TOPIC 3: WATER FRONT STRUCTURES

Introduction

Water front structures are shore or coastal protection structures that are used to

define and protect ports and harbors.

Waterfront includes an array of structures and components related to the berthing,

mooring, operations, and maintenance of ships and other vessels.

Waterfront structures have multiple uses ranging from industrial, to commercial, to

military, and recreational.

Harbor: A water area that is bounded by natural features or manmade structures or

a combination of both. That provides refuge, safe moorings, and protection for

vessels during storms or accommodations for such water-to-water or water-to-land

activities as resupply, refueling, repairs, or transferring cargo and personnel.

Port: Harbor and/or areas in a harbor with waterfront facilities used to load and

unload ships, transfer cargo, or passengers. This includes landside areas adjacent to

harbors that support various waterborne activities.

Waterfront facilities are structures and facilities that provide service for:

(1) Transferring ordnance, other cargo, and passengers

(2) Refueling ships

(3) Storing goods

(4) Supplying utilities to home-based vessels

(5) Berthing, constructing, overhauling, and repairing ships

(6) Conducting military marine operations

(7) Protecting the shoreline

A typical waterfront

Types of waterfront structures

1. Dry Dock: A specialized facility used for the repair of ships where the vessel

is removed from the water or placed within a lock and the water is removed

leaving the ship in the dry to facilitate repairs. A drydocking system is a

 facility for exposing the normally underwater portion of a ship for

construction, inspection, modification, repair etc

2. Dock: General structure or place where a ship or vessel can be moored.

3. Pier: A structure that projects out from the shore into the water and is

oriented either perpendicular to or at an angle with the shore. It may be used

on both sides, but sometimes only one. A pier is a deck structure supported

above the water on piles (open type), a solidfill structure retained by

bulkheads (closed type with apron), or a combination of the two. It extends

outward from the shore into a harbor or other navigable waters to permit

berthing along one or both sides of its length.

4. A wharf is a structure oriented approximately parallel to the shore. Ships can

only be moored at the offshore face of a marginal wharf. When water depths

close to shore are not adequate to accommodate deep draft ships, the wharf,

consisting of a platform on piles, is located offshore in deeper water and is

connected to shore along its length or at one or more points by pile-

supported trestles, usually at right angles to the wharf. It runs parallel to the

shore and is connected to it at more than one point (usually continuously) to

provide berthing normally along one side.

5. Dolphins are mooring piles consisting of a large tubular pile or

interconnected multiple piles. Their primary function is mooring ships,

which are secured to the dolphins with ropes.

6. Breakwater: A manmade structure that protects a shore area or harbor by

breaking up or reducing waves.

7. Jetty: A waterfront coastal protection structure that extends into a body of

water to influence waves, currents, or sedimentation in order to protect a

shoreline or channel. jetties are used to provide a platform for ships to dock,

but also to transport goods over water to the shore.

8. Seawall: A waterfront coastal protection structure built along a portion of a

shoreline to prevent erosion and other damage by wave action

9. Quay Wall. A quay wall is a barrier of steel, stone, concrete, or wood that

supports an embankment or fill built as a part of a waterfront structure.

CONSTRUCTION OF WATER FRONT STRUCTURES

1. Timber structures

Timber structures in a marine environment are subject to attack by a variety of destructive

organisms. Thus, they should be properly treated with appropriate preservatives to prevent or

retard this type of deterioration.

Construction can be done by:

 PRESERVATIVE MATERIALS. wood preservatives into three types: creosote and

creosote solutions, oil-borne preservatives, and water-borne preservatives.

 PRESSURE TREATMENT. All timber products used in a marine environment should be

pressure treated with an appropriate preservative.

 SEASONING CHECKS OR CRACKS. Seasoning checks or cracks often develop in

treated wood before it is used. If they do, the affected timber should be placed in the

structure so that water cannot flow into the check or crack and, thus, promote rot in the

untreated heartwood. Seasoning checks or cracks in piles also provide entry for marine

borers to the untreated heartwood and, thus, allow for rapid destruction of such piles.

 HARDWARE. Bolts, washers, nuts, spikes, drift pins, and other hardware used in timber

structures shall be heavily galvanized.

2. Steel structures

Structural steel is used in most metal waterfront structures because it is strong, readily

available, easily fabricated, and not excessively costly. Cast or fabricated steel is

normally used for such accessories as bitts, bollards, cleats, and chocks. Other metals
 have specialized uses because of unique properties, such as being lightweight (e.g.,

aluminum) or corrosion resistant (e.g., monel).

Structural steel and cast or fabricated steel are used in all areas of the waterfront. Typical

applications include:

▪ Piers and wharves use steel H-piles or pipe piles to support or brace the structure.

Structural steel shapes are used for framing.

▪ Bulkheads and quaywalls use interlocking steel sheet piling with tie rods and wales.

