The abstract outlines a study focusing on improving the design approach for flexible dolphins, vital marine structures used for vessel berthing and mooring. Current design methodologies, particularly those outlined in the CROW C1005 handbook (2018), are questioned due to potential conservatism stemming from insufficiently calibrated partial factors. The study advocates for reliability-based assessments to address these concerns, which consider uncertainties inherent in dolphin design and quantify failure probabilities over their lifespan. The investigation identifies critical failure modes and determines main pile dimensions based on these modes, utilizing the API PY-curves for rapid computation in the design process. Probabilistic assessments, employing Directional Sampling, reveal the significance of berthing load in structural safety and identify soil parameters as dominant variables affecting fixity failure mode. Navigation conditions, ship arrival rates, and variation in ship sizes also influence partial factors, with recommendations provided for adjustments based on different conditions. The study suggests load testing to reduce uncertainties and increase reliability, exemplified by a Bayesian update from Calandkanaal full-scale load tests. Overall, reliability-based assessments yield insights into managing uncertainties in dolphin design, potentially reducing material usage by up to 20% while meeting safety requirements, and offering the potential to decrease failure probabilities tenfold when combined with test loading. ... Read more

Inner–city quay walls fulfil a number of very important functions where the retention of water is the most important one observed from a structural perspective. Despite their importance, not all of these structures are very well maintained, especially the older ones. Each municipality has their own maintenance regime, depending on the allocated budget. Deficient quay wall management of a few municipalities in the Netherlands resulted already in several quay wall failures, but there are also a lot of those structures still in a good condition. The differences in quay wall compositions and internal force transfer mechanisms could be one of the reasons why some structures do not show signs of deterioration where others are in a very deteriorated state. This hypothesis is the starting point for the following research question: “What is the influence of structural deficiencies to the overall strength and stability of a wooden foundation system under a quay wall structure?”. The geotechnical and material resistances of the quay wall elements are used as a basis for the study to the influence of quay wall defects on the internal force transfer mechanisms. Five quay wall structures with different geometries in Rotterdam and The Hague are selected for the structural calculations. With the help of assessment reports, a few common defects are chosen which are likely to occur for these kind of structures. First, the displacements and internal forces of the pile cap beam in the middle cross-section are calculated when the structure shows no signs of structural declination. The obtained results are then compared with the same base quantities where one of the structural defects is applied. In this way, the effect of each defect can be determined. Although there are large differences between the composition of the various quay wall structures, a general conclusion can be drawn from the performed calculations. A larger number of piles under a quay wall structure has a positive influence on the redistribution of internal forces from a weakened spot to an unaffected part of the structure. ... Read more

