A three-dimensional vibroacoustic model for the prediction of underwater noise from offshore pile driving

Steel monopiles are nowadays widely used as foundations for a large number of offshore structures. The installation procedure commonly involves a pile driving process which can last up to several hours depending upon pile dimensions, soil conditions and input energy of the hydraulic hammer. In impact pile driving, a hydraulic hammer delivers a series of hammer blows at the head of the pile that drive the pile into the sediment. Each hammer strike results in pile vibrations that emit strong impulsive sounds into the water column which can be harmful for the marine ecosystem. With today's increasing concern regarding the environmental impact of such operations, engineering tools which will be able to provide reliable predictions of the underwater noise levels are required. In this study, a linear semi-analytical formulation of the coupled vibroacoustics of a complete pile–water–soil interaction model is addressed. The pile is described by a high order thin shell theory whereas both water and soil are modelled as three-dimensional continua. Results obtained with the developed model indicate that the near-field response in the water column consists mainly of pressure conical waves generated by the supersonic compressional waves in the pile excited by the impact hammer. The soil response is dominated by shear waves with almost vertical polarization. The Scholte waves are also generated at the water–seabed interface which can produce pressure fluctuations in the water column that are particularly significant close to the sea floor. The effects of soil elasticity and pile size are thoroughly investigated and their influence on the generated pressure levels is highlighted. The results are also compared with those ones of a similar model in which the soil is treated as an equivalent acoustic fluid. It is shown that the latter approximation can yield inaccurate results at low frequencies especially for harder soil sediments.