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HARBOR ENGINEERING

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3. HANDBOOK OF PORT AND
HARBOR ENGINEERING
GEOTECHNICAL AND STRUCTURAL ASPECTS
Gregory P. Tsinker, Ph.D., P.E.
Springer-Science+Business Media, B.V.

4. Cover Design: Andrea Meyer, emDASH inc., New York, NY
Cover Photo: Courtesy of Han-Padron Associates, New York, NY
Copyright © Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 1997
Originally published by Chapman & Hall in 1997
ISBN 978-1-4757-0865-3 ISBN 978-1-4757-0863-9 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-1-4757-0863-9
All rights reserved. No part of this work covered by the copyright hereon may be reproduced or used in any
form or by any means-graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping, or
information storage and retrieval systems-without the written permission of the publisher.
12345678910XXXOI 009997
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Tsinker, Gregory P.
Handbook of port and harbor engineering : geotechnical and structural aspects I Gregory
P. Tsinker.
p. em.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-4757-0865-3
I. Harbors-Design and construction. 2. Marine geotechnique. I. Title.
TC205.T747 1996
627'.2-dc20 95-48487
CIP
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data available
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For a complete listing of Chapman & Hall's titles, send your requests to
Chapman & Hall, Dept. BC, 115 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10003.

5. To Nora
v

6. contents
Dedication v
Preface xix
Introduction xxv
Contributors xxxvii
1 THE MARINE ENVIRONMENT AND ITS EFFECTS ON PORT DESIGN
AND CONSTRUCTION 1
1.1 Introduction 1
1.1.1 General 1
1.1.2 Seawater and Fouling 4
1.2 Water-level Variations 8
1.3 Weather Factors 10
1.4 Wind 12
1.4.1 General 12
vii

7. viii Contents
1.4.2 Wind Parameters 14
1.5 Currents
1.6 Waves
1.6.1 General 19
1.6.2 The Sea State Parameters 26
1.6.3 Wave Theories 31
1.6.4 Design Wave 33
16
19
1.7 Ice 37
1.7.1 Introduction 38
1.7.2 Ice Covers 39
1.7.3 Effects of Ice on Port Operations 47
1.7.4 Cold Temperature and Ice Effects on Marine Structures Design 54
References 61
2 PORT (HARBOR) ELEMENTS: DESIGN PRINCIPLES
AND CONSIDERATIONS
2.1 General
2.1.1 Port Classification 70
2.1.2 Port Details and Definitions 71
2.2 Ships and their Influence on Port Design
2.2.1 Ships 73
2.2.2 Ship Influence on Port Design 74
2.3 Access (Navigation) Channel
2.3.1 General 78
2.3.2 Navigational and Operational Parameters 79
2.3.3 Environmental Parameters 81
2.3.4 Layout 82
2.3.5 Channel Cross Section 84
2.3.6 Economic Considerations 96
69
69
73
78

8. Contents ix
2.4 Port (Harbor) Entrance 98
2.5 Port Water Area (Harbor) 106
2.5.1 Basin Sizes 107
2.6 Location, Orientation, Size, and Shape of the Port 112
2.6.1 Selection of Port Location 112
2.6.2 Size and Orientation of Marine Facilities 115
2.6.3 Harbor Area Requirements 115
2.7 Quay Basin 119
2.8 Offshore Installations 121
2.8.1 Offshore Bottom-Fixed Marine Facilities 121
2.8.2 Single-Point Offshore Moorings 123
2.9 Port-Related Marine Structures
2.9.1 Land Requirements 124
2.9.2 Dust and Noise Control 127
2.9.3 Berth Requirements 128
2.9.4 Structures 130
124
2.9.5 Selection of the Most Cost Effective Structure for Dock Construction 151
2.9.6 Constructability 153
2.10 Structural Materials
2.10.1 Structural Concrete 155
2.10.2 Underwater Concreting 172
2.10.3 Precast Concrete 178
2.10.4 Structural Steel in Port Engineering 180
2.10.5 Structural Timber 195
2.11 Breakwaters
2.12 In-Harbor Slope Protection
2.13 Aids to Navigation
2.14 Mooring Accessories
154
198
203
204
205

9. x Contents
2.15 Fender Systems
2.15.1 Timber Fenders 208
2.15.2 Solid Rubber Fenders 210
2.15.3 Pneumatic Fenders 216
2.15.4 Foam-Filled Fenders 222
2.15.5 Other Fender Systems 222
2.15.6 Fenders Failure 226
2.15.7 General Principles in Fender System Selection and Design 226
206
References · 232
3 DESIGN LOADS
3.1 General
3.2 Environmental Loads
3.2.1 Wind 245
3.2.2 Currents 248
3.2.3 Waves 251
3.3 Mooring Loads
3.3.1 Mooring Lines Arrangement 261
3.3.2 Mooring Line Materials 262
3.3.3 Mooring Forces 262
3.4 Loads From Cargo Handling and Hauling Equipment and Uniform
243
243
244
260
Distributed Loads 267
3.4.1 General Considerations 267
3.4.2 Design Load Assumptions 269
3.4.3 Uniform Distributed Cargo Loads and Miscellaneous Live Loads 271
3.4.4 Rubber Tire and Crawler Track Mounted Equipment 272
3.4.5 Rail-Mounted Cargo 279
3.4.6 Fixed-Base Equipment 282
3.5 Ship Impact (by M. Shiono in collaboration with G. Tsinker)
3.6 Ice Loads
3.6.1 General 293
3.6.2 Environmental Driving Forces 294
3.6.3 Ice-Crushing Load 295
3.6.4 Loads Due to Ice Bending Mode of Failure 297
283
293

10. Contents xi
3.6.5 Forces Due to Ice Sheet Adfreeze to the Structure 299
3.6.6 Vertical Loads on Piles or Piers Due to Changes in Water Level 300
3.6.7 Ice Load of Thermal Origin 301
3.6.8 Other Ice-Induced Loads 302
3.7 Seismic Loads (by W. S. Dunbar)
3.7.1 Seismic Ground Motion 303
3.7.2 Descriptions of Ground Motion 307
3.7.3 Design Ground Motion Estimation 312
3.7.4 Design Loads 318
302
3.8 Load Combinations 319
References 320
4 GEOTECHNICAL ASPECTS OF SOIL-STRUCTURE INTERACTION
DESIGN CONSIDERATIONS 331
4.1 General 331
4.2 Subsurface Investigation 333
4.3 Soil Liquefaction and Evaluation of Liquefaction Potential (by G. Tsinker
and W. S. Dunbar) 334
4.4 Basic Design and Construction Considerations 342
4.4.1 Modern Trends 342
4.4.2 Bottom-Fixed Structures 343
4.4.3 Safety Considerations 345
4.4.4 Construction Procedure 347
4.5 Soils and Bedrock
4.5.1 Gravel and Sand 348
4.5.2 Silt and Clay 349
4.5.3 Bedrock 350
4.6 Properties and Characteristics of Soils
4.6.1 Shear Strength 354
4.6.2 Compressibility (Consolidation) 356
4.6.3 Permeability 357
348
352

11. xii Contents
4.7 Lateral Soil Pressure
4.7.1 Active Earth Pressure 359
4.7.2 Effects of Wall Movement 368
4.7.3 Effects of Time-Dependent Changes in Soil 374
4.7.4 Effect of Ambient Temperature on Earth Pressures 376
4.7.5 Effects of Backfill Freezing 376
4.7.6 Passive Earth Pressure 376
4.7.7 Earth Pressure at Rest 380
4.7.8 Compaction-Induced Pressure 381
4.8 Friction Forces on Walls
4.9 Dynamic Soil Pressures
4.9.1 Mononobe-Okabe Formulation 383
4.9.2 Effect of Saturated Backfill 385
4.9.3 Hydrodynamic Pressures 385
4.9.4 Effect of Wall Inertia 386
4.9.5 Selection of Ground Motions 387
4.9.6 Effect of Wall Movements 387
358
381
382
References 388
5 GRAVITY-TYPEQUAYWALLS
5.1 General
5.2 Basic Structural Arrangements
5.2.1 Blockwork Structures 403
5.2.2 Quay Walls Composed of Floated-in Concrete Caissons 409
5.2.3 Quay Walls Composed of Large-Diameter Cylinders 428
5.2.4 Cribwork Quay Walls 435
5.2.5 Steel Sheet-Pile Cell Bulkheads 439
5.2.6 Quay Walls 446
5.2.7 Gravity-Type Walls 452
5.3 Basic Design Considerations
5.3.1 Loads and Forces Load Combinations 461
5.3.2 Basic Static Principles 464
5.4 Design ofBlockwork Quay Walls
5.4.1 Basic Design Principles 478
397
397
403
461
478

