Bridge scour is recognized as one of the key factors that causes structure failures, which in turn leads to economic and life loss. In this study, flume tests of four typical arrangements of pier groups embedded in sand under steady clear water conditions were carried out to observe the process and maximum depth around piles of scour. The investigation included single pile, tandem piles, side-by-side piles, and 3 × 3 pile groups. Different conditions including different pile spacing, flow velocity, and water depth are considered. Moreover, the evaluation of design methods from the United States, New Zealand, and China was analyzed and compared through experimental and mathematical methods. The experimental results show that shielding and jetting effects are obvious in pile groups, which become less obvious with the increase of pile spacing. The dynamic process of scour around single pile and pile groups are quite different. Meanwhile, most of the predicted scour depths by these equations tend to be much larger than those from field data, which may lead to overdesign and consequently high construction cost. In addition, data from this study and some laboratory experiment data from previous work were used to derive the correction factors of a new scour prediction equation, which can be used to estimate the scour in a sand bed and agree well with the observations.

The service environment of offshore wind turbine (OWT) support structures is harsh, and it is extremely difficult to replace these structures during their operational lifespan, making their failure a catastrophic event. The structural health monitoring (SHM) of OWT support structures is a crucial aspect of operational maintenance for OWT support structures, aiming to mitigate significant financial losses. This paper systematically summarizes the current monitoring methods and technologies for OWT support structures, including towers and foundations. Through the review of monitoring content and the evolution of monitoring techniques for supporting structures, it delves deeper into the challenges faced by wind turbine monitoring and highlights potential avenues for future development. Then, the current damage identification techniques for OWT towers and foundations are analyzed, exploring various methods including model-based, vibration-based, artificial intelligence and hybrid fault diagnosis methods. The article also examines the advantages and disadvantages of each approach and outlines potential future directions for research and development in this field. Furthermore, it delves into the current damage identification techniques for OWT towers and foundations, discussing prevalent challenges and future directions in this domain. This status review can provide reference and guidance for the monitoring design of OWT support structures, and provide support for the fault diagnosis of OWT support structures.