Steel sheet piling is used to retain fill.

▪ Fender systems incorporate steel H-piles.

▪ Mooring hardware such as cleats, bollards, bitts, and chocks are made from cast or

fabricated steel.

▪ Other items such as utility lines, grating, opening frames, manhole covers, fences, bolts

and nuts, handrails, and concrete reinforcement are made of steel.

3. Concrete structures

Underwater Concrete.

Concrete poured underwater must have good workability and, thus, should meet the following

conditions:

(1) The mixture must incorporate the proper proportions of sand and gravel (preferably not

crushed material) in a rich paste of portland cement and freshwater.

(2) The mixing water must not exceed 5.5 gallons per bag of cement. (Mixing water includes the

water entering the batch in the form of free, surface moisture on the sand and/or gravel; this free

water must, therefore, be deducted from the total water to be added.) If the aggregate particles
are surface-dry and not saturated, they will absorb some of the gross mixing water; allowance

must, therefore, be made for extra mixing water, taking care that the W/C ratio of 5.5 gallons per

bag is not exceeded.

(3) The mixture should not contain less than 8 bags and not more than 10 bags of cement per

cubic yard of ASTM Type V concrete.

(4) For improved workability, the concrete should incorporate an admixture to provide not less

than 3°% and not more than 6% entrained air as determined by standard ASTM methods.

(5) The sand and gravel should be physically sound, and the maximum gravel size should be 3/4

inch.

(6) The formwork in which the concrete is poured must be rigid, carefully fitted, and designed so

that no underwater currents can pass through it. Provision must be made for the seawater

displaced by the concrete to escape from within the form. Timber is generally the most suitable

material for construction of the formwork. Joints between the formwork and the intact portion of

a structure should be caulked.

(7) Low temperatures during mixing and curing of concrete (i.e., below 50°F) can delay strength

development for periods as long as one year and so should be avoided.

SPECIAL CONCRETES FOR WATERFRONT STRUCTURES

1. PRESTRESSED CONCRETE.

Prestressed concrete is a special type of reinforced concrete containing stretched tendons of

steel (bars, cables, wire ropes). The steel is considered pretension if it is stretched before the

concrete attains initial set. It is considered post-tensioned if it is stretched after the hardened
concrete has obtained a specified strength; the upstretched steel is first encased within ducts

to prevent its bonding to the concrete. If the concrete was steam cured, it will not be equally

as durable as a concrete that was simply water-cured for the same period of time.

2. PREPACKED CONCRETE.

Prepacked concrete is used on large repair jobs, particularly underwater placement or where

placement of regular concrete would be either difficult or impossible. This method is used

also in restoring old concrete and masonry structures. The advantages of either regular

concrete or prepacked concrete, compared with shotcrete, are: greater density, greater

uniformity, lesser permeability, lower shrinkage, less dependence on personal skills of

equipment operators, less dust, less clean-up work, and more economical. The comparative

disadvantages of these two methods are that all work on vertical surfaces requires formwork,

and for extensive restoration the plant required could be considerably more expensive than

that required for shotcrete placement.

Prepacked concrete entails placing coarse aggregate in the form and filling the voids in the

aggregate mass with intrusion grout that consists of portland cement, a high grade pozzolan,

sand, water and an intrusion aid. The intrusion aid is a chemical admixture that suspends the

solid particles in the grout, provides fluidity at low W/C ratios, and undergoes slight

expansion before final set. The volume of air entrained in the intrusion grout is about 9%.

The amount in the hardened concrete depends on the ratio of grout to coarse aggregate, but

usually is about 4%. Bonding strengths of prepacked to regular concrete are between 70%

and 100% of that attainable in regular concrete. This makes it possible to restore deteriorated

concrete members to near their original strengths or to enlarge existing members to take

additional loads.
Weakened material should be removed to expose sound concrete, and the surfaces of sound

concrete should be roughened by either chipping or heavy sandblasting before repairing.

Space must be provided for the replacement or addition of at least 3 to 4 inches of new

prepacked concrete. Forms are then well-anchored to the old concrete, filled with coarse

aggregate (of proper gradation for the thickness being placed), and the grout intruded. When

the forms are filled, a closing pressure of about 10 psi is held for several minutes to drive out

all air and water through a vent at the highest point. The forms are removed one or two days

later, and the new concrete is properly cured.

3. TREMIE CONCRETE.

One method of placing concrete underwater, especially at easily accessible locations,

involves a tremie (a steel tube having a hopper for filling at its upper end). A plug,

consisting of either a rubber ball or a wad of burlap that fits snugly inside the tremie, is

inserted below a loading hopper located at the upper end of the tremie. The freshly mixed

concrete, introduced at the hopper, forces the plug down and displaces the seawater. The

tremie is continually replenished with concrete while the lower end is kept embedded in

the newly deposited concrete. Tremie concrete must be quite workable so that it flows

readily into place.