12. Contents xiii
5.4.2 Design Phase 1 480
5.4.3 Design Phase 2 483
5.4.4 Design Phase 3 484
5.4.5 Design Phase 4 484
5.5 Design of Quay Walls Comprised of Floated-in Concrete Caissons
5.5.1 Basic Design Principles 485
5.5.2 Buoyancy and Buoyant Stability of a Caisson 485
5.5.3 Buoyancy and Stability of a Damaged Caisson 489
5.5.4 Caisson Launch 490
5.5.5 Towing and Sinking 496
5.5.6 Structural Design 497
5.6 Design of Quay Walls Composed of Large-Diameter Cylinders
5.7 Design ofL-Shaped Walls
5.7.1 Basic Requirements 504
5.7.2 Design of Cantilever Walls 506
5.7.3 Design of Counterfort Wall 507
5.7.4 Design of Wall Constructed from Prefabricated Components with
Internal Anchorage 508
5.7.5 Design of Wall Constructed from Prefabricated Components with
External Anchorage 508
5.8 Design of Cellular-type Steel Sheet-pile Bulkheads
5.8.1 Introduction 511
5.8.2 Conventional Design Method 512
5.8.3 Horizontal Shear (Cummings') Method 518
5.8.4 Brinch Hansen Method 519
5.8.5 Seismic Design of Cellular Bulkheads 519
5.8.6 Deflection of Cellular Bulkhead 520
5.8.7 Effects of Concentrated Horizontal Loads on Sheet-Pile Cell 522
5.9 Design ofCribwork-type Quay Walls
5.10 Reinforced Earth Quay (by D. Weinreb and P. Wu)
5.10.1 General Concept 524
5.10.2 Design of Reinforced Earth Marine Structures 532
5.10.3 Construction of Reinforced Earth Walls Underwater 536
References
485
500
504
511
522
524
542

13. xiv Contents
6 SHEET-PILE BULKHEADS
6.1 Introduction
6.1.1 Sheet-Piling-Background 549
6.1.2 Anchoring Systems 552
6.1.3 Sequence of Construction 555
6.2 Sheet-Piling-Structural and Driving Aspects
6.2.1 Timber Sheet Piles 556
6.2.2 Steel Sheet Piles 558
6.2.3 Concrete Sheet Piles 561
6.2.4 Selection of Sheet-Pile Section 570
6.3 Anchor Systems
6.3.1 Anchor System Comprised of Tie-Rods and Anchorages 572
6.3.2 Anchor System Comprised of Raked Piles 576
6.3.3 Ground (Rock) Anchors 583
6.4 Wall Capping
6.5 Construction Methods
6.5.1 Construction Sequence 591
6.5.2 Sheet-Pile Driving 592
6.5.3 Pile Jetting 596
6.5.4 Earthwork 602
6.6 Earth Pressures on Flexible Walls: State-of-the-Art Review
6.7 Design of Sheet-pile Walls
6.7.1 Design Criteria 623
6.7.2 Design of Cantilever Walls 625
6.7.3 Design of Anchored Bulkheads 630
6.7.4 Design of Sheet-Pile Bulkheads Anchored by Raked Piles 643
6.8 Sheet-Pile Bulkheads Built on Creep Soils
6.8.1 Cantilever Sheet-Pile Bulkhead 655
6.8.2 Single-Anchor Sheet-Pile Bulkhead 657
6.8.3 Multianchor Sheet-Pile Bulkhead 661
6.9 Anchorage Design
549
549
555
571
589
591
606
623
653
665

14. 6.9.1 Piled Anchorages 666
6.9.2 Sheet-Pile Anchor Wall 667
6.9.3 Individual Vertical Anchor Piles 669
6.9.4 Deadman (Plate) Anchor 670
6.10 Waling and Tie-Rod Design
6.11 Ground (Rock) Anchors
6.12 Overall Stability
6.13 Seismic Design ofAnchored Sheet-Pile Walls (by W. S. Dunbar)
6.13.1 Observed Failure Modes 682
6.13.2 Seismic Design Procedure 683
6.13.3 Assumption 683
6.13.4 Factor of Safety Against Failure by Rotation 683
6.13.5 Size and Location of Anchor Block 684
6.13.6 Balanced Design Procedure 685
6.14 Sheet-Pile Wall Failure
References
7 PILED WATERFRONT STRUCTURES
7.1 Introduction
7.2 General
7.2.1 Structural Schemes and Structural Components 697
7.2.2 Prefabrication 701
Contents xv
672
673
679
682
686
688
695
695
697
7.3 Open Pile Structures With Suspended Decks 701
7.3.1 Open Piled Offshore Piers 702
7.3.2 Piling 710
7.3.3 Suspended Deck Structures for Marginal Wharves 711
7.3.4 Basic Design Principles 712
7.3.5 Suspended Deck Structures Founded on Large-Diameter Cylindrical Piles
718
7.3.6 Protection from Ship Impact 722

15. xvi Contents
7.4
7.5
7.6
7.7
7.3.7 Pile Anchoring in Foundation Soil and the Deck Structure 724
Relieving Platforms
Structural Elements
7.5.1 Pile Foundation 735
7.5.2 Superstructure 776
7.5.3 Underdeck Slope 782
Pile-Soil Interaction
7.6.1 General 795
7.6.2 Piles Under Axial Static Load 803
7.6.3 Pile Settlement 817
Laterally Loaded Piles
7.7.1 General 820
7.7.2 Conventional Design Methods 822
7.7.3 Broms' Method 826
7.7.4 Subgrade Reaction Approach 829
7.7.5 Laterally Loaded Socketed Piles 836
7.8 Piled Marine Structures Design Methods
7.8.1 Design Criteria 837
7.8.2 Design Methods 838
References
8 OFFSHORE DEEP WATER TERMINALS
8.2 Layout
8.2.1 Dry Bulk Loading/Unloading Facilities 882
8.2.2 Liquid Bulk Loading/Unloading Terminals 886
8.3 Mooring System
8.3.1 Basic Structural Concepts 890
8.4 Dolphins and Platforms
8.4.1 Breasting Dolphins 893
8.4.2 Piled Breasting Dolphins 895
8.4.3 Gravity-Type Dolphins 896
725
734
795
820
837
865
879
881
888
893

16. Contents x:vii
8.4.4 Steel Jacket-Type Structures 898
8.4.5 Fenders 898
8.4.6 Mooring Dolphins 898
8.4.7 Loading/Unloading Platforms 899
8.4.8 Access Trestles and Catwalks 899
8.5 Structural Design
8.5.1 Marine Foundation and its Effects on Structural Design 901
8.5.2 Basic Design Procedures 903
References
9 MODERNIZATION OF EXISTING MARINE FACILITIES
9.1 Introduction
9.2 Modernization ofMooring Structures
9.2.1 Modernization of Gravity-Type Quay Walls 920
9.2.2 Modernization of Piled Wharves 925
9.2.3 Modernization of Sheet-Pile Bulkheads 925
9.2.4 New Wall Construction 929
9.3 Modernization ofWaterfront Structures: Characteristic Examples
9.3.1 Gravity-Type Quay Walls 930
901
914
917
917
919
930
9.3.2 Modification of Piled Coal-Loading Pier No. 6 at Norfolk, Virginia 940
9.3.3 Use of Piled Structures and Sheet-Pile Walls for Modernization
of Existing Structures 942
9.3.4 Construction of Brand New Structures 949
References
10 BREAKWATER DESIGN (by S. Takahashi)
10.1 Historic Development of Breakwaters
10.1.1 Structural Types 952
10.1.2 Conditions for Breakwater Selection 956
10.1.3 Comparison of Sloping- and Vertical-Type Breakwaters 956
10.1.4 Historical Development of Breakwaters 957
10.2 Design of Conventional Vertical Breakwaters
949
951
952
977

