Experimental study on ultimate bending performance of grouted connections in offshore wind turbine support structures

This paper investigated six grouted connection specimens under ultimate four point bending test. The different eccentricity values of pile tube, overlap length and thickness of transition piece (TP) tube has been studied. It was found that all the specimens failed in a similar ductile mode. The eccentricity values had little effect on bending capacity, stiffness and ductility. However, the increased eccentricity values would aggravate the radial and inner cracks in grout material. Meanwhile, the overlap length and the thickness of the TP tube had apparent effect on bending behavior. Moreover, the effects of the eccentricity were studied and discussed by theories of composite beams in material mechanics.