The Soft-Spot™® solution scientifically confirmed

The Soft-Spot™® solution scientifically confirmed

Laboratory examination from Spanish Burgos University.

CTE Wind commissioned the Spanish University of Burgos to carry out a series of tests with the Soft-Spot™®. The structural tests are intended to prove once again if and how the resource-saving wind turbine foundation solution for "onshore" wind turbines works.
A model of the Soft-Spot™® has been build and independently tested by the University of Burgos early 2022 to show if and how the resource-saving solution works.

CTE Wind commissioned the Spanish University of Burgos to carry out a series of tests with the Soft-Spot™®. The structural tests are intended to prove once again if and how the resource-saving wind turbine foundation solution for “onshore” wind turbines works.

Burgos (ESP)/La Richardais (FRA) – The University of Burgos was entrusted with testing the patented Soft-Spot™® foundation solution from CTE Wind Civil Engineering for its functioning and safety at the end of 2021. The results of the test campaign, which ended at the end of May, confirmed what had already been demonstrated from many certification bodies worldwide and in various finite element models (FEM): The Soft-Spot™® works and is safe.

Gapping occurs later

The Soft-Spot™® changes the stress distribution on the ground compared to a standard slab foundation. Due to central EPS soft layer, higher soil stresses are applied under the remaining ring.

As a result, a wind turbine with a Soft-Spot™® foundation will gap much later than a foundation without a soft layer, with the same foundation diameter. This increases the stability.

The soil after the laboratory tests: On the left the EPS-soft layer in the middle of the foundation model. On the right picture the area in the middle of the foundation doesn’t show any compression, which prove the correct functioning of the Soft-Spot™®

Over 1000 wind turbines…

…use the Soft-Spot™® worldwide. The first project with the patented CTE Wind solution has been in place in 2019 in Thailand in a wind farm with 60 turbines. Each turbine has a hub height of 157 meters. Originally, a shallow foundation with 1,192 cubic meters of concrete and a diameter of 27.4 meters was planned.

But the excavation was not allowed to exceed more than 25 meters diagonally. Thanks to the soft layer under the foundation, the diameter could be reduced to 24.5 meters; minus 210 cubic meters of concrete (-18 percent) and 11 tons of reinforcing steel (-9 percent). The certifying body of DNV in Hamburg ensured that everything proceeded correctly and according to international standards during the design phase.

About CTE Wind Civil Engineering and the Soft-Spot™®

The Soft-Spot™® was developed by the French company CTE Wind Civil Engineering SAS. CTE Wind is an international engineering company specializing in the design and calculation of onshore foundations for wind turbines. The solution optimizes the existing and well-functioning system of shallow foundations by integrating known knowledge from structural engineering. Thus, a soft layer (EPS) is simply placed under the center of the foundation so that the forces of the wind turbine are transferred into the ground in a ring shape instead of onto the entire surface.

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