17. xviii Contents
10.2.1 Examples of Conventional Vertical Breakwaters 977
10.2.2 Wave Transmission and Reflection by Vertical Walls 978
10.2.3 Wave Forces on Vertical Walls 981
10.2.4 Design of Rubble-Mound Foundation 1001
10.2.5 Rubble-Mound Toe Protection Against Scouring 1005
10..3 Design of New Types ofVertical Breakwater
10.3.1 Perforated Wall Breakwater 1007
10.3.2 Inclined Walls 1015
10.4 Design of Horizontally Composite Breakwaters
10.4.1 Wave Transmission and Reflection 1021
10.4.2 Wave and Block Load on a Vertical Wall 1022
10.4.3 Stability of Wave-Dissipating Concrete Blocks 1023
1006
1020
10.5 Design ofRubble-Mound Breakwaters 1024
10.5.1 Wave Transmission and Reflection 1025
10.5.2 Design of Armor Layer 1027
10.5.3 Inner Layers, Core, Toe, and Wave Screen 1034
References 1036
Index 1045

18. Preface
In past 10 years or so several excellent
books and handbooks on "Port and Harbors
Engineering" and "Coastal and Ocean Engi-
neering" have been published in Europe and
in North America. Reference to these works
is made elsewhere in this book.
The authors of the aforementioned works
offer a shrewd and comprehensive discus-
sion on the marine environment and its
effects on port design, port operation, port
hydraulics, coastal geomorphology, littoral
drift and sedimentation, port and shipping
technology and economics, design and con-
struction of a floating port related struc-
tures, and others. However, proportionally
the geotechnical and structural aspects of
port construction have been given very lit-
tle attention. This happens, perhaps, be-
cause the subject of marine structures engi-
neering is very broad by itself; it is a blend
that encompasses the array of engineering
disciplines, e.g., civil, structural, geotechni-
cal, hydraulic, strength of materials, corro-
sion, naval architecture and others knowl-
edge ofwhich is required to produce a sound
and economical design of a modern port or
marine terminal.
This book has been written to :fill a niche
in the existing literature on port and harbor
engineering and to provide the port design-
ers, and particularly those concerned with
the design of a port- and harbor-related
marine structures, with state-of-the-art in-
formation and common sense guidelines to
the design and construction of the basic
types of marine structures. This book is a
companion volume to my earlier work Ma-
rine · Structures Engineering: Specialized
Applications published by Chapman & Hall
in 1995. That book covers important sub-
jects such as the evaluation of capacity of
the in-service marine structures and meth-
ods of their remediation and maintenance,
construction and operation of the marine
structures in cold regions, design and con-
struction of a shipyard and related marine
structures, design of anchored offshore
moorings and floating breakwaters, design
and construction of marinas (small craft
harbors), and design and construction of
marine structures that are used in naviga-
ble waterways for protecting the bridge
piers from ship collision. Conversely, this
xix

19. xx Preface
volume provides the marine structures de-
signer with basic information on the marine
environment and its effects on port design
and construction (Chapter 1); port elements
and their effects on port operation (Chapter
2); design loads and their combinations that
are commonly used to design waterfront
structures (Chapter 3); information on the
phenomenon of soilI structure interaction
that explains basic principles that affect
soil lateral thrust against rigid and flexible
soil retaining structures (Chapter 4); design
of gravity quay walls, sheet pile bulkheads,
and piled marine structures (Chapters 5, 6
and 7); basic principles of design of the
offshore marine terminals (Chapter 8);
modernization of the existing waterfront
structure that makes them usable in mod-
ern port operations (Chapter 9); and design
and construction of breakwaters (Chapter
10).
In both books each chapter includes a
comprehensive list of relevant cross-refer-
ences intended to help the interested reader
to study the subject in additional depth.
In this book I have attempted to provide
the reader with a clear understanding of
the phenomenon of interaction between the
environmental agents such as waves, cur-
rents, and wind as well as harbor soils and
backfill materials with bottom-fixed marine
structures.
During my long career as a practicing
waterfront consultant and port engineer
considerable progress has occurred in the
field of design and construction of port- and
navigation-related marine structures.
Progress in port design, and in particular
design of waterfront structures, has been
strongly influenced by the dramatic changes
in vessel sizes and in modes of modern
terminal operation. Multipurpose ports have
been replaced by more specialized termi-
nals, which result in dramatic effects on
both the design of berth structures and lay-
out of the terminal. Furthermore, marine
structures for various purposes have been
developed using new design and construe-
tion principles, and operation of these
structures have been significantly improved
by the introduction of new and better fend-
ering systems and efficient mooring acces-
sories. New and better structural materials
have also been introduced. For example,
modern concrete technology now enables the
engineer to use durable high-strength con-
crete, highly resistant to deterioration in
harsh marine environments. New and bet-
ter repair procedures and rehabilitation
techniques for port structures have also
been introduced.
Progress in development of new marine
structures and modernization of existing
structures was based on advances in ana-
lytical design methods as well as on result
of numerous scale-model tests and field in-
vestigations conducted all over the world.
Today, marine structure design is a unique
discipline in the field of civil engineering
that is based on the use of highly advanced
methods ofsoil foundation investigation and
thorough understanding of the principles of
soiljstructure interaction in the marine en-
vironment.
Recently sophisticated computational
procedures and mathematical models have
been developed and used for design of vari-
ous marine structures. It must be stressed,
however, that in many cases the diverse
and complex geology at various port loca-
tions results in a wide variety of geotechni-
cal environments. Such conditions require a
careful approach to selection of structure
type and use of the appropriate design
method, which should not necessarily be
highly sophisticated. It is a misconception
that sophisticated computer analysis, with
its greater accuracy, will automatically lead
to better design. Despite the highly sophis-
ticated analytical methods available today,
the marine structural designer must be
aware that the design is not merely a stress
analysis process. Use of computers has not
diminished the value of some hand calcula-
tions. In fact, many questions about marine
structure engineering are still best an-

20. swered with simple, often empirically based,
but practical formulas.
Computers have revolutionized the pro-
cess of structural engineering and greatly
increased productivity of engineering firms.
Computer-aided analyses are of great help
when used in the proper context, for exam-
ple, when modeling of the structure is cor-
rect, the real boundary conditions are taken
into account and most of all when the out-
put is examined and interpreted by an ex-
perienced engineer. However, some critics
observed a "rapid deteriorating competency
on the part of the engineering community
as a consequence of using computers" and
found "a serious lack of critical evaluation
ability in many of the young engineers ...
(which) put an inordinate amount of faith
in the computer" (ENR, October 28, 1991).
The worrisome trend in the present de-
sign and construction practices is that some
inexperienced, however, highly competent
in the use of computers, engineers consider
themselves "instant experts" ready to ana-
lyze and design anything.
The marine structures designer should
realize that formulation of the mathemati-
cal approach used for structural analysis
must be practical and compatible with
available engineering data, for example,
shearing strength and consolidation charac-
teristics of the foundation and backfill soils,
environmental and live loads, etc. However,
sometimes even when analytically correct
results are obtained, the inexperienced en-
gineer can make errors by neglecting some
practical aspects related to constructibility,
for example, how to fabricate or how to get
the structural component in place.
To avoid the disastrous consequences of
such designs experienced engineers must
spend sufficient time helping their less ex-
perienced colleagues to prepare the mathe-
matical models and review the computer
output.
The 1980s and 1990s have become known
for global modernization of existing ports
and construction of new high capacity spe-
Preface xxi
cialized marine terminals. During the same
period of time the nature of port traffic has
changed markedly rendering some older fa-
cilities unsuitable for today's operations.
The obvious example is the emphatic shift
to containerization of literally all types of
cargoes and transportation of containerized
goods in ever larger vessels. Similar devel-
opments have occurred in transporting of
huge volumes of liquid and dry bulk com-
modities; sizes of the vessels that now
transport these cargoes reached 500,000
DWT and more. Obviously, these giant ves-
sels require deeper approach channels;
larger harbor basins; deep water quays;
gantry cranes with greater height clear-
ance, outreach, and lifting capacity; special-
ized terminals with appropriate handling
equipment; and so on. This gives obvious
impetus to global modernization of existing
ports as well as to construction of new ports
and terminals that can accommodate the
modern maritime traffic.
Large capital investments into ports de-
velopment have been made in 1960s through
1980s and many experts predict that this
trend will continue through 1990s and far
beyond into the 21st century.
Much of the capital spent on port devel-
opment is allocated for construction, opera-
tion, and maintenance of its marine facili-
ties. Therefore, economical design of these
facilities can save a lot of money needed for
port development.
Successful design of any project is based
on three pillars; they are
• intelligence
• education
• experience.
The latter two assume thorough knowledge
of a subject matter and the most recent
developments in the area of interest. Unfor-
tunately, all too frequently good and less
costly engineering solutions are not used
because of the lack of familiarity on a part
of the designer. On the other hand, use of a