4. PUMPED CONCRETE.

Pumping freshly mixed concrete is the most expeditious means of placing concrete in

spaces of limited accessibility.

The pumping method offers several advantages:

 (1) High quality concrete is required because the mixture must be workable in order to

pass through the pump;

(2) Workable mixtures containing relatively small coarse aggregate particles tend to

provide a dense concrete;

(3) The pump pressure helps to coat the aggregate particles more uniformly and, thus,

increase the density of the resultant concrete;

(4) Concrete can be transferred from a barge directly into wooden forms at the patching

site; and

(5) Pumped concrete can be used to fill the forms from the bottom upwards, displacing

the seawater as additional concrete is forced in at the bottom.

5. EPOXY RESIN.

Cracks and joints in concrete waterfront structures must be sealed against the adverse

effects of a marine environment as a means of prolonging the lives of such facilities.

Various formulations of epoxy resin compounds are used for sealing, grouting, patching,

and waterproofing cracks and joints in concrete, and as adhesives for bonding freshly

mixed concrete or precast concrete to old concrete. No formulation can serve as an all-

purpose material for these applications, and so each epoxy formulation should be used

only for its intended purpose

6. SHOTCRETE.

Shotcrete, concrete applied by spraying. Shotcrete is satisfactory for repairing minor

damage to concrete piles and framed structures and should be considered whenever there

is enough repair work to justify the cost of the equipment. Piers, navigation locks,
 wooden piling, concrete piling, and steel piling are typical applications for shotcrete

where waterfront repairs are necessary.

The advantages of shotcrete, compared with either regular concrete or prepacked

concrete, are:

(1) Ease of placement,

(2) Minimum need for formwork and plant equipment, and

(3) High strength.

The comparative disadvantages of shotcrete are:

(1) Susceptibility to wide structural variation (composition is dependent on the skill of

the nozzle man),

(2) Drying shrinkage rate and coefficient of thermal expansion can be considerably

different than those of the original concrete in the structure being repaired, and

(3) Relatively high porosity.

Repairs and restorations accomplished by the shotcrete method are economical and

successful where deterioration is shallow and the repaired area is large and irregular. In

regions of severe exposure, periodic protective applications are necessary to seal cracks

that allow the entry of water.

7. PROTECTIVE COATINGS.

Coating hardened concrete surfaces (e.g., the decks of piers and wharves) with protective

water repellents may be a good precautionary measure.

 MAINTENANCE OF WATERFRONT STRUCTURES

Maintenance is the recurrent day-to-day, periodic, or scheduled work that is required for a

marine structure or facility to be used for its designed purpose. It includes routine work

undertaken to prevent damage or deterioration of a facility that otherwise would be more costly

to restore.

The more common concerns in maintenance of waterfront facilities are:

∎ Painting and protective coating.

∎ Routine replacement or mending of fender components to prevent damage to ships and the

pier.

∎ Maintenance of utility systems to prevent outages.

∎ Routine mending of protective plastic wraps.

∎ Routine patching of small concrete spalls and cracks.

∎ • Maintenance of the cathodic protection system.

CAUSES OF DETERIORATION.

The deterioration of waterfront facilities is caused by exposure to destructive forces, such as:

(1) Attack by fungi, termites, and marine organisms

(2) Corrosion

(3) Mechanical damage, including the impact and pressure of ships and cargo and the abrasive

action of sand, ice, and debris

(4) Erosion due to wind and wave action, tides, water currents, rain, snow, sleet and ice, and

freezing and thawing.

Steel structure

Corrosion is the destruction of a metal by its reaction with the environment. This reaction is an

electrochemical oxidation process that usually produces rust or other metal oxide.

Corrosion is the major cause of the deterioration of steel structures.

Maintenance of steel structures and components will entail :

 Repair or replacement of damaged or corroded steel,

 Protective Coatings for Steel. Steel in a marine environment will corrode freely if left

unprotected and without a coating system. Periodic coating of steel surfaces for corrosion

protection, and

 Maintenance of cathodic protection systems. Cathodic protection is a system for

controlling corrosion of a metal surface by passing sufficient direct current onto it to

make it a cathode, thus eliminating the possibility of anodic loss of metal.

 Use of metal alloys. There are many alloys which, if used properly, are more resistant to

corrosion by seawater and marine atmospheres.

 Fiberglass-reinforced plastics (FRP), ultra-high molecular weight (UHMW) plastics, and

high-density polyethylene (HDPE) are being increasingly used in waterfront construction.

Although physical damage from impact or loading may occur, corrosion is the major cause of the

deterioration of steel structures. The extent or severity of corrosion will vary with the exposure
zone of the material; that is, whether it is in the atmospheric zone, the splash or tidal zone, or the

submerged zone. The selection of materials for waterfront use must consider each of these varied

conditions.