In practice, many structures among which quay walls are designed according the Dutch national guidelines (CUR). Dutch national practical guidelines (NPR), with guidelines for renovation, is still in development for the building industry. These guidelines follow the Dutch Norms (NEN) and Annexes. The guidelines propose procedures in which newly-built or existing quay walls are designed. This study investigates the effects of past performance on the semi-probabilistic level I method for the purpose of design and evaluation of quay walls. This research is performed with a case study considering a CUR class III quay wall from. The objective of this research is gathering insight into the different aspects of past performance, among which degradation and information about survived years, on the reliability level and corresponding influence factors. Firstly, prior analyses including deterministic validation are performed. The output resulting from characteristic values of the cross-section is validated by means of Blum and analyses with the subgrade reaction method. The computed deterministic output appears to be in accordance with the results from the reference study. Afterwards, prior probabilistic analyses were performed in which the reliability, weight factors and corresponding partial safety factors are reconsidered. Failure mechanism ’yielding of front wall’ is a frequent phenomenon and is assessed in this research. Level II FORM is used for the calculation and level III Importance sampling for the validation. The cross-section is adjusted according the reference case and the results are reasonably in compliance with the results found by GeoDelft for CUR class III. The computed 50 year reliability index β = 4.53 and corresponds well to the target reliability level of β_t = 4.5. Additionally, the situation in which random input variables are correlated and model uncertainty is included, is considered as well. These correlations and model uncertainty are determined based on previous researches among which. The cohesion of clay, internal friction angles, wall friction angles and water levels are correlated. The model uncertainty factor is lognormally distributed and applies as multiplication factor on the maximum bending moment. Explicitly, the latter results in a significant influence on the limit state. Effects given the reference period are considered as well. Large numbers of the dominant load variable q are simulated. The (extreme value) distribution converges to a Gumbel distribution with σ = 0.61. The stochastic distribution of the dominant load is transformed from and to different reference periods: 1, 5, 10, 25, 50 and 100 years. Eventually, for posterior analyses the 50 year reference case is translated to an annual situation in which the annual reliability index and sensitivity factors are derived. Including model uncertainty and cross correlated random variables, one finds a reliability index β = 2.33 as assumption for the posterior analyses. The Equivalent Planes method (EPM) has already been applied in the field of flood defences for reliability updating. This method formulates an failure plane equivalent to two or more combined limit states. In this research, the method has been applied in the temporal context. This means that the Equivalent Planes method is considered in the derivation of the reliability given effect(s) of past performance. The annual reliability index and sensitivity factors are used in this reliability updating method. The autocorrelation represents the correlation of the concerned variable in time. Time-dependent variables including uniform load and water levels assume an auto-correlation of 0, other parameters initially assume an auto-correlation equal to 1. The annual reliability index and sensitivity values are iteratively applied in this method for combining limit states. The equivalent failure plane Z uses a simplified expression in the standard normal space. Eventually a time-dependent reliability curve, as presented by the green line in figure 1, is found. Without model uncertainty, the blue curve is obtained. A higher initial annual reliability index results in a relatively smaller increase of the conditional reliability index. Hence, the effect of past performance decreases when a higher start value of the reliability index is used. Due to the reduced cross-correlation between the water levels on both sides, the time-dependent reliability significantly increases. At last, the time-related effects of quay walls are considered. These effects include:

• The irreducible time-dependent uncertainty related to the model uncertainty factor. Randomness or natural variation is included in the model uncertainty factor. This is performed by considering situations with a reduced autocorrelation ρ(Z_i, Z_j) (0.25, 0.50 and 0.75). The reducible time-dependent uncertainty of load variables including q, w_a and w_p. Knowledge uncertainties (epistemic uncertainties) are reducible in time, meaning autocorrelation approaching 1. The autocorrelations of the considered variables distributions are derived by using transformed random distributions.

• Degradation by corrosion of the stiffest elements in the steel front wall. Corrosion is studied by considering the effects of a log normally distributed wall thickness loss according to corrosion curve 3. This corrosion rate affects the primary element characteristics of the equivalent combined wall. The correlation between the water levels on the active and passive is reconsidered and changed from 0.75 to 0.25.


As follows, the below figures show the annual development of the annual reliability as a function of time t. Notice that the annual reliability index increases as the extent to which the uncertainty is epistemic increases. Further, the reliability converges less rapid to larger value(s) in case of auto-correlation approaching 0. In this research, corrosion is considered as an epistemic uncertainty. Two modelling approaches have been considered: an engineering approach, a second order approach. The engineering approach solely considers a reducing section modulus W, whereas the second order approach is additionally including the second moment of inertia I. Corrosion curve 3 results in both approaches to a flattening of the conditional reliability index as time progresses. In addition, the speed in which the influence of time-independent epistemic uncertainties decreases, is less in case of corrosion. Hence, the involvement of stochastic degradation negatively affects the extent to which the uncertainties are reducible. The updated reliability index is also calculated per reference period. This is performed with probabilistic calculation rules. The corresponding sensitivity values, given survival of previous years (see figure(s) 5), can be used in the semi-probabilistic level I method for derivation of the updated partial safety factors. These factors can be applied in the derivation of the design values per random variable considering a service life time t. Hence, the reliability of a quay wall and the transformed sensitivity coefficients can be updated with the Equivalent Planes method. Incorporation of degradation and other time-related effects is seemingly possible. However, further research with finite element modelling is recommended for verification purposes. ... Read more

