Abstract: The shallow gas inrush close to offshore wind turbine foundation may cause instability of foundation. Little research has been conducted on this potential engineering problem. The experiments and numerical simulation were implemented to study the evolution law of gas migration in soft clay exposed to different static load and explore its influence on the stability of foundation. Results show that gas migration paths are influenced by load cases and the relative positions between the injection point and foundation. When foundation is exposed to compressive load,gas migrates towards the foundation and it may lead to instability. While it exposed to tension load,gas migrates far away from foundation and poses no threat to safety of bucket foundation. In addition,the closer the relative position between the injection point and foundation is,the more significant this influence is. By combining Extended finite element method（XFEM）and cohesive zone method,coupled hydro-mechanical analysis was conducted to study this influence,which can provide advice for the site selection and the design of offshore wind turbine foundation.