AbstractsBusiness Management & Administration

Future-proof design of quay walls is an interesting issue in civil Engineering, because of the dynamic environment in which quay walls are operating. Designers are confronted with time-changing requirements such as larger retaining heights and heavier loads. However, a technical and financial analysis has revealed that the design of new quay structures can, under certain conditions, be made future-proof by standardization. By standardizing the design, this may achieve a certain degree of flexibility. This means that a quay wall can be converted for multiple types of vessels or multiple types of cargo and therefore becomes future-proof. Various standard principle solutions are applicable. However, it should be noted that the exact dimensions of quay wall components, for instance the substructure (the front wall) and the superstructure (the capping beam or relieving platform), can in principle not be standardized. The dimensions depend namely on major factors such as local geotechnical conditions, surcharges, retaining height and the presence of a relieving platform. Nevertheless, standardization is possible in two ways. Firstly, by driving the front wall to a deeper layer than it is necessary in the first instance and dredging the front side of the quay wall at a later stage. This can be done by constructing all quay walls at equal depth, by area. This is a decision based on the local depth of the navigation channels and the expected business activity in the different areas. Secondly, by making a strategic choice for a particular quay component or a particular port area. Both ways lead to higher initial investment costs but results in a quay wall which is significantly more future-proof. From a technical and financial assessment it can be concluded that when heavy loads and large retaining heights are involved, a combined steel quay wall with a concrete relieving platform (often used by deep-seagoing vessels) is suitable and for inland barges an anchored combined wall should be applied. In case of a relieving platform, the floor should be located at NAP-2m with a length of 15m. Quay walls used by inland barges should consist of a capping beam and a combined wall. This rather conventional cross-sections are the most economical ones.