The city of Amsterdam has a large number of old quay walls with rotten foundation piles. These foundation piles need to be identified and measures need to be taken. The urban quay walls are supported by two types of foundation: pinewood piles, which are easily affected by bacterial decay and spruce piles. To understand the mechanical behaviour of quay walls better, it is needed to know the type of wood used for each pile foundation along the 200 km of quay walls currently showing signs of damage. For that reason, specialized diving teams are hired to identify the rotten piles and foundation defects, to know which foundation piles need replacement. Since the area is very large and diving inspections are costly and lengthy in time, there is a need to correlate the foundation defect to the masonry damage above the water level. The masonry above the water level could give lots of information about the condition of the foundation, due to cracks or deformations in the masonry. This research could help to relate foundation defects with damage patterns in the masonry. Understanding this relation helps to identify foundation defects at an earlier stage and helps the municipality to prioritize the replacement of foundation piles. The thesis aims to find indicators above the water line to identify foundation problems by studying the crack patterns in a typical unreinforced masonry quay in Amsterdam. From the point of view of the masonry structures, failure of foundation piles results in a settlement deformation causing cracking. This research will support the current work by Sweco in helping to find foundation defects from above the waterline via masonry damage patterns in quay walls. This will be achieved by performing a parametric study, bases on 2D nonlinear finite element analyses, varying the extent of the pile defects, the material properties of the masonry and lateral boundary conditions for a selected representative base case. To simulate the damage in masonry, a smeared crack approach was used. The foundation defects were simulated by applying a settlement deformation to the quay wall. A Gaussian settlement deformation profile was imposed and the ratio between the length of the profile and the length of the quay wall was varied to simulate the failure of single or multiple piles. To capture the influence of the material properties of masonry (especially related to tension failure), three types of masonry were defined: weak, average and strong. The influence of the boundary conditions at the edges was checked by performing analyses with horizontally free lateral sides and with horizontally fixed lateral side. This is done to simulate the effect of arching in the structure. Eventually, the influence of the location of the foundation defect was analyzed by comparing a symmetric Gaussian settlement deformation with an asymmetric settlement. The analyses show correlations between the vertical displacement at the top of the structure and the length of the settlement profile. As expected, this can be interpreted with the fact that if several piles are damaged simultaneously, a larger portion of the quay wall is cracking. The material properties of the masonry influence the development of crack patterns. The stronger is the masonry, meaning increasing the values of Young’s modulus, tensile strength and fracture energy, the larger is the settlement displacement needed to obtain the same crack pattern. The lateral constraints contribute mostly to the development of the horizontal crack since no horizontal cracks appeared in situations without these constraints. Since the influence of additional loads is not considered in the analysis and the model is modelled in 2D it is recommended to analyze the influence of both in further studies. It is also recommended to validate the model against field measurements since no verification has been done. ... Read more

During the design phase of a foundation installation aspects are easily overlooked. When this aspect is overlooked a foundation element risks not reaching its design depth or getting damaged during the installation process. As a result significant delays and/or costs could occur. A driveability study gives insight in the installation aspects of a foundation element. Driveability is the ability of a foundation element to be driven to a designated depth with a
reasonable speed and without exceeding acceptable material stress. In this report will be researched how the probability of refusal of a sheet pile installed by vibro-driving can be predicted by means of a driving speed-depth-curve (vp-z-curve). Having insight in probability of refusal improves risk assessment and decision-making on driving projects. The focus is on sheet pile installation by vibro hammers as these projects are generally executed in large numbers and under similar conditions. Therefore, these project types are very suitable for application of probability theory. Allwave-PDP is used as a basis to create a probabilistic prediction method. Parameters of the pile driving system (pile, hammer and soil) modelled in Allwave-PDP are turned into stochastic parameters in the probabilistic method. Probability of refusal is predicted with a Monte Carlo simulation. Pile and hammer parameters are modelled by deterministic parameters. Variability of soil parameters is caused by soil heterogeneity and transformation variability. The probabilistic method is validated with three well-reported case studies in Woudsend, Den Oever and Rotterdam. Predicted results show agreement with measured results. The model is a proof of concept that shows the potential of applying probability theory to driveability prediction methods. A proof of concept of the modelling (transformation and spatial variability) and the method (extension of Allwave-PDP) is given. Not any existing model is known to incorporate probability theory in driveability prediction methods. The probabilistic method can simply be extended to other pile types or impact hammers. Therefore, this method is promising to predict different pile driving system configurations. ... Read more

