Samenvatting

Some berthing facilities at Hansweert are showing a structural failure where the top element of the dolphin shows an undesired inclination, compromising the functionality and safety of the structure. Rijkswaterstaat Sea and Delta created an assignment in order to define the cause and provide a solution for this problem, which is provided throughout this document. The problem was defined by the use of a root cause analysis, evaluating the past events and possible failures of the structure, which concluded that a design failure is present, where the top element is allowed to rotate, causing increase of the load and therefore failure of elements. An analysis was also developed to determine the capacity of the pile foundation in order to assure the structure’s capacity, which has been done with the support of DSheetPiling and TS/Damwanden, in combination with the Fraanje method calculations. The results led to the need of a deeper penetration depth considering the future vessels that are going to be using the facility, nevertheless the Fraanje method with its less conservative approach supports that the structure is also capable to hold the load as it is. A multi-criteria analysis was performed based on the client’s requirements of low implementation time and costs, as for the lifespan and assurance based on technical requirements from the “Eurocode normative”. The final solution englobes the elongation of the foundation pile with 2,4 meters and the fixation of the pile cap to the foundation pile with the use of steel plates. In addition, two UPE profiles are used as a lock on the top side of the structure to prevent further rotation. It is recommended a proper investigation on the actual state of the foundation pile and further analysis with the use of “finite-elements” in order to validate and optimize the design hereby proposed.