Assessment of scour protection effectiveness in offshore wind farms using in-situ seabed inspection data

Scour around monopile foundations poses a major threat to the structural integrity of offshore wind turbines. Although scour protection systems are widely deployed, the lack of reliable methods to predict scour geometry often leads to oversimplified assumptions, resulting in inaccurate performance assessments and potential engineering risks. This study presents a comprehensive investigation into the temporal evolution of scour pits based on successive in-situ seabed inspections conducted before and after the installation of silt-solidified soil scour protection. Key scour parameters are extracted and fitted to empirical development curves, enabling extrapolation over the full service life of the foundation. Image-based analysis of seabed morphology reveals dominant scouring mechanisms, from which predictive equations for critical scour dimensions are derived. A quantitative framework is proposed to evaluate the effectiveness of scour protection in mitigating long-term seabed degradation. The findings contribute to improved understanding of scour dynamics under realistic offshore conditions and offer practical guidance for the design and optimization of scour protection strategies in offshore wind farm developments. • Successive in-situ seabed inspections are used to derive timeline curves of scour evolution. • A novel approach is proposed to predict full-life scour pit geometry around monopile foundations. • Predictive equations for key scour parameters are established before and after protection. • A practical framework to assess and optimize scour protection effectiveness is provided.