The design and construction of quay walls are processes that exist for many centuries and have become more complex and challenging in current engineering practice. For the design of quay walls a number of guidelines and design codes have been developed over the years. These give the requirements that a quay wall structure should meet, but do also provide some guidance in which steps to take in order to arrive at a proper final design. The relevance of undrained soil behavior, described using critical state soil mechanics, for the analysis of quay wall stability is yet unknown. The main objective of this research is to investigate the possibilities to use the alternative design approach for modelling soil behavior in the design processes of a quay wall. For this, three case studies have been elaborated. The three case studies represents soil profiles consisting 1) predominantly sandy soils, 2) normally consolidated clay and 3) overconsolidated clay. The differences between the analyses and outcomes of the conventional approach and the new approach have been compared for each case study. Based on the quantitative results of case study 1 and 3, the difference in outcome between the conventional and alternative design approaches is between 0 and 10% for both displacements and sectional forces. The outcome of case study 2 is not in line with the results of case 1 and 3. Based on the results of the first case study with sandy soil profile, the alternative design approach applied in this report is not a valid option for the design of a quay wall due to the absence of undrained soil conditions.
For a soil profile consisting clay, the magnitude of preconsolidation of the soil plays an important role. For the alternative design approach, increasing values of pre-loading results in decreasing values of sectional forces and displacements of the wall. This effect is stronger in comparison to the conventional design approach. In further research the aim should be to increase the reliability of the alternative design approach. This can be done by using in-situ measurements of the displacements of the wall to validate if the model represents the reality accurately. ... Read more

The design and reassessment of quays is subject to uncertainties. Examples of these uncertainties are the soil parameters, soil behavior and the current state of the structural parts. Especially in the reassessment of existing structures it is hard to prove a quay to be safe. In this thesis Bayesian updating is used as a method to reduce this uncertainty. Bayesian updating is a technique to probabilistically update the model prediction based on measurement data. One of the solutions to obtaining this data is test loading a quay wall. How to perform a test load and possible other solutions to obtaining the measurement data are not part of this research. The research focusses on how to use the data one obtains from a test loading. The effectiveness of test loading is reviewed by performing Bayesian updates with several fictitious measurement cases. Both Blum and a finite element model are updated based on fictitious strain and displacement measurements. The results show that Bayesian updating successfully reduces the standard deviations in all model predictions. This has a significant impact on the calculated reliability indices. The key benefit of performing a Bayesian update is that a statistically most likely combination of stochastic input parameters is determined. The thesis gives recommendations towards an application of Bayesian updating in practice and as fictitious measurement cases are used, an overall strategy is given for obtaining the required measurement data in practice. ... Read more

Quay structures play an important role in society. How much load these structures can withstand however is not certain. This MSc thesis contains insight into the load capacity of the old Amazonehaven and the current SIF quay structures. Both are quay structures which use a combined sheet pile wall, a reinforced concrete relieving platform, M.V.-piles, and two rows of bearing piles. The objective of this MSc thesis was to determine the load capacity of the structures, the models should therefore be as close to the actual conditions as possible. For that reason no safety and/or material factors have been applied throughout this MSc thesis. The approach is shown below.
A literature study was performed to gain insight into the areas of interest that needed to be studied. This theory in combination with a review of the structures led to the critical cross sections of the respective structures. These cross sections were then modelled with conventional design methods (Blum and D-Sheet Piling). The Blum method determined the individual contributions of several aspects (loads, water, soil) to the horizontal stress distribution along the combined sheet pile wall and calculated the reaction forces using a set of boundary conditions. Within D-Sheet Piling the relieving platform was modelled by removing it, the loads that acted on it, and the soil that rested on it. The last method that was applied was a FEM software (Plaxis 2D). The FEM models were validated in three steps: First, by comparing their results to that of the conventional methods, it was found that the results of the conventional methods were within ca. 30% of the FEM results. Second, by comparing the results to actual field data, here the results showed both deviation and similarities, these deviations could however be explained. Lastly, by critically assessing the models to ensure that certain aspects were incorporated into the models correctly, this resulted in uncertainty about drained or undrained soil conditions for the thicker clay layers. The main function of both quay structures was the storage of certain goods, for that reason the only aspect that was not constant in the test loading set up was the magnitude of the primary surcharge. Both geotechnical and structural failure were taken into consideration for the quay structures.
The results of the FEM models showed that neither of the structures had failed at their design loading conditions. For the Amazonehaven it was found that the magnitude of the primary surcharge at the first failure of the model was relatively close to that of the design loading conditions, it was incited by the exceedance of the geotechnical bearing capacity of the M.V.-piles. The first failure of the SIF model occurred at a surcharge that was more than 4 times the magnitude of the design loading conditions, it was incited by the exceedance of the normal stress capacity of the M.V.-piles. ... Read more

