Sheet piling, batter piles and pier slabback to The Construction Project
Construction of the new quay is based on the principle of an anchored wall, backed by a load-retaining slab. The planning engineers were relying on the good experience obtained with the design and construction of earlier projects connected with the riverside quay.
On the waterside, heavy sheet piling supported by batter piles forms the central loadbearing element of the quay. Once the wall had been anchored, it can be backfilled with sand. The pier slab was installed behind the sheet piling; this is a load-retaining slab which is also enclosed by a sheet piling apron on the land side.
A wave absorber was integrated in the concrete structure behind the sheet piling to absorb the force of high waves and prevent water overtopping onto the quay. The wave absorber principle was already used when the first phases of the quay were built at Bremerhaven during the 1960s and again proved its effectiveness during pilot tests in 1997. The wave absorber effectively protects the quay and terminal in case of extremely high incoming storm tides.
The plans also envisaged permanently lowering the groundwater to such an extent that any excess water pressure can be absorbed, even in case of extremely low outgoing tides.
The 100-foot (approx. 30.48 metres) run for the gantry cranes takes the form of a crane runway which is designed as a separate structure behind the quay itself (with deep foundations of cast-in-place driven piles, Franki System).
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The wave absorber:
Standing up to the energy of the north sea waves
Things can become pretty scary at the coast when gale force winds give it all they've got. The breakers that build up in the Weser estuary are not to be sneezed at. They are robbed of their strength in the container terminal's wave absorber. The quay thus takes over the function of the dyke as it effectively protects the terminal. When the engineers first drew up the plans for the container terminal construction in Bremerhaven more than three decades ago, they decided on a structure in which the elements - each of which weighs 800 tonnes - would be installed as pre-cast concrete sections. In the case of CT III and CT 4 the wave absorber could be casted in place, a new technical method which substantially reduced the costs.
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