Novel technique for the retrofitting and refurbishment of a damaged offshore quay: a case study application

ABSTRACT

A number of unpredictable accidents have taken place in some ports, as a result of unexpected manoeuvring circumstances inside the port basin at the front of the quays. This study presents novel technique for rehabilitating damaged quays constructed with sheet piles’ drum-type cells. The novel approach demonstrates how to separate the vertical and horizontal loads acting on the cell using numerical solution software, which gives the structure more reliability and durability and increases service life of the structure. The case study accident occurred in container terminal No. 4 of the Damietta port in 1993, and the cell was extremely damaged. Through this study, the authors introduce various design procedures, monitoring systems and evaluation methodologies using the numerical solution model. The case study results and feasibility assessment prove the effectiveness of the proposed solution and the validity of applying this novel technique to other similar cases instead of constructing a new structure at higher costs.

KEYWORDS:

• Container terminal rehabilitation
• damaged quay wall strengthening
• new rehabilitation technique
• drum-type strengthening
• force separation for quay structures

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the Damietta Port Authority for its limitless support and for providing us the opportunity to follow up and monitor the impacts of the new technique in strengthening damaged cell No. 43.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.