Comparison of laboratory and in-situ small strain soil stiffness for modelling lateral bearing capacities of XL monopiles

In this real case study two data sets of small strain shear modulus Gmax from laboratory and in-situ measurements are compared. The two data sets are used as inputs to a linear elastic 3D finite element numerical model to estimate the initial lateral pile-soil stiffness. The question of how much the pile deflection curve depends on the different Gmax derivation methods is discussed throughout the paper. The study reveals a high importance of stratigraphy for this task, and shows that average input stiffness differences up to 20% throughout the profile do not lead to pile deflection changes at the mudline for the discussed regime.