Design, Construction, and Installation of Multiple-Use Off-Shore Meteorological Tower with Tripod Suction Pile Foundation

ADVACT Co., Ltd. of Korea designed, fabricated, and installed a meteorological tower on behalf of Korea South-East Power Co. Ltd. near Yeosu, Korea, in April, 2021. This tower was of its first kind in Korea, where the tower would gather meteorological data for a period of 19 months and then be retrieved, moved and installed at a new location for same data gathering purposes. The meteorological tower’s foundation utilized three-leg suction piles that are 28 m long and 4.12 MN in weight. The super-structure is 69 m high and 6.19 MN in weight with concrete fill. Both suction piles and the super-structure were fabricated and assembled on land and then transported as a single unit to the first site. All-in-one suction installation of the entire unit was completed in approximately 14 h. In November, 2022, the entire tower was retrieved, inspected, transported to the second site, and then installed successfully. This paper describes brief details of the design, construction, and installation of the tower supported on three-leg suction pile foundation. The design of the suction piles considered the conditions of both sites to ensure the stability of the tower when operational at both sites.