A partnership of more than 100 agricultural entrepreneurs from the North East Polder and energy company RWE/Essent are about to construct the largest wind farm in the Netherlands. It will be located on-shore and near-shore along the dikes of the IJsselmeer. The estimated total investment comprises about 1 billion euros. The 86 wind turbines (＞7,5MW＞198m.tip) will generate 1.4 billion kWh of clean sustainable electricity per year, enough to power more than 400,000 households every day. This makes it one of the leading European regions in modem wind energy. In order to build 12 on-land wind turbines, huge mobile cranes are needed to place the generator on the tower. To build mis crane, smaller mobile cranes are needed. To position these cranes on the very soft soil and be able to reach the needed positioning accuracy at hub height, settlement is not allowed at the platform. Therefore, piled embankments will be applied at each location. Because of the high load on the crane platform (260 kN/m2) and the surrounding platform (185 kN/m2), a HSP pile grid of 1,10×1,10m and 1,30×1,30m respectively will be used. The area of the platforms is 5000 m2 each, adding up to about 60.000m2 total, making it one of the largest applications of a LTP in Europe so far. Special attention is required for the interface between the foundation of the turbines themselves and the crane platform. For this, special PLAXIS 2D and 3D FEM interaction calculations have been made, the results of which are outlined in this paper.
展开▼