21. xxii Preface
"text book" solution to solve the problem
may also be counterproductive.
The subject of marine engineering is a
field where ingenuity can achieve consider-
able savings. Every project is site specific
and therefore no engineer should be content
merely to follow anothers designs but should
study such designs and use them as a start-
ing point for developing his or her own
ideas that are best suitable for the particu-
lar site conditions.
AB noted earlier the science and practice
of port and harbor engineering draw from
various disciplines and cover a broad area
of interrelated subjects. This book offers ba-
sically geotechnical and structural aspects
of port and harbor engineering, and no at-
tempt has been made to include all detailed
analytical procedures from these interre-
lated disciplines, for example, dredging, port
operation and maintenance, etc. However,
where relevant, all efforts have been made
to provide the reader with a considerable
cross-reference on the interrelated subjects;
this includes the most recently published
books, papers from the journals of profes-
sional engineering societies, and the pro-
ceedings of specialty conferences.
The design procedures and guidelines
contained in this book are intended to point
out the complexity of the particular prob-
lem and illustrate factors that should be
considered and included in an appropriate
design scenario. They should not be used
indiscriminately and particularly not for the
detailed design, and should always be com-
bined with good engineering judgment. As
noted earlier, this work has been conceived
as a two-part treatise in which I have at-
tempted to provide marine structures de-
signers with state-of-the-art information
and common sense guidelines to the design
of basic types of marine structures associ-
ated with port activities.
This book is designed to serve as both a
guide and a reference for practicing marine
and geotechnical engineers and a text for
graduate students and others seeking to
enter the field of marine engineering.
This book has been 7 years in prepara-
tion. I have drawn from more than 40 years
of my own experience as a marine engineer
and scientist involved with research and all
practical aspects of structural design, con-
struction, and project management. Also,
worldwide experience has been examined
and the best of it is included in this work.
Subsequently, acknowledgments of mate-
rial used in this book are given in the ap-
propriate places in the text and figures. I
wish to extend my deepest gratitude to all
the publishers, authors, and organizations
from whom material for this work has been
drawn.
This volume is not a one-man job. I am
deeply indebted to many experienced indi-
viduals who have contributed material and
comments to this project. In attempting to
make this work most helpful and useful I
have drawn from sources including the
knowledge and experience of my former col-
leagues at Acres International Limited, who
assisted in a variety of ways: Dr. W. S.
Dunbar contributed information on
seismic-induced loads, potentials for soil
liquefaction, soil dynamic loads upon re-
taining structures, design of a soil retaining
structures for seismic loading and also re-
viewed several chapters and helped in edit-
ing the book; Mr. R. G. Tanner has reviewed
several chapters and offered useful com-
ments; special gratitude goes to Mr. D. Pro-
tulipac who dedicated a great deal of his
time to editing most of the text.
I wish to extend my gratitude and ac-
knowledge a stimulating and enjoyable col-
laboration with: Mr. M. Shiono, Deputy
General Manager-Research and Develop-
ment, Sumitonio Rubber Industries, Kobe,
Japan who contributed information on rub-
ber fender systems; Dr. S. Takahashi, Chief
of Maritime Structures Laboratory, Port
and Harbour Research Institute, Yokosuka,
Japan, who contributed Chapter 10
"Breakwater Design"; Dr. M. Gurinsky, Pro-
ject Engineer for Hardesty & Hanover Con-
sulting Engineers, New York, N.Y., who
contributed Section 6.8, "Sheet Pile Bulk-

22. heads Built Upon Creep Soils"; Mr. D.
Weinreb and Mr. P. Wu, both vice presi-
dents for Reinforced Earth Company, Ltd.,
Rexdale, Ontario, who contributed Section
5.10, "Reinforced Earth Quay Walls.
I extend my deepest gratitude to my good
friend Roman Glusman for his invaluable
help with preparation of some illustrations
and Ms. L. Dunn, who typed the manuscript
and dealt ably with many difficulties in the
process. I wish to thank Sumitomo Rubber
Industries, Ltd. for sponsorship of this pro-
Preface xxiii
ject and extend my deepest gratitude to Mr.
M. Shiono and Mr. Ed Patrick of Sumitomo
Canada for their support. I also wish to
thank my publisher, Chapman & Hall, for
full cooperation.
Finally, special thanks are due to my
wife Nora, for her valuable assistance dur-
ing preparation of the manuscript copy, but
most important, for patiently tolerating me
during the preparation of both volumes.
GREGORY P. TSINKER

23. Introduction
Ports- Their Past. Present. and Future
Maritime transportation has generally been
the most convenient and least expensive
means of transporting goods, and this is
why mankind, since ancient times, has been
steadily extending its activities into this
area.
The history of maritime transportation
and port development dates back to the
year 3500 B.C. and beyond. Over centuries,
transport of goods by means of water trans-
portation has been evolved in steps with the
needs of world trade and technical capabili-
ties to build larger ships and shipI cargo
handling facilities.
Initially, waterborne traffic has existed
on a local basis where small ships sailed out
of river ports for other nearby river ports
located in the same river system. With ad-
vancing navigational skills the merchants
ventured greater and greater distances.
Thus, larger ships transporting larger
quantities of goods have emerged. As ship
traffic increased, the existing river ports
became overcrowded, and in order to permit
more ships to berth and at the same time to
keep the river usable for more ships, piers
had to be constructed along river banks.
This stage may be seen as the beginning
of the development of modern ports. The
ever-increasing demand for shipping and
port facilities resulted in construction ofthe
first open-sea ports. Four to five thousand
years ago the Phoenicians established open-
sea ports along the Mediterranean coast-
line, and the Romans built the famous naval
port near Rome on the Tiber River at Ostia.
By the end of the first century A.D. a num-
ber of large ports had been constructed in
the Mediterranean, the Red Sea, and the
Persian Gulf.
Unfortunately, many of these old ports
and harbors have disappeared, either being
destroyed during the wars, buried by earth-
quakes, or just through neglect and deca-
XXV