After the big flood in 1953 the Grevelingendam and the Brouwersdam were built as a part of the ‘Deltawerken’. By constructing these dams the Grevelingen was separated from the North Sea, which created the largest salt water lake in Europe. Several decades later it was discovered that during hot summers the deeper areas of the lake were leaking oxygen. This leads to a massive mortality of the fauna and flora living in these depths. Since this area is spreading to the shallow areas it was decided by Rijkswaterstaat to bring back a reduced tide into the Grevelingen lake.
The idea is to bring this reduced tide back by constructing a sluice caisson or tidal power plant into the Brouwersdam. This tidal range was determined in a way that the fauna and flora on the islands could remain. Another problem that arises with this reduced tide is that it is unknown what the consequences are for the harbours around the Grevelingen lake and their structures. Brouwershaven specifically gets its income from the harbour and its tourism. This made the Gemeente Schouwen-Duiveland ask to investigate the consequences of a potential reduced tide in its harbour. This led to the following research question:’ Is there a necessity to adapt the harbour constructions in the harbour of Brouwershaven, or to secure them against the reduced tide in the Grevelingen lake?’.
This research was started by investigating the different boundary conditions such as:
• Wind 1,54 m/s Southwest
• Occurring water levels +0,7 m NAP and -0,5 m NAP
• Not exploded explosives Not taken into account
• Soil structure Exists mainly of clay and peat, with a thick sand layer at -16 m NAP
• Profile of the harbour bottom Design level of the harbour bottom at -2,75 m NAP
• Shipping Limiting factors: ship draught of 2 m and length of 14 m
• Flow rate through the guard lock In case of tidal power plant: 0,154 m/s In case of sluice caisson: 0,0719 m/s
The new part of the harbour was designed after the closure of the Grevelingen. This is why the option was to check the stability of the structure in this part of harbour. At the end of the calculation it turned out that there was no danger for the structures to become unstable by the reduced tide. However, there is a statistical probability that the scaffoldings as well as the quay wall will be flooded once in a hundred years. The bigger problem that was found was the accessibility of the harbour. The harbour is now only accessible for ships with a draught of 2 m at a water depth of 2,5 m. Which at a lower water level would cause problems to safely enter and manoeuvre in the harbour.
In the search for a solution a brainstorm session was held with the construction company ‘Aquavia’. With the help of a multi criteria analysis (MCA) it was found that the best solutions were:
• Construction a new harbour in front of the guard lock
• Creating a new function for the existing harbour and shifting the harbour function to a new location in front of the guard lock
• Demolition of the sills in the guard lock and dredging the harbour to a deeper level
In consultation with ‘Gemeente Schouwen-Duiveland’ it was decided to design the first and the last bullet in more detail.
The first variant that was dealt with was that of the demolition of the sills in the guard lock and the dredging of the harbour. The idea here was to lower the bottom of the harbour and the guard lock to at least a level of -2,75 m NAP, which produces a volume of 5143 m3¬ of material such as silt to be dredged away. Which includes the possibility of:
• Finding not exploded explosives
• The quay walls of the oldest part of the harbour becoming unstable.
Also the stability of the guard lock construction after removing the sills had to be checked. This unfortunately was not executed due to the lack of technical data and drawings of the reinforcement. Finally an estimation of 300.000 EUR was made to realise this variant.
The idea for the second variant is to leave the harbour behind the guard lock in the state it is currently in and to construct a new harbour in front of the guard lock. In this way smaller ships can still use the old harbour whereas the ships that cannot enter the harbour anymore can moor in the new harbour as well as even larger ships. In this new harbour then there would also be a place to moor the fishing boats as well as a river cruise ship. Because of strict time scheduling it was decided to only design one of the important structures of the harbour, namely the harbour mole. For this design there were 2 variants to take into account. In the first variant the total mole construction (breakwater + the pier) was made of wood, whereas in the second variant only part of the breakwater was made of wood. The pier, however, was made of concrete. Finally it was estimated that the construction of the new harbour would cost 7 million EUR. Which is a big difference compared to the price estimation of the demolition of the sills in the guard lock. Both variants have their pros and cons. By demolishing the sills and dredging the harbour to a lower level the problem of the harbour is resolved while a smaller/ more optimised version of the other variant could enable more future prospects to be worked out for the harbour by increasing the capacity and attracting new functions to the harbour. This could of course increase the harbour profits.
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The city of Rotterdam and its port have been constantly growing over the last decades. As the port is ensuring a place in the top ten ports in the world, the city of Rotterdam is changing as well, growing and becoming a more international town. The municipality of Rotterdam is planning to build a 3rd bridge that will cross the Nieuwe waterweg and will connect the eastern or western part of the city center to improve the economic growth, welfare and attainability of the city. Although the exact location of the bridge is still under investigation, the construction of the bridge will obstruct the passage of cruise ships and consequently, they will not be able to reach Kop van Zuid where the current cruise terminal is located.
Moreover, new buildings will be constructed in the coming years at Kop van Zuid. The construction of these buildings will lead to more logistics problems at the current terminal that will influence the viability of the entire area. Currently, the port of Rotterdam is facing an increase of entrance demand of cruise ships. The number of double mooring calls and the dimensions of the cruise ships are expected to grow in the coming years. The current cruise terminal cannot, without technical improvements, guarantee enough berthing space for two cruise ships at the same time.
For these reasons, in 2015 the Port of Rotterdam Authority started the project “Zeecruise lange termijn visie”. One of the conclusions of the “Zeecruise lange termijn visie” project in case that the Port of Rotterdam Authority and the municipality of Rotterdam decide to change the location of the cruise terminal, was that the most suitable location for the future cruise terminal is Pier 1 of the Merwehaven. The Merwehaven is composed of four piers that were constructed between 1923 and 1931 using caissons as quay walls.
Due to the age of the construction of the caissons and the requirements imposed by the new cruise terminal, a full feasibility study of the Merrwehaven had to be performed. The feasibility study is described in this report and mainly concerns the adaptation of the existing quay wall of Pier 1. The aim of this study was to maintain the existing caissons, avoiding the demolition of the structure and the need for constructing a completely new quay wall.
The approach used to achieve this objective follows the principles of the basic design cycle of Roozenburg and Eekels. Different design phases distinguish this method and the structure of this report follows these phases.
In the first phase, the functions, operational aspects, boundary conditions and assumptions of the Merwehaven and cruise market were analyzed. Based on this analysis the quay walls of Pier 1 were assessed. The main scope of the assessment was to establish whether the quay walls meet the requirements for the new cruise terminal and to identify the main issues that hinder the mooring of the cruise ships. The assessment proved that the quay walls do not meet the requirements of the new cruise terminal. Therefore, the conclusion was that to maintain the existing caissons of Pier 1 and ensure their stability a technical design solution must be provided.
Different design concepts were proposed to solve the issues that hinder the mooring of the cruise ships along the caissons. Through a first design loop, the design concepts that did not have sufficient feasibility to become the final solution were excluded. From the remaining design variants the best design variant was selected, by means of an evaluation based on a Multi Criteria Analysis (MCA) and a cost estimation. From this evaluation, it turned out that the best technical design solution is to drive an underwater sheet pile wall in front of the caissons of Pier 1.
Then, before performing the detailed design of the best design variant, special attention was given to the design bollard capacity of the cruise terminal. The bollard force is an important load in the design of quay walls. Hence, an extended study concerning the loads acting on the design cruise ship was carried out to define the required bollard capacity of the new cruise terminal. From this study, it turned out that the wind force is the dominant load acting on the design cruise ship and that the effect of passing vessels can be neglected. Based on this conclusion a static mooring analysis was performed to determine the load on the mooring lines of the design cruise ship and consequently the required bollard capacity. On the basis of the results of this analysis, the conclusion was that the existing bollards located on top of the caissons cannot withstand the mooring force and therefore new bollards with a capacity of 1700 kN have to be provided.
In the last phase, the design variant with underwater sheet pile wall was elaborated in more detail. This detailed design was performed by analyzing the overall stability of the caisson and the deformation of the underwater sheet pile wall using the PLAXIS software. Based on these analyses the conclusion was that the design variant with the underwater sheet pile wall can adapt the existing caisson, used as quay wall at Pier 1 in the Merwehaven for the future cruise terminal of Rotterdam.

