Lateral Load Blind Prediction Competition

Overview

The academic consortium comprising KU Leuven, UCLouvain, and ULiège, as part of the SAGE-SAND project titled Soil ageing around offshore wind turbine foundations: from operational response to decommissioning, invites the international geotechnical community, encompassing both academic researchers and industry practitioners, to participate in a lateral load blind prediction competition. This competition focuses on the prediction of the lateral load-displacement behaviour of two hollow steel monopiles installed at a test site in Zeebrugge, Belgium. One pile was installed by vibratory driving and the other by impact hammering. Participants will be provided with detailed geotechnical investigation data in situ, along with laboratory test results, and further information and instructions to support their predictions.

The winner will be announced on the first day of the DFI-EFFC International Conference on Deep Foundations and Ground Improvement: Geotechnics Reimagined, which will be held in Bruges in May 21-23, 2025 during the "Offshore Geotechnics Session" and will take place on KU Leuven Campus Bruges on May 21st. This event is in collaboration with TC212 Deep Foundations, ISSMGE and prof. Alessandro Mandolini (University of Campania Luigi Vanvitelli, TC212 Chair).

The primary aim of the competition is to contribute to the advancement of predictive modeling for the lateral response of (mono)piles and encourage the development of more accurate and reliable models. Using data obtained from lateral load tests on two hollow steel piles installed using vibratory and impact driving, respectively, the competition seeks to provide insights into how installation techniques influence the lateral pile performance. Additionally, it aims to foster collaboration between academic partners, and academia and industry, facilitating the transfer of research findings into practical applications. 

The competition will also serve as a precursor to a follow-up event, where participants will be tasked with predicting the lateral response of piles accounting for the effect of soil ageing using updated geotechnical data. This subsequent competition, scheduled for later in 2025, will focus on quantifying any soil ageing effects on the lateral pile response and aims to provide a further opportunity to refine predictive models based on new data from an upcoming series of tests.

Organization & Acknowledgements

We would like to express our gratitude to all individuals and organizations that contributed to the success of this lateral load blind prediction  ompetition and the associated pile testing campaign. Special thanks to the technical personnel at the Civil Engineering Department at KU Leuven, particularly Eli  Hamels, for their support during the experimental work. We also acknowledge the contributions of of the Mechanical Testing, Structures, and Civil Engineering Laboratory (LEMSC) at UCLouvain, including Catherine Doneux, Christophe Bayart, Antoine Bietlot, Alex Bertholet and Pierre Mertens and the joint UCLouvain-KU Leuven PhD student Pauline André, for their valuable involvement in the tests.

We further extend our appreciation to the companies that supported different aspects of the project. The site investigation and laboratory tests were carried out with the support of Department of Mobility and Public Works - Department of Geotechnics in Flanders (MOW-Afdeling Geotechniek), Group Van Vooren and Fugro (BE) & Fugro (NL) while the pile installation was performed by Jan De Nul Group, Soetaert, Dieseko Group, Capeholland, Fondytest and Pile Dynamics, Inc. Their expertise and technical support were instrumental in the execution of the field tests.

We sincerely thank everyone involved for their dedication and commitment.