24. xxvi Ports-Their Past, Present, and Future
dence. Some of these ports are known from
old documents and others have been discov-
ered by archaeologists. As pointed out by
DuPlat Taylor (1949), these ports have been
well planned and effectively executed.
The description of different methods of
port construction in earlier centuries,
specifically in the Roman Empire, that in-
clude the use of tongue and grooved, lami-
nated, and various other types of sheet pil-
ing, and large stone blocks are found in
treaties by Roman architects (Leimdorfer,
1979).
As ship navigators developed more skill
and fears of unknown waters gradually dis-
appeared, merchant mariners, in addition
to trade between river ports on their own
coasts, started sailing the high seas, bring-
ing goods from country to country and from
continent to continent. The interchange of
goods and later of raw materials between
countries and continents reached by mar-
itime traffic as well as the development of
powerful navy fleets brought about develop-
ment of large sea ports; this subsequently
gave birth to large cities built around these
ports.
Many modern cities have been built and
expanded around medieval ports located on
the open sea, bays, estuaries, sounds, and
rivers. Examples are London, Rotterdam,
Hamburg, and many others. However, it
was not until the 1880s that a revival of
interest in port works reappeared.
Port developments and their evolution
has started, motivated by both economic
and technological pressures that resulted
from the global industrial revolution. At this
time, the size, diversity, and complexity of
ports changed dramatically. To a great ex-
tent this have been influenced by the
changing nature of ships, for example, the
transition from ships made from wood to
steel and the introduction and rapid devel-
opment of steamboats, and by the demand
that greater volumes of cargo be handled at
ports more rapidly. The latter stimulated
the development of more and more efficient
methods and technologies for handling and
hauling of miscellaneous cargoes. However,
in the 1880s many kinds of cargos were still
handled manually as it had been for cen-
turies. Cargoes that consisted basically of
bags, bales, bundles, barrels, cases, cartons,
drums, pieces of timber, steel, and so forth
have been moved manually in the ship, on
the quay, in the shed, and in the ware-
house, sometimes ''humped" on the back.
This created a heavy demand for labor
which fluctuated greatly with the arrival
and departure of ships. Thus, if the ships
were to be turned round efficiently and eco-
nomically, a big pool of casual laborers was
necessary.
In the late 1880s, ships still continued
their transition from sail to steam engine.
The capacity of these vessels was a few
thousand tonnes and their draft less than
6 m. As ships changed, so did the ports that
served them.
In many ports, the finger pier was the
most characteristic type of berth construc-
tion. Typically, goods were stored there in
warehouses located in close proximity to
the berth line and were taken in and out of
port by horse and cart.
The shift to mechanized handling ofcar-
goes in ports began in the early 1900s. This
was largely dictated by the growing volume
of maritime traffic and changing size of
ships. By the 1920s most of the general
cargo ships were using onboard booms to
move cargo by the sling-load method. The
trend toward the growth of ship size coin-
cided with construction of vessels special-
ized in transporting a certain type of cargo
(e.g., general purpose commodities, dry and
liquid bulk cargoes, and others). Naturally,
new developments in a ship industry in-
evitably brought about innovations in cargo
handling and hauling technologies, the most
radical of which was introduction of a quay
edge cranes.
World War 11-inspired inventiveness took
mechanization of cargo handling one step
forward by the introduction offorklift trucks

25. and pallets that enabled the general-pur-
pose cargoes to be moved faster. In postwar
years, pallets have been standardized inter-
nationally by International Standard Orga-
nization (ISO) (1992). The ISO Committee
stipulated that the maximum permissible
width of road vehicles (then mostly flat and
open) must be about 245 em; thus, all stan-
dard pallets had one dimension, of which
245 em was a multiple, so that they could
be stowed across open vehicles without
wasting space. The use of forklift vehicles
and pallets was very rapidly developed in
industry all over the world, and palletized
loads occupied the steadily increasing vol-
ume of ship holds. This, however, changed
drastically in the not too distant future.
The shift to new technologies occurred in
the 1950s with the introduction of container
ships built to transport large freight con-
tainers.
Containers were soon standardized by
ISO internationally to 20 or 40 ft in length
(6.06 m or 12.19 m) with the outside width
and height being 8 ft (2.44 m). At the pres-
ent time, the empty weight of a modern
20-ft container ranges from 19 to 22 kN
with maximum permitted total weight of
240 kN. The empty weight of a 40-ft con-
tainer ranges from 28 to 36 kN with a
maximum permitted total weight of305 kN.
Initially, containers have been handled
by conventional quay edge cranes. The first
specially designed container crane was in-
troduced in 1959, and over the last 30 years,
container handling cranes have grown. in
size and handling capacity. The need for
efficient handling of containers stimulated
the development of new equipment, such as
straddle carriers, heavy lift forklift trucks,
gantry cranes, special tractors, and others.
Older forklift trucks used for handling gen-
eral cargo and pallets had lifting capacities
of 30-80 kN. In contrast, today's new fork-
lifts for container handling have capacities
up to 450 kN.
During the last 25 years, the roll-onjroll-
offmethod ofhandling containers have been
Ports-Their Past, Present, and Future xxvii
developed and used extensively. This
method allows containers, but also cars,
tracks, trains, and so forth, to roll on ships
via large stern or side ramps.
The advent of containers completely
overshadowed cargo handling on pallets.
The introduction of container systems for
transporting goods revolutionized sea and
land transport and cargo handling methods;
ship turnaround time was reduced spectac-
ularly and speed, efficiency, and safety of
handling all types of containerized cargoes
increased dramatically. This new technol-
ogy drastically changed the approach to port
planning. In most ports, a previously very
effective pier system was disused as general
cargo operations have been moved to the
usually remote, high-volume container fa-
cilities with their large paved container
storage areas and relatively few berths.
These modern specialized ports and termi-
nals tie directly into upland staging areas
(marshalling yards) with multimodal links
to several cities, a region, or the entire
country.
Traditionally, ports have been developed
in natural habors and, as mentioned ear-
lier, have formed the nuclei for many cities.
Today, ports and marine terminals are built
wherever they can be economically justified.
The need for large open areas to accommo-
date a modern container facility has in-
duced ports to move to the periphery of
cities and often on poor quality land. The
latter usually presents a challenge to port
designers and has been an area of major
controversy related mostly to dredging and
disposal of the contaminated dredged soils.
Alternatives to dredging have been found in
constructing offshore island ports and mov-
ing the up-river shallow draft ports down
river, to deeper waters.
Dramatic changes have also occurred in
the handling of liquid and dry bulk cargoes.
Movements of liquid bulk petroleum prod-
ucts by ship started in the 1880s when
special tanks were mounted onto existing
vessels. Prior to this, the only means of

26. xxviii Ports-Their Past, Present, and Future
moving liquids was in barrels, which was
not a very efficient way of transporting
ever-increasing quantities as mankind
moved into the petroleum age.
Since the introduction of the first tank-
mounted vessels, the procedure and method
of liquid bulk handling has not changed in
principle 100 years later; however, techni-
cal improvements in this area have been
spectacular. The capacity of liquid bulk car-
riers (tankers) in the 1940s has reached
22,000 DWT and at the present time
500,000-DWT tankers ply the oceans. To-
day, several shipyards in Europe and Asia
have the capacity to build 1,000,000-DWT
tankers.
Similar developments have occurred in
the transportation of dry bulk materials.
Bulk carriers have lagged but tracked
tanker growth, and, similarly, tankers may
also be expected to grow in the future. The
use oflarge and very large deep draft ships
for transporting liquid and dry bulk materi-
als and the material hauling innovations
have changed the nature of the modern
port. Ports actually become a highly special-
ized terminals able to handle the one spe-
cific cargo at very high rates; for example,
loading of up to 20,000 tonnesjh and more
of dry bulk, and 220,000 m3 of crude oil per
day; thus, annual throughput of tens of mil-
lions of tonnes has been achieved.
Deep draft vessels need deep water ports.
It has been learned, however, that the con-
ventional approach to construction of such
ports, involving dredging of large quantities
of sometimes contaminated sediments, can
be prohibitively expensive. The solution has
been found in the construction of offshore
marine facilities not protected from the ef-
fects of environmental forces such as waves
and currents. At these facilities, the low
berth occupancy due to rough sea condi-
tions has been compensated for by a very
high rate of material handling on calm days.
These facilities have been constructed far
enough offshore where sufficiently deep wa-
ter is found and no maintenance dredging is
needed. In some instances the terminals
have been moved as far as 2 km or more
offshore and have been linked to the shore
either by a bridgelike trestle, designed to
support pipe lines or conveyor systems and
to provide access to the terminal for
lightweight vehicular traffic or by subma-
rine pipelines. In some instances, particu-
larly in heavily populated areas where local
residents object to the construction of con-
ventional trestles as an unacceptable "vis-
ual pollution," submarine tunnels have been
constructed as a solution to the problem.
The modern port is developed as an im-
portant link in a total transportation sys-
tem and planners of such multimodal sys-
tems seek to optimize the total network, not
just one of its components.
Construction of a new port, or expansion
or modernization of an existing one, is usu-
ally carried out to increase port capacity
and its effectiveness. Traditionally, this has
been focused on the sea, and, consequently,
construction of new berths and moderniza-
tion and expansion of existing ones was the
prime area of interest. However, as urban
coastal areas, particularly in developed
countries, have substantially expanded over
the last five decades, while concurrently in-
ternational trade has increased and con-
tinue to expand, making the world more
and more economically interdependent, the
port land-side capacity to transfer the cargo
from the wharf to the end user has become
increasingly critical. In some densely popu-
lated areas, the available transportation
network (e.g., highway and rail) is limited
to moving a certain amount of cargo and
cannot be expanded further. Under these
conditions there is no logic in increasing the
existing port capacity, unless the land-side
transportation infrastructure is equally ca-
pable of moving the increased volume of
cargo through the land-based transporta-
tion network.
In this respect, to avoid a waterfront con-
flict, many countries have developed a mas-
ter plan for its major ports. For example, in

