Sheet Pile Application: Dry Dock
A dry dock, also called a graving dock, is a basin that is fairly narrow. It is typically flooded with water to allow for a floating load to be pushed in. Then it’s drained to enable the load to be situated on a dry platform where work can be done. Dry docks are common for the maintenance, construction, and rehabilitation of various types of ships, boats, barges, and vessels. Sheet piles can be used in the construction of dry docks in a few different ways.
INSTALLATION
Oftentimes, when dry docks are being built, a cofferdam is constructed around them to allow for the area to be dewatered. Steel sheet piles are frequently used in cofferdam construction, as their interlocks do an excellent job of keeping water out. Additionally, they’re usually fairly quick and easy to install. They’re also quick and easy to remove when a temporary cofferdam is no longer needed.
SHEET PILE
Sheet piles are also used in the construction of dry docks themselves. Dry docks often are constructed similarly to quay walls and jetties, which can make use of sheet piles to create impermeable wall structures as well. When sheet piles are used to build dry docks, they are combined with concrete superstructures, and they are an affordable, convenient, hassle-free option. Dry docks may also be made of in-situ concrete cantilever walls or caissons. In-situ concrete cantilever walls may be the best choice for dry docks that require the most resistance to lateral loads.
When sheet piles are used to create dry dock walls, the walls must be built to a considerable height and make use of concrete superstructures to allow for sufficient resistance to considerable lateral loads. A dry dock’s floor must be able to sustain pressure from hydrostatic uplift that occurs when the dock is dewatered after being flooded. A sheet pile dry dock’s concrete superstructure allows it to be resistant to bending and breaking. Additionally, it offers enough weight and strength to act against hydrostatic uplift in most cases.
CONCRETE CANTILEVER WALLS
Sometimes dry docks are constructed using in-situ concrete cantilever walls and then surrounded by an additional cutoff wall made of sheet piles to provide additional resistance. This often happens in the case of fully relieved dry docks. Fully relieved dry docks make use of a drainage system that removes water around them when it seeps into the soil. This drainage system ultimately can relieve some of the pressure put on the dry dock during dewatering. If additional drainage capabilities are needed in the case of fully relieved dry docks, a pipe system may also be installed. Partially relieved dry docks, which use drainage systems to only relieve hydrostatic pressure underneath their floors, also frequently make use of sheet pile cutoff walls to lessen seepage.
OVERALL
Overall, sheet piles can play an important role in dry dock construction. This is the case if they are used to build cofferdams to protect the dry dock as it’s being erected, if they are used as a part of the dry dock structure itself, or if they’re used to build a cutoff wall around a dry dock.
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