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This report contains the conceptual lay-out for two possible expansions of the port of Bahía Blanca. To determine the best conceptual lay-outs, emphasis is drawn to understand the physical system to determine the effect of the expansion of the port on the natural system. The port of Bahía Blanca is situated at the end of a ria, or tidal basin. For the designs, different conceptual lay-outs are developed and simulated in a hydrodynamic model called MOHID. This is a 2D depth-averaged model (2DH), which uses a rough bathymetry grid of the ria to determine the effect of the port development. There are three mutations of the different port expansions on the environment, which are investigated using the MOHID-model: (1) the East expansion, containing reclamation of tidal flats and closure of a side channel; (2) the South expansion, containing a widening and elongation of the channel and reclamation of tidal flats; and (3) the deepening of the entire navigation channel to various minimum depths. From the results of the MOHID-model on the East expansion conclusions on the mutations of the different port expansions are drawn. For the East expansion, only small changes are predicted; only local erosion in the navigation channel near the expansion may occur. For the South expansion, the flow velocities reduce in the entire stretch and there seems to be sedimentation at the eastern part of the expansion.
As a conclusion the best and most feasible designs are chosen. The best design is the lay-out that obtained the highest score in the MultiCriteria- Analysis (MCA). The most feasible design is the design having the highest cost/benefit ratio determined by a Cost-Benefit Analysis (CBA). The east bank is located close to the current port, Ingeniero White, on tidal flats which are inundated at high-water and dry at low-water. For the East expansion, different port lay-outs are developed mainly differing in amount of reclaimed land, length of viaducts and the presence of a mooring basin. The best design on the east is characterised as being very compact and having small viaducts between the dry bulk and agribulk terminals and jetties. The main advantage of this design is the small expected increase of siltation, good safety and sufficient future expansion possibilities. The most feasible design, however, is characterised by long viaducts reducing the costs of the design. The other appointed location for the port expansion is the south bank, opposite of the current port development. This location, however, is characterised by one main disadvantage; It is far from any form of connection with the hinterland. Nevertheless, in 2013, the port authority (CGPBB) initiated the start of small reclamation works. The best and most feasible design fully utilises this reclaimed portion of land. Moreover, the best design has a small expected increase of siltation in the port area. For a final designs, all previous designs are combined to create a design in which all the advantages of each of the designs are fully incorporated. Therefore, this design has little reclamation as well as viaducts with only intermediate lengths. ... Read more