27. Canada, both the Canada Ports Corporation
(a Canadian Crown Corporation) and indi-
vidual ports have developed land use plans
and economic impact assessment in cooper-
ation with the cities and local special-inter-
est groups which interface with port activi-
ties (Gaudreault, 1989).
In the view of many experts, moderniza-
tion ofexisting ports will continue and many
new ports will be developed in the 1990s
and beyond due to major expansion of the
world economy. The latter is result of dra-
matic growth of the world population, gen-
eral industrial growth, and growth of
petroleum and mineral material industries.
The real value of world trade will con-
tinue to grow. The new North American
Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) between
the United States, Canada, and Mexico and
new improved GATT treaty arrangements
are expected to encourage similar agree-
ments elsewhere in the world that will
eventually result in the total world market
free from protectionism and · immune to
destabilizing political upheaval in some re-
gions. As pointed out by Barker (1990/1991)
in future trade,
. . .the exporters will seek to increase the
added value of their trade, which will tend to
reduce tonnages of raw commodities and in-
crease those in partially or fully processed
materials. Thus increasingly refined
petroleum products, chemicals, alumina or
aluminum ingots or aluminum products, steel
products, vehicles, sawn and processed tim-
ber products, processed agricultural commodi-
ties and such-like will be the cargoes rather
than the basic raw commodities. These are
more valuable and readily damaged cargoes
which require more careful handling and stor-
age. The trend to more specialized vessels
such as reefer, parcel tanker, car carriers and
roll-onjroll-off will continue and many of the
processed cargoes will end up being handled
in containers.
This trend is already quite visible in Asia.
For example, today, Thailand's exports con-
Ports-Their Past, Present, and Future xxix
sist of 75% manufactured goods as opposed
to export of raw materials and this trend is
characteristic of most countries in South
East Asia. Wider, nonstandard container
are already the reality, and the trend for
use of larger containers will continue. New
container sizes will inevitably have great
impact on the design of new containerships
and the container handling technologies.
The most radical and far-reaching
changes in container terminal technology
will be their continuing automation which
will lower manpower requirements and op-
erating costs, increase control, and speed
the flow of goods through the ports. Future
terminals will be more flexible and easily
adaptable to changes in the world's econ-
omy resulting in cyclic changes in demands.
Alternatives to dredging and construc-
tion of deep water ports will be design of
wider vessels with lesser drafts. The impor-
tant new development in port operations
that occur about three decades ago was the
virtual disappearance of the true passenger
liners; the cruise industry has emerged to
replace it. Today, the passenger trade exists
basically on local lines on inland waterways
and between coastal ports.
Cruise vessels, to date, have continued to
look like liner vessels, notwithstanding that
speed is no longer of paramount impor-
tance. Cushing (1989) predicts that cruise
vessels will change; they will become larger,
slower moving floating resorts.
The new ideas in port operations will
bring new engineering and construction
ideas in their wake. As pointed out by
Hochstein (1992), the nontechnical aspects
of port performance, such as commercializa-
tion, liberalization, and privatization, along
with improvements of port administration
will continue to contribute to the institu-
tional restructuring and drastic improve-
ments in port operations.
Commercialization gives to the port au-
thorities freedom similar to the private sec-
tor where decision making is decentralized

28. xxx Ports-Their Past, Present, and Future
and management is held accountable for
port performance.
Liberalization lessens the port authori-
ties' monopoly on power by allowing the
private sector to provide similar services
and is complementary to commercialization.
Privatization transfers functions previ-
ously performed by the port authority
(government) to private sector. It may in-
volve transfer of full or partial ownership of
port facilities, or it may be limited to pri-
vate sector management practices for the
provision of port services via lease and op-
erating contracts. Privatization usually as-
sociates with eliminated subsidies and re-
duced costs of port operation.
The privatization of ports brings greatly
enhanced commercial freedom to port man-
agers and is recognized as one way to react
more positively to market opportunities and
use human incentives, based on personal .
gains and improvements, to increase effi-
ciency of the port operations. This trend is
natural and will continue both in developed
and developing countries.
It must be recognized, however, that
ports and harbors are built and operate
within a certain societal framework that
includes an array of political, financial, en-
vironmental, and other considerations.
Therefore, the port planner must have a
clear understanding of local technical and
nontechnical issues. For example, in some
developing countries, existing or new ports
are not solely an industrial development
but also enterprises aimed at solving some
regional, social, or demographical problems.
Therefore, a careful approach to port priva-
tization is needed in developing countries.
The latter assumes that although commer-
cial spirit there must not be discouraged,
the commercial approach to port operations
in some developing countries should not
pursue a short-term financial gain.
In Europe, port privatization has been
successfully introduced in the 1980s in the
United Kingdom where it is likely to accel-
erate in the 1990s. Also, today it is most
apparent in Asia.
Improvement of port administration en-
compasses actions that improve the perfor-
mance of the organization. It may include
corporate planning and carrier develop-
ment, as well as installation and constant
modernization of a computerized manage-
ment information systems that enhances
management without changing the port's
institutional structure.
Recent experience in ports worldwide
suggest that commercialization and privati-
zation are the most far-reaching and effec-
tive strategies to achieve the objective of
port effectiveness.
In conclusion to this section it should be
noted that the future is not possible with-
out thorough familiarity with the past which
is a true foundation for new ideas. As Tooth
(1989) rightfully said, "The past is not just
something out of date, it is a record of
human experience-an experience is cer-
tainly something which should be used to
help shape the future."
For more information on port develop-
ments the reader is referred to Dally (1981),
Cushing (1989), Clearwater (1992), Thom-
son (1992), and PIANC (1987, 1989, 1990).
Engineering Advancement in Port
Design and construction
The primary construction materials that
were used for construction of older marine
facilities were wood and stone. They were
worked by hand and used for construction
of sheet-pile bulkheads, piled piers, quay
walls, breakwaters, and other structures.
Wooden sheet piles and regular piles were
driven by using primitive power equipment,
and stone was placed from crude construc-
tion platforms.
More than five centuries ago the Phoeni-
cians extensively used wooden sheet piles
and piles for construction of their marine
facilities. For sheet-piling they used long
planks made from Lebanon cedar. Various

