What is PLAXIS Monopile Designer?
PLAXIS Monopile Designer is a finite element software for monopile foundations. It transfers the results of the PISA Joint Industry Research Project to daily engineering practice. PLAXIS Monopile Designer reduces the amount of steel each monopile requires and therefore reduces overall costs for any wind farm. It can be used as a stand-alone tool or in connection with PLAXIS 3D.
Reduce Costs
Significantly optimize the designs for your monopile foundation project. This will reduce overall steel, fabrication, transportation, and installation costs. You could reduce the embedded length of piles by up to 35%.
Validate Designs
Automate the generation and calculation of a PLAXIS 3D FEM model to verify the final monopile geometry and validate the 1D design approach. Generate design verification models for homogenous and layered profiles.
Simplify Workflows
Use PLAXIS Monopile Designer along with PLAXIS 3D to easily automate the process of generating and calculating 3D models. Derive, normalize, and parameterize soil reaction curves to calibrate your 1D model.
PLAXIS Monopile Designer
- Design offshore monopile foundations cost-effectively
- Transfer results of PISA to your design
- Calibrate soil reaction curves
*Prices vary per region. For more options, see licensing and subscriptions section.
PLAXIS Monopile Designer
Your Pain Points
Reduce Costs
Improve Accuracy
Simplify Workflows
Analyze Layered Soils
Validate Designs
"Quickly develop the conceptual 3D model"
“We were able to quickly develop the conceptual 3D model using topographic data, borehole logs, and 2D geologic cross-sections. Once the conceptual model was built, we were able to analyze potential failure locations in excellent time. We highly recommend this software for analyzing similar projects.”
Featured User Stories
Golder Associates
Strengthens One of the World’s Largest Subsea TBM Tunnels
Modeling with Bentley’s geotechnical applications ensured quality, safety, and a service life of 120 years.
SAIDEL Engineering
Residential Building above Subway Tunnels
PLAXIS provided the industry model, promoting future development over West Bucharest’s tunnels.
Arup Singapore
3D Soil Simulations to Design Tower Foundation
The project team saved resource hours and avoided having to use multiple software platforms.
Resources
FAQs
PLAXIS Monopile Designer offers an enhanced design method that dramatically reduces the amount of steel needed for monopile foundations, lowering the overall costs of wind farms. It allows the transfer of results of the PISA Joint Industry Research Project into daily engineering practices.
Use PLAXIS Monopile Designer as a stand-alone tool for rule-based design method or in connection with PLAXIS 3D for numerical-based design method.
PLAXIS Monopile Designer—developed in collaboration with Oxford University and Fugro—brings state-of-the-art research to engineering practices. The software transfers the enhanced design method established in PISA Phase 1 and 2 to current design practices. And it will enable the capitalization of any future findings of PISA, which will be implemented into the software as they become available.
For decades, the PLAXIS engineering process has consistently delivered stable, robust, and well-defined geotechnical finite element software. PLAXIS Monopile Designer follows this proven process and has been validated via large-scale testing of monopile foundations at the two PISA test sites, the Dunkirk sand site and the Cowden clay site.
If you want to receive tailored training or attend a PLAXIS Monopile Designer course that is specific to your project requirement, Bentley offers extra training and mentoring services. You can choose from tailor-made training, on-demand learning, consulting services, mentoring and more. Learn more about Expert Services here.
The price of PLAXIS Monopile Designer varies per region. While there are various types of licensing available, a common choice is the 12-month practitioner license offered through Bentley’s eStore. When you purchase through the eStore, you get a Virtuoso Subscription which means you get both the software and the training, expert services, and custom mentoring you need to get started quickly.
Seequent, The Bentley Subsurface Company | Seequent is the subsurface software company within Bentley Systems. Together, we’re helping build a more resilient future by connecting the built world above ground with the hidden world below it. It’s easy to purchase a Virtuoso Subscription, through Virtuosity, Bentley’s eStore, and still get the expert technical support from Seequent’s subsurface experts.
Windows 10, Windows 11
Graphics Card
Required: GPU with 256 MB OpenGL 1.3
Recommended: Avoid simple onboard graphics chips in favor of a discrete GPU from the nVidia GeForce or Quadro range with at least 128-bit bus and 1 GB of RAM, or equivalent solution from ATI/AMD
Processor
Required: Dual Core CPU
Recommended: Quad Core CPU
Memory
Recommended: minimum 8 GB Large projects may require more.
Hard Disk
Minimum 2 GB free space on the partition where the WindowsTEMP directory resides, and 2 GB free space on the partition where projects are saved. Large projects may require significantly more space on both partitions. For best performance, ensure that the TEMP directory and the project directory reside on the same partition.
Video
Required: 1024 x 768 pixels, 32-bit color palette
Recommended: 1920 x 1080 pixels,32-bit color palette
For the most up-to-date system requirements, visit Bentley Communities.