Extreme folding damage of open-ended tubular piles could occur during piling in onshore practices. Amazonehaven unique quay wall removal gave the opportunity to study king pile’s failure close to toe. King piles are primary piles in a combined wall system, exposed to static and dynamic load. It is argued that the unexpected pile toe failure have been caused by dynamic load because of the uniaxial direction of the extreme deformations. However, research into pile toe failure in Amazonehaven shows that hammer-induced driving stresses are significantly lower than material’s yield stress close to pile toe, given Amazonehaven soil condition. Therefore, the dynamic load has not been solely detrimental to the pile toe integrity. The main reasons for pile toe failure are discussed to be (1) pile imperfection, (2) pile inclination and (3) pile inhomogeneous strength. Bear in mind that, pile toe failure to such extent when not limited might lead to dysfunction of the asset during its technical lifetime. Therefore, counteractions must be taken to assure quay wall’s safety and stability while operating. The remedies when such a piling risk event occur could be: replacement, early maintenance, or a reduction in its designed storage capacity. The reactive solutions will bring financial consequences of pile toe failure forward. In other words, the client will experience a reduction in its revenues due to asset’s malfunction. However, when proactive process-based alternatives are implemented in the current procedure in piling industry, the probability of occurrence of the failure is to be reduced. Therefore, financial consequences of piling risk event will remain limited.

The main personal objectives creating this master thesis are to present a: Compact, comprehensive, consistent, reader friendly, and to the point report. ... Read more