sufficient enough to
compensate for the water outlet at the pile toe.
FIGURE 11: APPLIED FORCE AND DISPLACEMENT
OVER TIME FOR TEST HOP 1
V010T10A012-6
At 280 s the crane lift was increased to 20 kN and then to
39 kN. Which resulted in a total force of over 80 kN.
Unfortunately, only an elastic deformation and no displacement
was ascertained. Afterwards, the insufficient water inlet was
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identified as a potential cause for the test failure.
After a redesign and adaption a second test, displayed in
Figure 12, was carried out. The water inlet was enlarged to
approx. three times the diameter of the previous test. During the
HOP2 the pressure force was raised to 110 kN with a total
pressure of 3.4 bar. After applying an additional 35 kN of crane
uplift a total force of over 135 kN was reached. Nevertheless, the
displacement was small and the pile extraction time-depending.
Like mentioned earlier, different effects and phenomena can
occur during overpressure extraction. During the HOP2 test, a
small but constant water flow was monitored. Therefore, it can
be stated, that pressurized water flows along the pile shaft to the
pile toe and exits the pressure zone.
FIGURE 12: APPLIED FORCE AND DISPLACEMENT
OVER TIME FOR TEST HOP 2
The constant flow or stream of water presumably created a
loosening layer with reduced shaft resistance. This can be
demonstrated by the time-dependent displacement behavior of
the pile. With water, as the pressure medium, the effect is
significantly lower than with air as the medium, like concluded
in POP1 and POP2 were the POR was determined to 60 kN and
65 kN and with rising air bubbles throughout the test pit.
The force and pressure displacement curves in Figure 13
show a large number of load cycles, in which the POR was
overcome and the pressure level decreases rapidly due to the
increase in available volume.
Copyright © 2020 ASME
 REFERENCES

[1] Bundesministerium für Wirtschaft und Energie, (2018)

“Erneuerbare-Energien”, https://www.bmwi.de/

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Windenergieanlagen”, Pfahlsymposium 2019,
Mitteilung des Institutes für Grundbau und
FIGURE 13: TENSILE FORCE DISPLACEMENT CURVE Bodenmechanik, TU Braunschweig, 2019
(LEFT) AND PRESURE DISPLACEMENT CURVE RIGHT - HOP 2
[4] Jardine, R. J., Standing, J. R. & Chow, F. C. (2006)
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CONCLUSION
capacity of piles driven in sand", Geotechnique 56, No.
The study shows offshore foundation decommissioning is a
4, pp. 227-244
highly complex and extensive problem. The number of offshore
wind turbines is increasing annually. And with a predicted
[5] Gavin, K., Jardine, R., Karlsrud, K., Lehane, B., (2015)
lifetime of approx. 25 years first windfarms are going to be
"The effects of pile ageing on the shaft capacity of
decommissioned within the next 10 years. The research project
offshore piles in sand ", Frontiers in Offshore
DeCoMP is providing large-scale test results on different
Geotechnics III. pp. 129–151.
decommissioning techniques. The first overpressure results of
the presented pilot tests have shown, that it is indeed possible to
[6] Witzel, M., (2004) "Zur Tragfähigkeit und
extract a pile with overpressure. Different phenomena, like a
Gebrauchstauglichkeit von vorgefertigten
suspected layer of lesser stress, were discovered but need to be
Verdrängungspfählen in bindigen und nichtbindigen
investigated further in 2020 and 2021.
Böden", Schriftenreihe Geotechnik Universität Kassel,
Heft 15, Professor Dr.-Ing. H.-G. Kempfert
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[7] Chow, F.C., Jardine, R.J., Brucy, F., Nauroy, J.F., (1996)
The research presented in this paper was carried out within
"The effects of time on the capacity of pipe piles in
the research project DeCoMP ('large-scale model investigations
dense marine sand", Offshore Technology Conference,
for decommissioning of Monopiles', funding code 0324316,)
OTC 7972, p. 147-160
funded by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy
on the basis of a decision by the German Bundestag.
[8] Empfehlungen des Arbeitskreises 'Pfähle' (2012) EA-
Pfähle. 2. Auflage. Deutschen Gesellschaft für
Geotechnik e.V. Berlin: Ernst & Sohn

[9] Heins, E. (2017) “Numerical Simulation of the

Decommissioning of Used Piles Conference on
Maritime Energy 2017 – Decommissioning of Offshore
Geotechnical Structures” COME 2017, 28.-29. März
2017 in Hamburg, S. 119-128, 2017

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