Local scour around offshore wind turbine foundations is a common engineering challenge. It changes the hydrodynamic loads and affects the foundation’s load-bearing capacity. This study investigates the field scour characteristics and wave–current force characteristics under local scour effects using field data, physical modeling, and numerical simulations. The results show that the field scour hole slope is more gradual than that observed in laboratory settings, and Zhang’s scour depth equation proves more accurate for practical engineering. In addition, under wave–current conditions (Keulegan–Carpenter number, 2 < KC ≤ 15), the relative maximum post-scour wave–current force increases with the relative post-scour water depth but decreases as the KC rises. An equation is developed to predict the relative maximum post-scour wave–current force. This provides key insights for improving load assessments of offshore wind foundations on scoured seabeds.

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