29. types oftimber sheet-piling techniques (e.g.,
tongue and groove, laminated, and others)
were used. These piles were driven succes-
sively edge to edge to form a vertical wall
for the purpose of preventing the retained
materials from spreading and from being
undermined by the action of waves and cur-
rent. This type of construction was also
known to ancient Egyptians and Romans.
The Phoenicians also used heavy blocks
locked together with copper dowels for con-
struction of the open-sea port at Tyre. This
type of construction was also used by the
Romans. In the 1800s, both materials still
played a major role in port construction.
A great variety of gravity-type walls con-
structed from rubble masonry or heavy
granite or limestone blocks have been built
during the 1880s. The history of heavy
blockwork construction is traced back to
ports in Mediterranean, at Marseilles and
Algiers, with much of this pioneering work
being carried out at the Port-of-Bonqie, Al-
geria where a quay wall composed C!f lime-
stone blocks had been built as far back as
1840. During the same period of time, wood
was extensively used for the construction of
piled wharves and piers, as well as for grav-
ity-type quays comprised of floated-in tim-
ber cribs with or without a masonry super-
structure.
It should be noted that improved and
economically sound blockwork quay walls
are still in use. Details are provided in
Chapter 5. Today, timber cribs are used
where wood is in abundance, and timber
sheet-pile bulkheads made from treated
wood have been constructed elsewhere, par-
ticularly in coastal regions as a secondary
line of shore defense in ocean-exposed loca-
tions and for construction of low-height ma-
rine structures in small-craft harbors.
Well-treated timber sheeting is also em-
ployed in permanent structures where it is
always hidden under water, thus preserved
from rot, and at locations where there is no
marine organisms (e.g., borers) which can
Ports-Their Past, Present, and Future :xxxi
destroy wood. The same is true for wooden
piles.
Cast-iron piles became complementary to
timber piling in the early 1800s (Borthwick,
1936). The earliest reported use ofiron sheet
piles was construction of the North Pier of
Bridlington harbor, the United Kingdom, in
the early 1820s (Mackley, 1977). Various
types of iron sheet-pile sections were avail-
able at that time, and a considerable
amount of exploratory work was carried out
in order to develop the most economical
profile. Cast iron, however, as a material
had limitations primarily because of its vul-
nerability to brittle fracture during driving
in hard soils. Typically, wrought-iron piles
were used in a composite riveted form and
were based primarily on the fitting of plates
between suitable guides or against sup-
ports.
In 1897 a Danish engineer, Larssen, rev-
olutionized the use of iron sheet piles by
introducing a new pile section which was
developed from a rolled trough section plus
a riveted "z" section, to form an interlock;
this shape is very familiar in modern con-
struction.
In 1914 Larssen also introduced the first
deep-arch section in which interlocks were
situated in the neutral axis of the complete
section; thus, their material bulk did not
influence the bending moment to be taken
up.
Larssen's inventions and modifications
helped to greatly increase the capacity and
effectiveness of sheet piles in their ability to
resist earth and water pressures. Increased
pile stiffness enabled it to be driven without
buckling or springing under the blows of
the driving hammer, increased water-tight-
ness of the sheeting prevented seepage
through the wall, and, most importantly,
efficient use of rolling mills produced an
economical section with interlocks.
At the beginning of this century, both
wood and iron have been replaced by steel
and reinforced concrete. The first sheet pile

30. xxxii Ports-Their Past, Present, and Future
ever made from a rolled section was used in
Chicago in 1901; it was called the Jackson
pile. This was followed by the rather fast
development ofnumerous straight or trough
sections of steel piles that were produced
around the world, either with integral lock-
ing arrangements or with a separate inter-
locking member.
The first steel "z"-shaped sheet piling
known as the Hoesch system was intro-
duced in Belgium in 1913. In comparison
with other sections, this type of piling was
stiffer and had a higher section modulus at
equal weight with other piling systems.
Since this time, various combinations of
different piling systems and various types
of box piles (H-section) have been intro-
duced in North America and Europe. At
present, a variety of high-strength sheet-
pile sections are available from different
pile manufacturers.
In addition to the above-mentioned piles,
relatively low sectional modulus straight
web steel sheet piles are often used in ma-
rine application for construction of
cellular-type bulkheads. These piles were
first manufactured and used in the United
States in 1908/1909.
It should be noted that steel pipe-type
sheet piles are now coming into widespread
use for deep water construction where a
sheeting of greater strength is required.
Reinforced concrete sheet piles have been
used in harbor construction since the begin-
ning of this century. They are usually con-
sidered relatively maintenance-free compo-
nents of a sheet-pile wall. Although many
different design types have been developed
and used in the past 50 or so years, the
straight web piling bar provided with a
tongue and groove, similar to that used on
timber piles, is the most commonly used.
Since the 1950s, prestressed concrete sheet
piles have replaced almost completely the
ones made from regular reinforced concrete.
Prestressing of concrete sheet-pile rein-
forcement has an advantage, especially in
seawater environment, as cracking of con-
crete in the tension zone is thereby largely
eliminated and the danger of corrosion of
reinforcement is decreased.
The same applies to regular concrete piles
that are extensively used in marine applica-
tion. The advantage of piled structures is
that they enable practically free passage of
waves, which makes them particularly at-
tractive for construction of the deep water
offshore terminals.
A great variety of concrete and steel piles
have been developed and used from the
beginning of this century. The wide variety
of these piles is discussed in Chapter 7.
The most significant development in this
area is the use of large-diameter (up to
3.0 m and more), very long (60 m and longer)
prestressed concrete and steel cylindrical
piles. Depending on geotechnical site condi-
tions, these piles can be installed by differ-
ent methods (e.g., driven by hammer, vibra-
tor, hydraulically, or a combination of some
of these). It should be pointed out that the
vibratory hammers introduced in the fifties
and sixties changed the basic way piles had
been driven since the late 1800s. New hy-
draulically operated hammers enable the
constructors to drive piles under water.
Similarly, very large floating and jack-up
pile-driving equipment was developed and
used for pile installation at exposed off-
shore locations. An array of piles with en-
hanced bearing capacities have been devel-
oped; for example, screw piles of different
designs, prefabricated piles with enlarge-
ments on their shafts, belled piles, and other
have been s~ccessfully used in port and
offshore construction.
High-strength steel and prestressed con-
crete allow the port designers and construc-
tors the flexibility to design for greater
depth, longer spans and higher capacity.
For example, general cargo wharves are now
routinely designed for 5.0 tonnesjm2, up
from 2.0 tonnesjm2 60-70 years ago.
Galvanization and the use of protective
coatings, such as epoxy, which came into
use in the 1950s increased the longevity of

31. marine structures. Epoxies are also used by
constructors for splicing concrete structural
elements in the field.
Remarkable progress has been achieved
in concrete technology. Today's structural
concrete is indeed a mixture of admixtures.
Products such as superplasticizers, re-
tarders, accelerators, air entrainers, and
others allow concrete pours in cold temper-
ature or hot weather. A denser and higher
quality product is obtained by use of silica
fume in a slurry or powdered form. Silica
fume can substantially increase strength
and density of concrete and make it virtu-
ally impervious to chloride penetration in
the harsh marine environment. Further-
more, use of corrosion inhibitors may slow
down the potential onset of corrosion in
steel reinforcing bars.
Development of huge floating heavy lift
equipment revolutionized the construction
of gravity-type quay walls and breakwaters.
These structures, generally built in water
depths of 6-9 m in the late 1800s, are now
constructed at depths of 25 m and below.
Finally, it should be pointed out that in
the past 30-40 years primitive fenders used
for protection ofmarine structures from ship
impact have been replaced by very efficient
high-energy-absorbing and low-reaction-
force rubber fender systems. At the present
time, fender units are manufactured from
solid a,nd laminated rubber in different
shapes and sizes. They are also manufac-
tured in the form of a low-pressure inflated
balloon (pneumatic fenders), or as a closed-
cell foam filled unit. The pneumatic fender
units have been manufactured up to 4.0 m
in diameter and 12.0 m long.
In modern marine engineering practice,
a number of innovative and economical
gravity-type quay walls have been em-
ployed. Among them are concrete large-
diameter floated-in caissons, bottomless
concrete cylinders, and prefabricated L-
shaped retaining walls of miscellaneous de-
signs.
Ports-Their Past, Present, and Future xxxiii
An economical solution to gravity wall
construction in the wet was also achieved
by use of the traditional structures such as
a large-diameter steel sheet-pile cell, a con-
ventional boxlike floated-in concrete cais-
son, and blockwork walls of enhanced de-
signs.
The economy of gravity wall construction
was significantly improved by using innova-
tive methods of bed preparation and place-
ment and densification of backfill materials.
Detailed information on this subject is given
in Chapter 5.
Waterfront construction was accelerated
by the use of prefabricated structural com-
ponents. Prefabrication dramatically re-
duced the time required for overwater con-
struction and enhanced quality and there-
fore longevity of marine structures.
The design of any project is a continuous
process, which begins with the perception of
a need or opportunity, followed by a feasi-
bility study that usually includes a concep-
tual design, and embedded by the detail
design. The latter is followed by the con-
struction of the project with subsequent
commissioning. Furthermore, where re-
quired to support the basic concept of the
project (e.g., harbor layout) or permit inno-
vative structural designs to be used with
confidence, research is undertaken.
In the past, port and its related marine
structures have been designed with a high
degree of redundancy, largely because of
the relatively rapid deterioration rate of
structural materials in the marine environ-
ment, but also due to a lack of proper
understanding of wave mechanics, mecha-
nisms of ship-structure andjor soil-struc-
ture interaction. The latter was particularly
true in designing a "flexible" structure such
as sheet-pile bulkheads.
In the past 50 years, substantial progress
has been achieved in such areas as the
development of new, much stronger and
more durable structural materials, the in-
troduction of better construction tech-
nology, and a better understanding of the

32. xxxiv Ports-Their Past, Present, and Future
process of soil-structure interaction. Thus,
research and development directly or indi-
rectly became the integral part of the de-
sign process.
The design of port layout with its related
structures such as breakwaters, piers, and
quay walls normally involves a great num-
ber of parameters that are generally consid-
ered to be far beyond the ability of purely
analytical methods to achieve the reliable
solution. This has been overcome by use of
large-scale physical models, which appear
to be a viable tool in solving a complex
multiparameter problem.
Today's engineers have abundant analyt-
ical capability supported by computers. The
mathematical modeling of a complex phe-
nomenon such as the interaction between
nature and engineering developments has
become commonplace in the design process.
It enables the engineer to .closely predict
the behavior of the complex structure in
practice.
For complex projects, both mathematical
and physical models are best used in combi-
nation. However, despite the prediction of
model studies, the designer should exercise
the proper level of conservative engineering
judgment which is dictated by the complex-
ity of marine foundations, marine environ-
ment, ship maneuvers, and so forth.
Today, port and harbor engineering has
entered the electronic age. The computer
vastly enhances an engineer's productivity
and his or her opportunities for innovative
design. In addition to reducing the opportu-
nities for making errors, the use of comput-
ers drastically enhances engineering judg-
ment. By taking advantage of the speed of
computer analysis, the engineer can explore
a number of design alternatives in a short
period of time. Today, computer hardware
and software allow the engineer to see his
project from all perspectives, investigate
each detail, make changes by shaping as a
sculptor might, then, when all is finished,
have the calculations and drawings pro-
duced. Computer-aided design and drafting
(CAD) open opportunities for transition
from traditional two-dimensional (2-D) de-
sign to three-dimensional (3-D) design. This
has been made feasible by the rapid ad-
vances in computer-graphics hardware
which now permits full 3-D CAD models to
be displayed quickly and effectively, with
hidden lines removed or with shading; 3-D
computer models can be viewed from any
angle and viewpoint, in orthographic, iso-
metric, perspective, or cutaway views. This
helps to make.the project aesthetically more
acceptable to the community and overcome
the public resistance to some projects re-
garded as a "visual pollution" to the area.
The importance of aesthetic aspects of any
project now is fully recognized by the de-
signers and developers, and the 3-D ap-
proach to structural and civil design helps
to bridge the gap between art and science.
Unfortunately, computerization of the
design process has its own drawbacks; it
provides not only the leading edge of tech-
nology but have been also a major source of
concern. The popularity of computers has
resulted in a flood of software, and on
today's software market, there are nearly
as many computer programs as there are
researchers. Unfortunately, the quality of
some software presently available on the
market is questionable, and it would be of
great interest and perhaps shock to some
when results of analyses of a certain struc-
tures are compared with the same input
data using different programs.
The difference in the software output
happens because some developers of com-
puter software blindly rely solely on the
mathematical approach to solving the prob-
lem and are ignorant about current state-
of-the-art knowledge.
Sometimes problems with software (e.g.,
incorrect sign convention) may cause a com-
puter to subtract stresses when it must be
added can be difficult to detect.
Growing reliance on computer-aided
analysis and design without adequate con-
trols on misuse can lead to structural fail-

33. ures and, subsequently, to "computer-aided
liabilities," the term used by Backman
(1993) in her interesting paper on a subject
matter.
Recognizing this as a potential problem,
the Committee on Practices to Reduce Fail-
ures, under the American Society of Civil
Engineers Technical Council on Forensic
Engineering, is currently preparing a mono-
graph titled "Avoiding Failures Caused by
Misuse of Civil Engineering Software." The
monograph, scheduled for publication in
1996, will examine all computer-related is-
sues where misuse could result in cata-
strophic failures, poor performance of facili-
ties, and poor solutions to problems in civil
engineering.
Due to a worsening legal climate for
practicing engineers, the designers are of-
ten not willing to accept potential risk asso-
ciated with a more economical or innovative
design. The conservative approach, which
limits innovations in design and construc-
tion practices, causing economical prob-
lems, has been especially visible in founda-
tion engineering. This has been explained
by the uncertainties in soil-structure inter-
action and usually limited information on
foundation soils available to the designer.
In the past 35-40 years, this has been im-
proved by the extensive research into
statistics and risk analysis, as applied to
the field of geotechnical engineering.
Also, the observational (monitored deci-
sions) method, which provides the designer
with flexibility in the decision-making pro-
cess, has been introduced.
Statistics provide procedures for obtain-
ing information from given quantitative
measurements, which, in turn, permits
analysis of how the aforementioned listed
uncertainties of soil and other parameters
involved in soil-structure interaction may
affect the design of the structure; risk anal-
ysis is a set of decision-making procedures
dealing with difficult design circumstances,
where many components interact such that
there is more than one mode of failure; and
Ports-Their Past, Present, and Future xxxv
the observation method is a departure from
the traditional design process in geotech-
nicaljfoundation engineering, because it
allows one to make a final decision on foun-
dation design in the future, both during
construction when uncertainty in founda-
tion soils became understood and during
facility operation. The latter is particularly
important where long-term changes in
soil-structure interaction are expected.
Several advancements in port engineer-
ing have been pointed out in this section
and the reader will find much more else-
where in this book.
Finally, it should be noted that in the
past in order to reduce the cost of a design,
attempts to standardize construction of ma-
rine structures have been made. It has been
proved, however, that standard designs to
meet various site conditions, in general, and
marine facilities, in particular, are not eco-
nomical. In general, it is because the cost of
the waterfront structure is so high that it
would be false economy to attempt to re-
duce design costs by limiting the scope of
design studies.
In conclusion, it must be said that pro-
ducing a good, sound, and effective design
is, of course, science; however, it is also an
art. Just as an artist does, the designer
must be imaginative in developing the con-
cept of his or her project and, as a scientist,
careful and meticulous in paying attention
to all details.
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BORTHWICK, M.A., 1936. ''Memoir on the Use of
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CLEARWATER, J. L., 1992. "Port Construction
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CusHING, C. R., 1989. ''Vessels of the Future: A
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35. contributors
Mr. M. Shiono
President SRI Marine Servie Co. Ltd.
1-14, 4 chome Isogami-Dori
Chuo-Ku, Kobe 651, Japan
Dr. S. Takahashi
Chief Maritime Structures Lab
Port and Harbour Research Institute
3-1-1 Nagase Yokosuka, Japan 239
Mr. P. L. Wu, P.E. and Mr. D. Weinreb, P.E.
Vice Presidents Reinforced Earth Co. Ltd.
190 Attwell Dr., Suite 501
Rexdale, Ontario, Canada M9W 6H8
Dr. M. Gurinsky, P.E.
Project Engineer
Hardesty & Hanover Consulting Engineers
1501 Broadway
New York, N.Y. 10036
Dr. W. S. Dunbar
Engineering Consultant
925 Leovista Ave.
North Vancouver, British Columbia,
Canada V7R 1R1
xxxvii