Matt Bristow has extensive experience in the design of foundations and superstructures for offshore and onshore wind farms. Matt Bristow is experienced in many types of structure being able to offer expertise in both structural engineering and geotechnical engineering:
- Experience – Matt Bristow has been involved in the design and development of the earliest onshore foundations in the UK since 1991 and the earliest offshore wind farms in Europe since 1999.
- Offshore – design of monopile foundations, including very large diameters suitable for deeper water locations. With monopile design the main objective is always optimisation for minimal overall cost. Matt Bristow is experienced in both structural and geotechnical engineering which allows truly integrated designs to be carried out for maximum cost savings. The industry often talks about potential savings of 10 to 20%, but with Matt Bristow’s more efficient design techniques and new state-of-the-art geotechnical methods, these savings are already achievable.
- Offshore – design of gravity foundations, including new or alternative concepts. Particular emphasis on concepts which have the benefits of being semi-buoyant, self-installing, and/or require no seabed preparation. In addition, the concept and design of gravity foundations for low bearing pressure or very low bearing pressure sites, including techniques for founding on thin layers of soft sediments.
- Offshore – design of jacket foundations, with particular emphasis on new jacket configurations and creation of innovative tubular connections for maximum fatigue life. Conventional jacket configurations attract high fatigue loads at the brace connections; alternative layouts attract much lower loads. Alternative tubular connections, e.g. K-joints and X-joints, have substantially lower SCF which often means the avoidance of costly cast joints.
- Onshore – design and review of wind turbine foundations. Optimisation of foundations for minimal cost – save up to 100m³ of concrete and 20 tonnes of reinforcement compared to rival designs. Foundation reviews are the most detailed in order to identify any and all shortcomings in the foundation design, including embed movement, load transfer from tower to base, and continuity of reinforcement under plinth area, etc.
- Solar – design and review of solar structures, including the all-important resistance to horizontal forces. Analysis of foundations using non-linear soil springs, and prediction of gapping at ground level.
Articles
The following attachments contain more information on my technical work:
The PDF attachment “Additional Technical Services” contains a list of more specialist areas of knowledge, conceptual work, and new methods of design and analysis, etc. The attachment can be downloaded here:
ADDITIONAL TECHNICAL SERVICES (PDF)
The PDF attachments “How I Can Help” and “Technical Abilities” contain more general information on the type of work I can do relating to the design of foundations and super structures for offshore wind farms. These can be downloaded here: