Gerwick, Jr. B.C. "Substructures of Major Overwater Bridges.

"
Bridge Engineering Handbook.
Ed. Wai-Fah Chen and Lian Duan
Boca Raton: CRC Press, 2000
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47.1 Intioduction
47.2 Laige Diametei Tubulai Piles
Desciiption Offshoie Stiuctuie Piactice Steel Pile
Design and Fabiication Tianspoitation and
Upending of Piles Diiving of Piles Utilization of
Piles in Biidge Pieis Piestiessed Conciete Cylindei
Piles Footing Blocks
47.3 Coffeidams foi Biidge Pieis
Desciiption Design Requiiements
Inteinally-Biaced Coffeidams Ciiculai
Coffeidams Excavation Diiving of Piles in
Coffeidams Tiemie Conciete Seal Piei Footing
Block Piei Shaft
47.4 Open Caissons
Desciiption Installation Penetiation of Soils
Founding on Rock Contingencies
47.5 Pneumatic Caissons
Desciiption Robotic Excavation
47.6 Box Caissons
Desciiption Constiuction Piefabiication
Concepts Installation of Box Caissons by
Flotation Installing Box Caissons by Diiect Lift
Positioning Giouting
47.7 Piesent and Futuie Tiends
Piesent Piactice Deep Watei Concepts

The design and constiuction of the pieis foi oveiwatei biidges piesent a seiies of demanding ciiteiia.
In seivice, the piei must be able to suppoit the dead and live loads successfully, while iesisting
enviionmental foices such as cuiient, wind, wave, sea ice, and unbalanced soil loads, sometimes
even including downslope iock fall. Eaithquake loadings piesent a majoi challenge to design, with
cyclic ieveising motions piopagated up thiough the soil and the piei to excite the supeistiuctuie.
Accidental foices must also be iesisted. Collision by baiges and ships is becoming an incieasingly
seiious hazaid foi biidge pieis in wateiways, both those pieis anking the channel and those of
appioaches wheievei the watei depth is suffcient.

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Soil-stiuctuie foundation inteiaction contiols the design foi dynamic and impact foices. The
inteiaction with the supeistiuctuie is deteimined by the exibility of the entiie stiuctuial system
and its suiiounding soil.
Rigid systems attiact veiy high foices: undei eaithquake, the design foices may ieach 1.0 g,
wheieas exible stiuctuies, developing much less foice at longei peiiods, aie subject to gieatei
deection diift. The design must endeavoi to obtain an optimal balance between these two
iesponses. The potential foi scoui due to cuiients, amplifed by voitices, must be consideied and
pieventive measuies instituted.
Constiuctibility is of gieat impoitance, in many cases deteimining the feasibility. Duiing con-
stiuction, the tempoiaiy and peimanent stiuctuies aie subject to the same enviionmental and
accidental loadings as the peimanent piei, although foi a shoitei peiiod of exposuie and, in most
cases, limited to a favoiable time of the yeai, the so-called weathei window. The constiuction
piocesses employed must theiefoie be piacticable of attainment and completion. Toleiances must
be a suitable compiomise between piacticability and futuie peifoimance. Methods adopted must
not diminish the futuie inteiactive behavioi of the soil-stiuctuie system.
The design loadings foi oveiwatei pieis aie geneially divided into two limit states, one being the
limit state foi those loadings of high piobability of occuiience, foi which the iesponse should be
essentially elastic. Duiability needs to be consideied in this limit state, piimaiily with iespect to
coiiosion of exposed and embedded steel. Fatigue is not noimally a factoi foi the piei concepts
usually consideied, although it does entei into the consideiations foi supplementaiy elements such
as fendei systems and tempoiaiy stiuctuies such as dolphins if they will be utilized undei conditions
of cyclic loading such as waves. In seismic aieas, modeiate-level eaithquakes, e.g., those with a
ietuin peiiod of 300 to 500 yeais, also need to be consideied.
The second limit state is that of low-piobability events, often teimed the safety" oi extieme"
limit state. This should include the eaithquake of long ietuin peiiod (1000 to 3000 yeais) and ship
collision by a majoi vessel. Foi these, a ductile iesponse is geneially acceptable, extending the
behavioi of the stiuctuial elements into the plastic iange. Defoimability is essential to absoib these
high-eneigy loads, so some damage may be suffeied, with the piovision that collapse and loss of
life aie pievented and, usually, that the biidge can be iestoied to seivice within a ieasonable time.
Plastic hinging has been adopted as a piinciple foi this limit state on many modein stiuctuies,
designed so that the plastic hinging will occui at a known location wheie it can be most easily
inspected and iepaiied. Redundant load paths aie desiiable: these aie usually only piacticable by
the use of multiple piles.
Biidge pieis foi oveiwatei biidges typically iepiesent 30 to 40% of the oveiall cost of the biidge.
In cases of deep watei, they may even ieach above 50%. Theiefoie, they deseive a thoiough design
effoit to attain the optimum concept and details.
Constiuction of oveiwatei biidge pieis has an unfoitunate histoiy of delays, accidents, and even
catastiophes. Many constiuction claims and oveiiuns in cost and time ielate to the constiuction of
the pieis. Constiuctibility is thus a piimaiy consideiation.
The most common types of pieis and theii constiuction aie desciibed in the following sections.
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Constiuction of steel platfoims foi offshoie petioleum pioduction as well as deep-watei teiminals
foi veiy laige vessels caiiying ciude oil, iion, and coal, iequiied the development of piling with
high axial and lateial capacities, which could be installed in a wide vaiiety of soils, fiom soft
sediments to iock. Lateial foices fiom waves, cuiients, oating ice, and eaithquake as well as fiom
beithing dominated the design. Only laige-diametei steel tubulai piles have pioved able to meet
these ciiteiia (Figuies 47.1 and 47.2).
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Laige-diametei steel tubulai pile, Jamuna Rivei Biidge, Bangladesh
Diiving laige-diametei steel tubulai pile.
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Such laige piling, ianging fiom 1 to 3 m in diametei and up to ovei 100 m in length iequiied
the concuiient development of veiy high eneigy pile-diiving hammeis, an oidei of magnitude
highei than those pieviously available. Diilling equipment, poweiful enough to diill laige-diametei
sockets in bediock, was also developed (Figuie 47.3).
Thus when biidge pieis weie iequiied in deepei watei, with deep sediments of vaiying degiees
oi, alteinatively, baie iock, and wheie ductile iesponse to the lateial foices associated with eaith-
quake, ice, and ship impact became of equal oi gieatei impoitance than suppoit of axial loads, it
was only natuial that technology fiom the offshoie platfoim industiy moved to the biidge feld.
The iesults of this lateial" tiansfei exceeded expectations in that it made it piacticable and
economical to build pieis in deep wateis and deep sediments, wheie pieviously only highly expensive
and time-consuming solutions weie available.
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The design and constiuction piactices geneially follow the Recommended Piactice foi Planning,
Designing and Constiucting Fixed Offshoie Platfoims published by the Ameiican Petioleum Insti-
tute, API-RP2A 1]. This iecommended piactice is ievised fiequently, so the latest edition should
always be used. Refeience 2] piesents the design and constiuction fiom the constiuction contiac-
toi`s point of view.
Theie aie many vaiiables that affect the designs of steel tubulai piles: diametei, wall thickness
(which may vaiy ovei the length), penetiation, tip details, pile head details, spacing, numbei of
piles, geometiy, and steel piopeities. Theie must be consideiation of the installation method and
its effect on the soil-pile inteiaction. In special cases, the tubulai piles may be inclined, i.e., iaked"
on an angle fiom veitical.
Steel tubulai pile being installed fiom jack-up baige. Socket will be diilled into iock and entiie pile
flled with tiemie conciete.
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In offshoie piactice, the piles aie almost nevei flled with conciete, wheieas foi biidge pieis, the
designei`s unwillingness to iely solely on skin fiiction foi suppoit ovei a 100-yeai life as well as
concein foi coiiosion has led to the piactice of cleaning out and flling with ieinfoiced conciete.
A iecent advance has been to utilize the steel shell along with the conciete infll in composite action
to inciease stiength and stiffness. The conciete infll is also utilized to iesist local buckling undei
oveiload and extieme conditions. Recent piactice is to fll conciete in zones of high moment.
Tubulai piles aie used to tiansfei the supeiimposed axial and lateial loads and moments to
the soil. Undei eaithquake, the soil impaits dynamic motions to the pile and hence to the
stiuctuie. These inteiactions aie highly nonlineai. To make matteis even moie complex, the soils
aie typically nonunifoim thioughout theii depth and have diffeient values of stiength and
modulus.
In design, axial loads contiol the penetiation while lateial load tiansfei to the soil deteimines
the pile diametei. Combined pile stiesses and installation stiesses deteimine the wall thickness. The
inteiaction of the pile with the soil is deteimined by the pile stiffness and diametei. These lattei
lead to the development of a P-y cuive, P being the lateial sheai at the head of the pile and y being
the deection along the pile. Although the actual behavioi is veiy complex and can only be ade-
quately solved by a computeiized fnal design, an initial appioximation of thiee diameteis can give
an assumed point of fxity" about which the top of the pile bends.
Expeiience and laboiatoiy tests show that the deection piofle of a typical pile in soft sediments
has a fist point of zeio deection about thiee diameteis below the mudline, followed by deection
in ieveise bending and fnally a second point of zeio displacement. Piles diiven to a tip elevation
at oi below this second point have been geneially found to develop a stable behavioi in lateial
displacement even undei multiple cycles of high loading.
If the deection undei extieme load is signifcant, P-" effects must also be consideied. Biidge
pieis must not only have adequate ultimate stiength to iesist extieme lateial loads but must limit
the displacement to acceptable values. If the displacement is too gieat, the P-" effect will cause
laige additional bending moments in the pile and consequently additional deection.
The axial compiessive behavioi of piles in biidge pieis is of dominant impoitance. Settlement
of the pile undei seivice and extieme loads must be limited. The compiessive axial load is iesisted
by skin fiiction along the peiipheiy of the pile, by end beaiing undei the steel pile tip, and by
the end beaiing of the soil plug in the pile tip. This lattei must not exceed the skin fiiction of
the soil on the inside of the pile, since otheiwise the plug will slide upwaid. The actual chaiac-
teiistics of the soil plug aie gieatly affected by the installation pioceduies, and will be discussed
in detail latei.
Axial tension due to uplift undei extieme loads such as eaithquakes is iesisted by skin fiiction
on the peiipheiy and the deadweight of the pile and footing block.
Pile gioup action usually diffeis fiom the summation of individual piles and is inuenced by the
stiffness of the footing block as well as by the applied bending moments and sheais. This gioup
action and its inteiaction with the soil aie impoitant in the fnal design, especially foi dynamic
loading such as eaithquakes.
API-RP2A Section G gives a design pioceduie foi diiven steel tubulai piles as well as foi diilled
and giouted piles.
Coiiosion and abiasion must be consideied in deteimining the pile wall thickness. Coiiosion
typically is most seveie fiom just below the wateiline to just above the wave splash level at high
tide, although anothei vulneiable location is at the mudline due to the oxygen giadient. Abiasion
typically is most seveie at the mudline because of moving sands, although suspended silt may cause
abiasion thioughout the watei column.
Consideiing a design lifetime of a majoi biidge of 100 yeais oi moie, coatings aie appiopiiate
in the splash zone and above, while saciifcial anodes may be used in the watei column and at the
mudline. Additional pile wall thickness may seive as saciifcial steel: foi seawatei enviionment, 10
to 12 mm is often added.
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Tubulai steel piles aie typically fabiicated fiom steel plate, iolled into cans" with the longitudinal
seam being automatically welded. These cans aie then joined by ciicumfeiential welds. Obviously,
these welds aie ciitical to the successful peifoimance of the piles. Duiing installation by pile
hammei, the welds aie often stiessed veiy highly undei iepeated blows: defective welds may ciack
in the weld oi the heat-affected zone (HAZ). Welds should achieve as full joint penetiation as
piacticable, and the exteinal weld piofle should meige smoothly with the base metal on eithei
side.
API-RP2A, section L, gives guidance on fabiication and welding. The fabiicated piles should
meet the specifed toleiances foi both pile stiaightness and foi cioss section dimensions at the ends.
These lattei contiol aveiage diametei and out-of-ioundness. Out-of-ioundness is of especial concein
as it affects the ability to match adjacent sections foi welding.
Inspection iecommendations aie given in API-RP2A, section N. Table N.4-1, with iefeience to
stiuctuial tubulais, calls foi 10% of the longitudinal seams to be veiifed by eithei ultiasonic (UT)
oi iadiogiaphy (RT). Foi the ciicumfeiential weld seams and the ciitical inteisection of the longi-
tudinal and ciicumfeiential seams, 100% UT oi RT is iequiied.
Because of the typically high stiesses to which piles suppoiting biidge pieis aie subjected, both
undei extieme loads and duiing installation, as well as the need foi weldability of ielatively thick
plates, it is common to use a fne-giained steel of 290 to 350 MPa yield stiength foi the tubulai piles.
Pile wall thickness is deteimined by a numbei of factois. The thickness may be vaiied along the
length, being contiolled at any specifc location by the loading conditions duiing seivice and duiing
installation.
The typical pile used foi a biidge piei is fxed at the head. Hence, the maxima combined bending
and axial loads will occui within the 1 diameteis immediately below the bottom of the footing.
Local buckling may occui. Repeated ieveisals of bending undei eaithquake may even lead to fiactuie.
This aiea is theiefoie geneially made of thickei steel plate. Filling with conciete will pievent local
buckling. Geneial column buckling also needs to be checked and will usually be a maximum at a
shoit distance below the mudline.
Installation may contiol the minimum wall thickness. The hammei blows develop high compies-
sive waves which tiavel down the pile, ieecting fiom the tip in amplifed compiession when high
tip iesistance is encounteied. When sustained haid diiving with laige hammeis is anticipated, the
minimum pile wall thickness should be 6.35 - D/100 wheie and D aie in millimeteis. The
diivability of a tubulai pile is enhanced by incieasing the wall thickness. This ieduces the time of
diiving and enables gieatei penetiation to be achieved.
Duiing installation, the weight of the hammei and appuitenances may cause excessive bending
if the pile is being installed on a battei. Hydiaulic hammeis usually aie fully suppoited on the pile,
wheieas steam hammeis and diesel hammeis aie paitially suppoited by the ciane.
If the pile is cleaned out duiing diiving in oidei to enable the desiied penetiation to be achieved,
exteinal soil piessuies may develop high ciicumfeiential compiession stiesses. These inteiact with
the axial diiving stiesses and may lead to local buckling.
The tip of the pile is subject to veiy high stiesses, especially if the pile encounteis bouldeis oi
must be seated in iock. This may lead to distoition of the tip, which is then amplifed duiing
successive blows. In extieme cases, the tip may teai" oi may accoidion" in a seiies of shoit local
axial buckles. Cast steel diiving shoes may be employed in such cases; they aie usually made of
steels of high toughness as well as high yield stiength. The pile head also must be thick enough to
withstand both the local buckling and the buisting stiesses due to Poisson`s effect.
The tiansition between sections of diffeient pile wall thickness must be caiefully detailed. In
geneial, the change in thickness should not be moie than 12 mm at a splice and the thickei section
should be beveled on a 1:4 slope.
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Tubulai piles may be tianspoited by baige. Foi loading, they aie often simply iolled onto the baige,
then blocked and chained down. They may also be tianspoited by self-otation. The ends aie
bulkheaded duiing deployment. The iemoval of the bulkheads can impose seiious iisks if not
caiefully planned. One end should be lifted above watei foi iemoval of that bulkhead, then the
othei. If one bulkhead is to be iemoved undeiwatei by a divei, the watei inside must fist be equalized
with the outside watei; otheiwise the iush of watei will suck the divei into the pipe. Upending will
pioduce high bending moments which limit the length of the sections of a long pile (Figuie 47.4).
Otheiwise the pile may be buckled.
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The diiving of laige-diametei tubulai piles 2] is usually done by a veiy laige pile hammei. The
iequiied size can be deteimined by both expeiience and the use of a diivability analysis, which
incoipoiates the soil paiameteis.
Fiequently, the tubulai pile foi a biidge piei is too long oi too heavy to install as a single section.
Hence, piles must be spliced duiing diiving. To assist in splicing, stabbing guides may be pieattached
to the tip of the uppei segment, along with a backup plate. The tip of the uppei segment should
be piebeveled foi welding.
Laige-diametei tubulai steel pile being positioned.
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Splicing is time-consuming. Foitunately, on a laige-diametei pile of 2 to 4 m diametei, theie is
usually space to woik two to thiee ciews concuiiently. Weld times of 4 to 8 h may be iequiied.
Then the pile must cool down (typically 2 h) and NDT peifoimed. Following this, the hammei
must be iepositioned on top of the pile. Thus a total elapsed time may be 9 to 12 h, duiing which
the skin fiiction on the pile sides sets up," incieasing the diiving iesistance and typically iequiiing
a numbei of blows to bieak the pile loose and iesume penetiation.
When veiy high iesistance is encounteied, vaiious methods may be employed to ieduce the
iesistance so that the design pile tip may be ieached. Caie must be taken that these aids do not
lessen the capacity of the pile to iesist its design loads.
High iesistance of the tubulai pile is piimaiily due to plugging of the tip; the soil in the tip
becomes compacted and the pile behaves as a displacement pile instead of cutting thiough the soil.
The following steps may be employed.
1. Jeng nerna||y o |rea| u |e |ug, |u no |e|ow |e . The watei level inside must be
contiolled, i.e., not allowed to build up much above the outside watei level, in oidei to pievent
piping undeineath. Although a fiee jet oi aiiangement of jets may be employed, a veiy
effective method is to manifold a seiies of jets aiound the ciicumfeience and weld the down-
going pipes to the shell (Figuie 47.5). Note that these pipes will pick up paiasitic stiesses
undei the pile hammei blows.
2. C|ean ou |y ar|[. This is common piactice when using laige-diametei tubulai piles foi
biidge pieis but has seiious iisks associated with it. The dangei aiises fiom the fact that an
aiilift can iemove watei veiy iapidly fiom the pile, cieating an unbalanced head at the tip,
and allowing iun-in of soil. Such a iun-in can iesult in majoi loss of iesistance, not only
undei the tip in end beaiing but also along the sides in skin fiiction.
Unfoitunately, this pioblem has occuiied on a numbei of piojects! The pievention is to
have a pump opeiating to iefll the pile at the same iate as the aiilift empties it - a veiy
diffcult mattei to contiol. If stiuctuial consideiations allow, a hole can be cut in the pile
wall so that the watei always automatically balances. This, of couise, will only be effective
when the hole is below watei. The stiess concentiations aiound such a hole need to be caiefully
evaluated. Because of the iisks and the seivice consequences of eiiois in feld contiol, the
use of an aiilift is often piohibited. The alteinative method, one that is much safei, is the use
of a giab bucket (oiange peel bucket) to iemove the soil mechanically. Then, the watei level
can be contiolled with ielative ease.
3. Dr||ng a|eaJ a |o |o|e, usng s|urry. If the pile is kept full of sluiiy to the same level as
the exteinal watei suiface, then a pilot hole, not to exceed 75% of the diametei, may be diilled
ahead fiom one to two diameteis. Centializeis should be used to keep the diilled hole piopeily
Aiiangement of inteinal jet piping and spidei" stiuts in laige-diametei tubulai pile.
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aligned. Eithei bentonite oi a polymei synthetic sluiiy may be used. In soils such as stiff clay
oi wheie a bindei pievents sloughing, seawatei may be used. Reveise ciiculation is impoitant
to pievent eiosion of the soils due to high-velocity ow. Diilling ahead is typically alteinated
with diiving. The fnal seating should be by diiving beyond the tip of the diilled hole to
iemobilize the plug iesistance.
4. Exerna| ,eng. Exteinal jetting ielieves the skin fiiction duiing diiving but sometimes
peimanently ieduces both the lateial and axial capacity. Fuithei, it is of only secondaiy beneft
as compaied with inteinal jetting to bieak up the plug. In special cases, it may still be
employed. The only piacticable method to use with long and laige tubulai piles is to weld
the piping on the outside oi inside with holes thiough the pile wall. Thus, the exteinal jetting
iesembles that used on the much laigei open caissons. As with them, low-piessuie, high-
volume watei ow is most effective in ieducing the skin fiiction. Aftei penetiation to the tip,
giout may be injected to paitially iestoie the lateial and axial capacity.
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Theie aie seveial possible aiiangement foi tubulai piles when used foi biidge pieis. These diffei in
some cases fiom those used in offshoie platfoims.
1. The pile may be diiven to the iequiied penetiation and left with the natuial soil inside. The uppei
poition may then be left with watei fll oi, in some cases, be puiposely left empty in oidei to ieduce
mass and weight; in this case it must be sealed by a tiemie conciete plug. To ensuie full bond with the
inside wall, that zone must be thoioughly cleaned by wiie biush on a diill stem oi by jet.
Foi piles fxed at theii head, at least 2 diameteis below the footing aie flled with conciete to
iesist local buckling. Studs aie installed in this zone to ensuie sheai tiansfei.
2. The pile, aftei diiving to fnal penetiation, is cleaned out to within one diametei of the tip.
The inside walls aie cleaned by wiie biush oi jet. A cage of ieinfoicing steel may be placed to
augment the bending stiength of the tubulai shell. Centializeis should be used to ensuie accuiate
positioning. The pile is then flled with tiemie conciete. Alteinatively, an inseit steel tubulai with
plugged tip may be installed with centializeis, and the annulai space flled with tiemie giout. The
inseit tubulai may need to be tempoiaiily weighted and/oi held down to pievent otation in the
giout.
Complete flling of a tubulai pile with conciete is not always waiianted. The heat of hydiation
is a potential pioblem, iequiiing special conciete mix design and peihaps piecooling.
The ieasons foi caiiying out this piactice, so often adopted foi biidge pieis although seldom
used in offshoie stiuctuies, aie
a. Concein ovei coiiosion loss of the steel shell ovei the 100-yeai lifetime;
b. A need to ensuie positively the ability of the peimanent plug to sustain end beaiing;
c. Pievention of local buckling neai the mudline and at the pile head;
d. To obtain the benefts of composite behavioi in stiffness and bending capacity.
If no inteinal supplemental ieinfoicement is iequiied, then the benefts of (b), (c), and (d) may
be achieved by simple flling with tiemie conciete. To offset the heat of hydiation, the coie may be
placed as piecast conciete blocks, subsequently giouted into monolithic behavioi. Alteinatively, an
inseit pile may be full length. In this case, only the annulus is completely flled. The inseit pile is
left empty except at the head and tip.
The act of cleaning out the pile close to the tip inevitably causes stiess ielaxation in the soil plug
below the clean-out. This will mean that undei extieme axial compiession, the pile will undeigo a
small settlement befoie it iestoies its full iesistance. To pievent this, aftei the conciete plug has
haidened, giout may be injected just beneath the plug, at a piessuie that will iestoie the compactness
of the soil but not so gieat as to pipe undei the tip oi fiactuie the foundation, oi the pile may be
ie-seated by diiving.
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3. The tubulai pile, aftei being installed to design penetiation, may be flled with sand up to two
diameteis below the head, then with tiemie conciete to the head. Reinfoicing steel may be placed
in the conciete to tiansfei pait of the moment and tension into the footing block. Studs may be
pie-installed on that zone of the pile to ensuie full sheai tiansfei. The soil and sand plug will act
to limit local buckling at the mudline undei extieme loads.
4. A socket may be diilled into iock oi haid mateiial beyond the tip of the diiven pile, and then
flled with conciete. Sluiiy is used to pievent degiadation of the suiface of the hole and sloughing.
Seawatei may be used in some iocks but may cause slaking in otheis such as shales and siltstone.
Bentonite sluiiy coats the suiface of the hole; the hole should be ushed with seawatei just befoie
concieting. Synthetic sluiiies aie best, since they ieact in the piesence of the calcium ion fiom the
conciete to impiove the bond. Synthetic polymei sluiiies biodegiade and thus may be enviionmen-
tally acceptable foi dischaige into the watei.
When a tubulai pile is seated on iock and the socket is then diilled below the tip of the pile, it
often is diffcult to pievent iun-in of sands fiom aiound the tip and to maintain piopei ciiculation.
Theiefoie, aftei landing, a hole may be diilled a shoit distance, foi example, with a chuin diill oi
down-the-hole diill and then the pile ieseated by the pile hammei.
Eithei inseit tubulais oi ieinfoicing steel cages aie placed in the socket, extending well up into
the pile. Tiemie conciete is then placed to tiansfei the load in sheai. In the case wheie a tubulai
inseit pile is used, its tip may be plugged. Then giout may be injected into the annulai space to
tiansfei the sheai.
Giout should not be used to fll sockets of laige-diametei tubulais. The heat of hydiation will
damage the giout, ieducing its stiength. Tiemie conciete should be used instead, employing small-
size coaise aggiegate, e.g., 15 mm, to ensuie woikability and owability.
Although most sockets foi offshoie biidge pieis have been cylindiical extensions of the tubulai
pile, in some offshoie oil platfoims belled footings have been constiucted to tiansfei the load in
end beaiing. Hydiaulically opeiated belling tools aie attached to the diill stiing. Whenevei tiansfei
in end beaiing is the piimaiy mechanism, the bottom of the hole must be cleaned of silt just piioi
to the placement of conciete.
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As an alteinative to steel tubulai piling, piestiessed conciete cylindei piles have been used foi a
numbei of majoi oveiwatei biidges, fiom the San Diego-Coionado and Dunbaiton Biidges in
Califoinia to biidges acioss Chesapeake Bay and the Yokohama cable-stayed biidge (Figuies 47.6
and 47.7). Diameteis have ianged fiom 1.5 to 6 m and moie. They offei the advantage of duiability
and high axial compiessive capacity. To countei seveial factois pioducing ciicumfeiential stiains,
especially theimal stiains, spiial ieinfoicement of adequate cioss-sectional aiea is iequiied. This
spiial ieinfoicement should be closely spaced in the 2-m zone just below the pile cap, wheie shaip
ieveise bending occuis undei lateial loading.
Pile installation methods vaiy fiom diiving and jetting of the smallei-diametei piles to diilling
in the laige-diametei piling (Figuie 47.8).
-
The footing block constiucted at the top of laige-diametei tubulai piles seives the puipose of
tiansmitting the foices fiom the piei shaft to the piles. Hence, it is subjected to laige sheais and
signifcant moments. The sheais iequiie extensive veitical ieinfoicement, foi both global sheai
(fiom the piei shaft) and local sheai (punching sheai fiom the piles). Laige concentiations of
ieinfoicement aie iequiied to distiibute the moments. Post-tensioned tendons may be effectively
utilized.
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Although the piimaiy foices typically pioduce compiession in the uppei suiface of the footing
block, secondaiy foices and paiticulaily high tempoiaiy stiesses caused by the heat of hydiation
pioduce tension in the top suiface. Thus, adequate hoiizontal steel must be piovided in the top
and bottom in both diiections.
Laige-diametei piestiessed conciete pile, Napa Rivei Biidge, Califoinia.
Piestiessed conciete cylindei pile foi Oosteischelde Biidge, the Netheilands.
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The heat of hydiation of the cemetitious mateiials in a laige footing block develops ovei a peiiod
of seveial days. Due to the mass of the block, the heat in the coie may not dissipate and ietuin to
ambient foi seveial weeks.
The outside suiface meantime has cooled and contiacted, pioducing tension which often leads
to ciacking. Wheie inadequate ieinfoicement is piovided, the steel may stietch beyond yield, so
that the ciacks become peimanent. If piopei amounts of ieinfoicement aie piovided, then the
ciacking that develops will be well distiibuted, individual ciacks will iemain small, and the elastic
stiess in the ieinfoicement will tend to close the ciacks as the coie cools.
Inteinal laminai ciacking may also occui, so veitical ieinfoicement and middepth ieinfoicement
should also be consideied.
Footing blocks may be constiucted in place, just above watei, with piecast conciete skiits extend-
ing down below low watei in oidei to pievent small boats and debiis fiom being tiapped below.
In this case, the top of the piles may be exposed at low watei, iequiiing special attention to the
pievention of coiiosion.
Footing blocks may be constiucted below watei. Although coffeidams may be employed, the most
effcient and economical way is usually to piefabiicate the shell of the footing block. This is then
oated into place. Coinei piles aie then inseited thiough the stiuctuie and diiven to giade. The
piefabiicated box is then loweied down by ballasting, suppoited and guided by the coinei piles.
Then the iemaining piles aie thieaded thiough holes in the box and diiven. Final connections aie
made by tiemie conciete.
Obviously, theie aie vaiiations of the above pioceduie. In some cases, poitions of the box have
been kept peimanently empty, utilizing theii buoyancy to offset pait of the deadweight.
Tiansfei of foices into the footing block iequiies caieful detailing. It is usually quite diffcult to
tiansfei full moment by means of ieinfoicing inside the pile shell. If the pile head can be dewateied,
Installing conciete cylindei pile by inteinal excavation, jetting, and pull-down foice fiom baige.
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ieinfoicing steel bais can be welded to the inside of the shell. Cages set in the conciete plug at the
head may employ bundled bais with mechanical heads at theii top. Alteinatively the pile may be
extended up thiough the footing block. Sheai keys can be used to tiansfei sheai. Post-tensioning
tendons may iun thiough and aiound the pile head.
- -
-
The woid to[[erJam is a veiy bioad teim to desciibe a constiuction that enables an undeiwatei site
to be dewateied. As such, coffeidams can be laige oi small. Medium-sized coffeidams of hoiizontal
dimensions fiom 10 to 50 m have been widely used to constiuct the foundations of biidge pieis in
watei and soft sediments up to 20 m in depth; a few have been laigei and deepei (Figuie 47.9).
Typical biidge piei coffeidams aie constiucted of steel sheet piles suppoited against the exteinal
piessuies by inteinal biacing.
A few veiy laige biidge pieis, such as anchoiages foi suspension biidges, have utilized a iing of
self-suppoiting sheet pile cells. The inteiioi is then dewateied and excavated to the iequiied depth.
A iecent such development has been the building of a ciiculai iing wall of conciete constiucted by
the sluiiy tiench method (Figuies 47.10 and 47.11). Conciete coffeidams have also used a iing wall
of piecast conciete sheet piles oi even ciibs.
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Coffeidams must be designed to iesist the exteinal piessuies of watei and soil 3]. If, as is usual, a
poition of the exteinal piessuies is designed to be iesisted by the inteinal passive piessuie of the
soil, the depth of penetiation must be selected conseivatively, taking into account a potential sudden
ieduction in passive piessuie due to watei ow beneath the tip as a iesult of unbalanced watei
piessuies oi jetting of piles. The coffeidam stiuctuie itself must have adequate veitical suppoit foi
self-load and equipment undei all conditions.
In addition to the piimaiy design loads, othei loading conditions and scenaiios include cuiient
and waves, debiis and ice, oveitopping by high tides, ood, oi stoim suige. While eaithquake-
induced loads, acting on the hydiodynamic mass, have geneially been neglected in the past, they
Laige steel sheet pile coffeidam foi Second Delawaie Memoiial Biidge, showing biacing fiames.
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aie now often being consideied on majoi coffeidams, taking into account the lowei input accelei-
ations appiopiiate foi the ieduced time of exposuie and, wheie appiopiiate, the ieduced conse-
quences.
Opeiating loads due to the mooiing of baiges and othei oating equipment alongside need to
be consideied. The potential foi scoui must be evaluated, along with appiopiiate measuies to ieduce
the scoui. When the coffeidam is located on a sloping bank, the unbalanced soil loads need to be
piopeily iesisted. Accidental loads include impact fiom boats and baiges, especially those woiking
aiound the site.
Sluiiy wall coffeidam foi Kawasaki Island ventilation shaft, Tians-Tokyo Bay Tunnels and Biidge.
Conciete iing wall coffeidam constiucted by sluiiy tiench methods.
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The coffeidam as a whole must be adequately suppoited against the lateial foices of cuiient
waves, ice, and mooied equipment, as well as unbalanced soil loads. While a laige deep-watei
coffeidam appeais to be a iugged stiuctuie, when fully excavated and piioi to placement of the
tiemie conciete seal, it may be too weak to iesist global lateial foices. Laige tubulai piles, acting as
spuds in conjunction with the space-fiame oi battei piles may be needed to piovide stability.
The coffeidam design must be such as to integiate the piling and footing block piopeily. Foi
example, sheet piles may pievent the installation of battei piles aiound the peiipheiy. To achieve
adequate penetiation of the sheet piles and to accommodate the battei piles, the coffeidam may
need to be enlaiged. The aiiangement of the biacing should facilitate any subsequent pile
installation.
To enable dewateiing of the coffeidam (Figuie 47.12), a conciete seal is constiucted, usually by
the tiemie method. This seal is designed to iesist the hydiostatic piessuie by its own buoyant weight
and by uplift iesistance piovided by the piling, this lattei being tiansfeiied to the conciete seal
couise by sheai (Figuie 47.13).
In shallow coffeidams, a fltei layei of coaise sand and iock may peimit pumping without a seal.
Howevei, in most cases, a conciete seal is iequiied. In some iecent constiuction, a ieinfoiced
conciete footing block is designed to be constiucted undeiwatei, to eliminate the need foi a sepaiate
conciete seal. In a few cases, a diainage couise of stone is placed below the conciete seal; it is then
kept dewateied to ieduce the uplift piessuie. Emeigency ielief pipes thiough the seal couise will
pievent stiuctuial failuie of the seal in case the dewateiing system fails.
The undeiwatei lateial piessuie of the fiesh conciete in the seal couise and footing block must
be iesisted by exteinal backfll against the sheet piles oi by inteinal ties.
-
These aie the piedominant type of coffeidams. They aie usually iectangulai in shape, to accom-
modate a iegulai pattein of cioss-lot biacing.
Dewateiing the coffeidam foi the main towei piei, Second Delawaie Memoiial Biidge.
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The exteinal wall is composed of steel sheet piles of appiopiiate section modulus to develop
bending iesistance. The loading is then distiibuted by hoiizontal wales to cioss-lot stiuts. These
stiuts should be laid out on a plan which will peimit excavation between them, to facilitate the
diiving of piling and to eliminate, as fai as piacticable, penetiation of biacing thiough the peima-
nent stiuctuie.
Wales aie continuous beams, loaded by the unifoim beaiing of sheet piles against them. They
aie also loaded axially in compiession when they seive as a stiut to iesist the lateial loads acting
on them end-wise. Wales in tuin delivei theii noimal loads to the stiuts, developing concentiated
local beaiing loads supeiimposed upon the high bending moments, tending to pioduce local
buckling. Stiffeneis aie geneially iequiied.
While stiffeneis aie ieadily installed on the uppeiside, they aie diffcult to install on the undeiside and
diffcult to inspect. Hence, these stiffeneis should be pie-installed duiing fabiication of the membeis.
The wales aie iestiained fiom global buckling in the hoiizontal plane by the stiuts. In the veitical
plane they aie iestiained by the fiiction of the sheet piles, which may need to be supplemented by
diiect fxation. Blocking of timbei oi steel shims is installed between the wales and sheet piles to
ft the iiiegulaiities in sheet pile installation and to fll in the needed physical cleaiances.
Stiuts aie hoiizontal columns, subject to high axial loading, as well as veitical loads fiom self-
weight and any equipment that is suppoited by them. Theii ciitical concein is stability against
buckling. This is counteied in the hoiizontal plane by inteisecting stiuts but usually needs additional
suppoit in the veitical plane, eithei by piling oi by tiussing two oi moie levels of biacing.
The oithogonal hoiizontal biacing may be all at one elevation, in which case the inteisections
of the stiuts have to be accommodated, oi they may be veitically offset, one level iesting on top of
the othei. This last is noimally easiei since, otheiwise, the inteisections must be detailed to tiansmit
the full loads acioss the joint. This is paiticulaily diffcult if stiuts aie made of tubulai pipe sections.
If stiuts aie made of wide-anged oi H-section membeis, then it will usually be found piefeiable
to constiuct them with the weak axis in the veitical plane, facilitating the detailing of stiut-to-stiut
inteisections as well as stiut-to-wale inteisections. In any event, stiffeneis aie iequiied to pievent
buckling of the anges.
Foi deep-watei pieis, the coffeidam biacing is best constiucted as a space-fiame, with two oi
moie levels joined togethei by posts and diagonals in the veitical plane. This space-fiame may be
completely piefabiicated and set as a unit, suppoited by veitical piles. These suppoiting piles aie
Pumped-out coffeidam showing tiemie conciete seal and piediiven steel H-piles.
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typically of laige-diametei tubulai membeis, diiven thiough sleeves in the biacing fiame and
connected to it by blocking and welding.
The setting of such a space-fiame iequiies a veiy laige ciane baige oi equivalent, with both
adequate hoisting capacity and ieach. Sometimes, theiefoie, the biacing fiame is made buoyant, to
be paitially oi wholly self-oating. Tubulai stiuts can be kept empty and supplemental buoyancy
can be piovided by pontoons.
Anothei way to constiuct the biacing fiame is to eiect one level at a time, suppoited by laige
tubulai piles in sleeves. The lowei level is fist eiected, then the posts and diagonal biacing in the
veitical plane. The lowei level is then loweied by hoists oi jacks so that the second level can be
constiucted just above watei and connections made in the diy.
A thiid way is to oat in the piefabiicated biacing fiame on a baige, diive spud piles thiough
sleeves at the foui coineis, and hang the biacing fiame fiom the piles. Then the baige is oated
out at low tide and the biacing fiame loweied to position.
-
Ciiculai coffeidams aie also employed, with iing wales to iesist the lateial foices in compiession.
The dimensions aie laige, and the iing compiession is high. Unequal loading is fiequently due to
diffeiential soil piessuies. Bending moments aie veiy ciitical, since they add to the compiession on
one side. Thus the iing biacing must have substantial stiength against buckling in the hoiizontal
plane.

Excavation should be caiiied out in advance of setting the biacing fiame oi sheet piles, whenevei
piacticable. Although due to side slopes the total volume of excavation will be substantially
incieased, the woik can be caiiied out moie effciently and iapidly than excavation within a biacing
system.
When open-cut excavation is not piacticable, then it must be caiiied out by woiking thiough
the biacing with a clamshell bucket. Stiuts should be spaced as widely as possible so as to peimit
use of a laige bucket. Caie must be taken to pievent impact with the biacing while the bucket is
being loweied and fiom snagging the biacing fiom undeineath while the bucket is being hoisted.
These accidental loads may be laigely pievented by tempoiaiily standing up sheet piles against the
biacing in the well being excavated, to act as guides foi the bucket.
Except when the footing couise will be constiucted diiectly on a haid stiatum oi iock, oveiex-
cavation by 1 m oi so will usually be found benefcial. Then the oveiexcavation can be backflled
to giade by ciushed iock.
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Pilings can be diiven befoie the biacing fiame and sheet piles aie set. They can be diiven by
undeiwatei hammeis oi followeis. To ensuie piopei location, the pile diivei be equipped with
telescopic leads, oi a template be set on the excavated iivei bottom oi seaooi.
Piling may alteinatively be diiven aftei the coffeidam has been installed, using the biacing fiame
as a template. In this case, an undeiwatei hammei piesents pioblems of cleaiance due to its laige
size, especially foi battei piles. Followeis may be used, oi, often, moie effciently, the piles may be
lengthened by splicing to tempoiaiily extend all the way to above watei. They aie then cut off to
giade aftei the coffeidam has been dewateied. This pioceduie obviates the pioblems occasioned if
a pile fails to develop piopei beaiing since undeiwatei splices aie not needed. It also eliminates
cutoff waste. The long sections of piling cutoff aftei dewateiing can be taken back to the fabiication
yaid and ie-spliced foi use on a subsequent piei.
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All the above assumes diiven steel piling, which is the pievalent type. Howevei, on seveial iecent
piojects, diilled shafts have been constiucted aftei the coffeidam has been excavated. In the lattei
case, a casing must be piovided, seated suffciently deep into the bottom soil to pievent iun-in oi
blowout see Section 47.2.6, item (4)].
Diiven timbei oi conciete piles may also be employed, typically using a followei to diive them
below watei.

The tiemie conciete seal couise functions to iesist the hydiostatic uplift foices to peimit dewateiing.
As desciibed eailiei, it usually is locked to the foundation piling to anchoi the slab. It may be
ieinfoiced in oidei to enable it to distiibute the pile loads and to iesist ciacking due to heat of
hydiation.
Treme tontree is a teim deiived fiom the Fiench to designate conciete placed thiough a pipe.
The teim has subsequently evolved to incoipoiate both a conciete mix and a placement pioceduie.
Undeiwatei concieting has had both signifcant successes and signifcant failuies. Yet the system is
inheiently ieliable and conciete equal oi bettei than conciete placed in the diy has been pioduced
at depths up to 250 m. The failuies have led to laige cost oveiiuns due to iequiied coiiective action.
They have laigely been due to inadveitently allowing the conciete to ow thiough oi be mixed with
the watei, which has caused washout of the cement and segiegation of the aggiegate.
Paitial washout of cement leads to the foimation of a suiface layei of laitance which is a weak
paste. This may haiden aftei a peiiod of time into a biittle chalklike substance.
The tiemie conciete mix must have an adequate quantity of cementitious mateiials. These can
be a mixtuie of poitland cement with eithei y ash oi blast fuinace slag (BFS). These aie typically
piopoitioned so as to ieduce the heat of hydiation and to piomote cohesiveness. A total content
of cementitious mateiials of 400 kg/m
3
(~700 lb/cy) is appiopiiate foi most cases.
Aggiegates aie piefeiably iounded giavel so they ow moie ieadily. Howevei, ciushed coaise
aggiegates may be used if an adequate content of sand is piovided. The giadation of the combined
aggiegates should be heavy towaid the sand poition - a 45% sand content appeais optimum foi
piopei ow. The maximum size of coaise aggiegate should be kept small enough to ow smoothly
thiough the tiemie pipe and any iestiictions such as those caused by ieinfoicement. Use of 20 mm
maximum size of coaise aggiegate appeais optimum foi most biidge pieis.
A conventional watei-ieducing agent should be employed to keep the watei/cementitious mateiial
iatio below 0.45. Supeiplasticizeis should not noimally be employed foi the typical coffeidam, since
the woikability and owability may be lost piematuiely due to the heat geneiated in the mass
conciete. Retaideis aie essential to piolong the woikable life of the fiesh mix if supeiplasticizeis
aie used.
Othei admixtuies aie often employed. Aii entiainment impioves owability at shallow watei
depths but the benefcial effects aie ieduced at gieatei depths due to the incieased exteinal piessuie.
Weight to ieduce uplift is also lost.
Miciosilica may be included in amounts up to 6% of the cement to inciease the cohesiveness of
the mix, thus minimizing segiegation. It also ieduces bleed. Antiwashout admixtuies (AWA) aie
also employed to minimize washout of cementitious mateiials and segiegation. They tend to pio-
mote self-leveling and owability. Both miciosilica and AWA may iequiie the use of supeiplasticizeis
in which case ietaideis aie essential. Howevei, a combination of silica fume and AWA should be
avoided as it typically is too sticky and does not ow well.
Heat of hydiation is a signifcant pioblem with the conciete seal couise, as well as with the footing
block, due to the mass of conciete. Theiefoie, the conciete mix is often piecooled, e.g., by chilling
of the watei oi the use of ice. Liquid nitiogen is sometimes employed to ieduce the tempeiatuie of
the conciete mix to as low as 5#C. Heat of hydiation may be ieduced by incoipoiating substantial
amounts of y ash to ieplace an equal poition of cement. BFS-cement can also be used to ieduce
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heat, piovided the BFS is not giound too fne, i.e., not fnei than 2500 cm
2/
g and the piopoition
of slag is at least 70% of the total.
The tiemie conciete mix may be deliveied to the placement pipe by any of seveial means. Pumping
and conveyoi belts aie best because of theii ielatively continuous ow. The pipe foi pumping should
be piecooled and insulated oi shielded fiom the sun; conveyoi belts should be shielded. Anothei
means of deliveiy is by bucket. This should be aii-opeiated to feed the conciete giadually to the
hoppei at the uppei end of the tiemie pipe. P|atemen Jown |e reme e s|ou|J |e |y gray
[eeJ on|y (Figuie 47.14).
Although many placements of tiemie conciete have been caiiied out by pumping, theie have
been seiious pioblems in laige placements such as coffeidam seals. The ieasons include:
1. Segiegation in the long down-leading pipe, paitly due to foimation of a paitial vacuum and
paitly due to the high velocity;
2. The high piessuies at dischaige;
3. The suiges of pumping.
Since the dischaige is into fiesh conciete, these phenomena lead to tuibulence and piomote
inteimixing with watei at the suiface, foiming excessive laitance.
These dischaige effects can be contiasted with the smooth ow fiom a giavity-fed pipe in which
the height of the conciete inside the tiemie pipe automatically adjusts to match the exteinal piessuie
of watei vs. the pieviously placed conciete. Foi pieis at consideiable depths, this balance point will
be about half-way down. The pipe should have an adequate diametei in ielation to the maximum
Placing undeiwatei conciete thiough hoppei and tiemie pipe, Veiiazano Naiiows Biidge, New Yoik.
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size of coaise aggiegate to peimit iemixing: a iatio of 8 to 1 is the minimum. A slight inclination
of the tiemie pipe fiom the veitical will slow the feed of new conciete and facilitate the escape of
entiapped aii.
Foi staiting the tiemie conciete placement, the pipe must fist be flled slightly above middepth.
This is most easily done by plugging the end and placing the empty pipe on the bottom. The empty
pipe must be negatively buoyant. It also must be able to withstand the exteinal hydiostatic piessuie
as well as the inteinal piessuie of the undeiwatei conciete. Joints in the tiemie pipe should be
gasketed and bolted to pievent watei being sucked into the mix by ventuii action. To commence
placement, with the tiemie pipe slightly moie than half full, it is iaised 150 mm off the bottom.
The tempoiaiy plug then comes off and the conciete ows out. The above pioceduie can be used
both foi staiting and foi iesuming a placement, as, foi example, when the tiemie is ielocated, oi
aftei a seal has been inadveitently lost.
The tiemie pipe should be kept embedded in the fiesh conciete mix a suffcient distance to
piovide backpiessuie on the ow (typically 1 m minimum), but not so deep as to become stuck in
the conciete due to its initial set. This iequiies adjustment of the ietaiding admixtuie to match the
iate of conciete placement and the aiea of the coffeidam against the time of set, keeping in mind
the acceleiation of set due to heat as the conciete hydiates.
Anothei means foi initial stait of a tiemie conciete placement is to use a pig which is foiced
down the pipe by the weight of the conciete, expelling the watei below. This pig should be iound
oi cylindiical, piefeiably the lattei, equipped with wipeis to pievent leakage of giout and jamming
by a piece of aggiegate. An inated ball, such as an athletic ball (volleyball oi basketball) must nevei
be used; these collapse at about 8 m watei depth! A pig should not be used to iestait a placement,
since it would foice a column of watei into the fiesh conciete pieviously placed.
Mixes of the tiemie conciete desciibed will ow outwaid on a slope of about 1 on 8 to 1 on 10.
With AWAs, an even attei suiface can be obtained.
A tiial batch with undeiwatei placement in a shallow pit oi tank should always be done befoie
the actual placement of the conciete seal. This is to veiify the cohesiveness and owability of the
mix. Laboiatoiy tests aie often inadequate and misleading, so a laige-scale test is impoitant. A tiial
batch of 2 to 3 m
3
has often been used.
The tiemie conciete placement will exeit outwaid piessuie on the sheet piles, causing them to
deect. This may in tuin allow new giout to iun down past the alieady set conciete, incieasing the
exteinal piessuie. To offset this, the coffeidam can be paitially backflled befoie staiting the tiemie
concieting and tied acioss the top. Alteinatively, dowels can be welded on the sheets to tie into the
conciete as it sets; the sheet piles then have to be left in place.
Due to the heat of hydiation, the conciete seal will expand. Maximum tempeiatuie may not be
achieved foi seveial days. Cooling of the mass is giadual, staiting fiom the outside, and ambient
tempeiatuie may not be achieved foi seveial weeks. Thus an exteinal shell is cooling and shiinking
while the inteiioi is still hot. This can pioduce seveie ciacking, which, if not constiained, will cieate
peimanent fiactuies in the seal oi footing. Theiefoie, in the best piactice, ieinfoicing steel is placed
in the seal to both piovide a iestiaint against ciacking and to help pull the ciacks closed as the mass
cools.
Aftei a ielatively few days, the conciete seal will usually have developed suffcient stiength to
peimit dewateiing. Once exposed to the aii, especially in wintei, the suiface conciete will cool too
fast and may ciack. Placing insulation blankets will keep the tempeiatuie moie unifoim. They will,
of couise, have to be tempoiaiily moved to peimit the subsequent woik to be peifoimed.

The piei footing block is next constiucted. Reinfoicement on all faces is iequiied, not only foi
stiuctuial iesponse but also to counteiact theimal stiains. Refeience is made to Section 31.2.8 in
which ieinfoicement foi the footing block is discussed in moie detail.
w --
The conciete expands as it is placed in the footing block due to the heat of hydiation. At this
stage it is eithei still fiesh oi, if set, has a veiy low modulus. Then it haidens and bonds to the tiemie
conciete below. The lock between the two conciete masses is made even moie iigid if piling piotiudes
thiough the top of the tiemie seal, which is common piactice. Now the footing block cools and
tiies to shiink but is iestiained by the pieviously placed conciete seal. Veitical ciacks typically foim.
Only if theie is suffcient bottom ieinfoicement in both diiections can this shiinkage and ciacking
be adequately contiolled. Note that these tensile stiesses aie peimanently locked into the bottom
of the footing block and the ciacks will not close with time, although cieep will be advantageous
in ieducing the iesidual stiesses.
Aftei the footing block has haidened, blocking may be placed between it and the sheet piles. This,
in tuin, may peimit iemoval of the lowei level of biacing. As an alteinative to biacing, the footing
block may be extended all the way to the sheet piles, using a sheet of plywood to pievent adhesion.

The piei shaft is then constiucted. Block-outs may be iequiied to allow the biacing to pass thiough.
The inteinal biacing is iemoved in stages, taking caie to ensuie that this does not iesult in ovei-
loading a biace above. Each stage of iemoval should be evaluated.
Backfll is then placed outside the coffeidam to biing it up to the oiiginal seabed. The sheet piles
can then be iemoved. The fist sheets aie typically diffcult to bieak loose and may iequiie diiving
oi jacking in addition to vibiation. Keeping in mind the advantage of steel sheet piles in pieventing
undeimining of the piei due to scoui, as well as the fact that iemoval of the sheets always loosens
the suiiounding soil, hence ieducing the passive lateial iesistance, it is often desiiable to leave the
sheet piles in place below the top of the footing. They may be cut off undeiwatei by diveis; then
the tops aie pulled by vibiatoiy hammeis.
Antiscoui stone piotection is now placed, with an adequate fltei couise oi fabiic sheet in the
case of fne sediments.
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Open caissons have been employed foi some of the laigest and deepest biidge pieis 4]. These aie
an extension of the wells" which have been used foi some 2000 yeais in India. The caisson may
be constiucted above its fnal site, suppoited on a tempoiaiy sand island, and then sunk by diedging
out within the open wells of the caisson, the deadweight acting to foice the caisson down thiough
the oveilying soils (Figuie 47.15). Alteinatively, especially in sites oveilain by deep watei, the caisson
may be piefabiicated in a constiuction basin, oated to the site by self-buoyancy, augmented as
necessaiy by tempoiaiy oats oi lifts, and then piogiessively loweied into the soils while building
up the top.
Open caissons aie effective but costly, due to the laige quantity of mateiial iequiied and the laboi
foi woiking at the oveiwatei site. Histoiically, they have been the only means of penetiating
thoiough deep oveilying soils onto a haid stiatum oi bediock. Howevei, theii gieatest pioblem is
maintaining stability duiing the eaily phases of sinking, when they aie neithei aoat noi fimly
embedded and suppoited. Long and naiiow iectangulai caissons aie especially susceptible to tip-
ping, wheieas squaie and ciiculai caissons of substantial dimensions ielative to the watei depth aie
inheiently moie stable. Once the caisson tips, it tends to diift off position. It is veiy diffcult to
biing it back to the veitical without oveicoiiecting.
When the caisson fnally ieaches its founding elevation, the suiface of iock oi haid stiatum is
cleaned and a thick tiemie conciete base is placed. Then the top of the caisson is completed by
casting a laige capping block on which to build the piei shaft.
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The sinking of the coffeidam thiough the soil is iesisted by skin fiiction along the outside and by
beaiing on the cutting edges. Appioximate values of iesistance may be obtained by multiplying the
fiiction factoi of sand on conciete oi steel by the at-iest lateial foice at that paiticulai stage, [
OK
0
w|
2
wheie [ is the unit fiictional iesistance, O the coeffcient of fiiction, w the undeiwatei unit
weight of sand, K
0
the at-iest coeffcient of lateial piessuie, and | the depth of sand at that level. [
is then summed up ovei the embedded depth. In clay, the cohesive sheai contiols the skin fiiction."
The beaiing value of the cutting edges is geneially the shallow beaiing value," i.e., fve times the
sheai stiength at that elevation.
These iesistances must be oveicome by deadweight of the caisson stiuctuie, ieduced by the
buoyancy acting on the submeiged poitions. This deadweight may be augmented by jacking foices
on giound anchois.
The skin fiiction is usually ieduced by lubiicating jets causing upwaid ow of watei along the
sides. Compiessed aii may be alteinated with watei thiough the jets; bentonite sluiiy may be used
to piovide additional lubiication. The beaiing on the cutting edges may be ieduced by cutting jets
built into the walls of the caisson oi by fiee jets opeiating thiough holes foimed in the walls. Finally,
vibiation of the soils neai and aiound the caisson may help to ieduce the fiictional iesistance.
When a piefabiicated caisson is oated to the site, it must be mooied and held in position while it
is sunk to and into the seaooi. The mooiings must iesist cuiient and wave foices and must assist in
maintaining the caisson stable and in a veitical attitude. This lattei is complicated by the need to build
up the caisson walls piogiessively to give adequate fieeboaid, which, of couise, iaises the centei of giavity.
Cuiient foice can be appioximately deteimined by the foimula
wheie C vaiies fiom 0.8 foi smooth ciiculai caissons to 1.3 foi iectangulai caissons, is the aiea,
$ is the density of watei, and V is the aveiage cuiient ovei the depth of otation. Steel sheet piles
develop high diag, iaising the value of C by 20-30%.
Open-caisson positioned within steel jackets on pens."

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As with all piismatic oating stiuctuies, stability iequiies that a positive metacentiic height be
maintained. The foimula foi metacentiic height, is
wheie is the distance fiom the base to the centei of buoyancy, the distance to the centei
of giavity, and I/V.
I is the moment of ineitia on the naiiowest (most sensitive) axis, while V is the displaced volume
of watei. Foi typical caissons, a of -1 m oi moie should be maintained.
The foices fiom mooiing lines and the fiiction foices fiom any dolphins affect the actual attitude
that the stiuctuie assumes, often tending to tip it fiom veitical. When using mooiing lines, the lines
should be led thiough faiileads attached neai the centei of iotation of the stiuctuie. Howevei, this
location is constantly changing, so the faiilead attachment points may have to be shifted upwaid
fiom time to time.
Dolphins and pens" aie used on many iivei caissons, since navigation consideiations often
pieclude mooiing lines. These aie clusteis of piles oi small jackets with pin piles and aie ftted with
veitical iubbing stiips on which the caisson slides.
Once the caisson has been piopeily mooied on location, it is ballasted down. As it neais the
existing iivei oi haiboi bottom, the cuiient ow undeineath incieases diamatically. When the
bottom consists of soft sediments, these may iapidly scoui away in the cuiient. To pievent this, a
mattiess should be fist installed.
Fascine mattiesses of willow, bamboo, oi wood with fltei fabiic attached aie ballasted down with
iock. Alteinatively, a layei of giaded sand and giavel, similai to the combined mix foi conciete
aggiegate, can be placed. The sand on top will scoui away, but the fnal iesult will be a ieveise fltei.
In oidei to oat a piefabiicated caisson to the site initially, false bottoms aie ftted ovei the bottom
of the diedging wells. These false bottoms aie today made of steel, although timbei was used on
many of the famous open caissons fiom the 19th and the eaily pait of the 20th centuiies. They aie
designed to iesist the hydiostatic piessuie plus the additional foice of the soils duiing the eaily
phases of penetiation. Once the caisson is embedded suffciently to ensuie stability, the false bottoms
aie piogiessively iemoved so that excavation can be caiiied out thiough the open wells. This iemoval
is a veiy ciitical and dangeious stage, hazaidous both to the caisson and to peisonnel. The watei
level inside at this stage should be slightly highei than that outside. Even then, when the false bottom
undei a paiticulai well is loosened, the soil may suddenly suige up, tiapping a divei. The caisson,
expeiiencing a sudden ielease of beaiing undei one well, may plunge oi tip.
Despite many innovative schemes foi iemote iemoval of false bottoms, accidents have occuiied.
Today`s caissons employ a method foi giadually ieducing the piessuie undeineath and excavating
some of the soil befoie the false bottom is ieleased and iemoved. Foi such constiuctions, the false
bottom is of heavily biaced steel, with a tube thiough it, typically extending to the watei suiface.
The tube is kept full of watei and capped, with a ielief valve in the cap. Aftei the caisson has
penetiated undei its own weight and come to a stop, the ielief valve is opened, ieducing the piessuie
to the hydiostatic head only. Then the cap is iemoved. This is done foi seveial (typically, foui) wells
in a balanced pattein. Then jets and aiilifts may be opeiated thiough the tube to iemove the soil
undei those wells. When the caisson has penetiated suffciently fai foi safety against tipping, the
wells aie flled with watei; the false bottoms aie iemoved and diedging can be commenced.
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The penetiation is piimaiily accomplished by the net deadweight, that is, the total weight of conciete
steel and ballast less the buoyancy. Excavation within the wells is caiiied down in a balanced pattein
until the beaiing stiatum is ieached. Then tiemie conciete is placed, of suffcient depth to tiansfei
the design beaiing piessuies to the walls.

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The teim tung eJge is applied to the tips of the caisson walls. The exteinal cutting edges aie
shaped as a wedge while the inteiioi ones may be eithei double-wedge oi squaie. In the past, concein
ovei concentiated local beaiing foices led to the piactice of making the cutting edges of heavy and
expensive fabiicated steel. Today, high-stiength ieinfoiced conciete is employed, although if obstiuc-
tions such as bouldeis, cobbles, oi buiied logs aie anticipated oi if the caisson must penetiate iock,
steel aimoi should be attached to pievent local spalling.
The uppei pait of the caisson may be ieplaced by a tempoiaiy coffeidam, allowing the piei shaft
dimensions to be ieduced thiough the watei column. This ieduces the effective diiving foice on
the caisson but maintains and incieases its inheient stability.
The penetiation iequiies the piogiessive failuie of the soil in beaiing undei the cutting edges
and in sheai along the sides. Fiictional sheai on the inside walls is ieduced by diedging while that
on the outside walls is ieduced by lubiication, using jets as pieviously desciibed.
Contiolling the penetiation is an essentially delicate balancing of these foices, attempting to
obtain a slight piepondeiance of sinking foice. Too gieat an excess may iesult in plunging of the
caisson and tipping oi sliding sidewise out of position. That is why pumping down the watei within
the caisson, thus ieducing buoyancy, is dangeious; it often leads to sudden inow of watei and soil
undei one edge, with potentially catastiophic consequences.
Lubiicating jets may be opeiated in gioups to limit the total volume of watei iequiied at any one
time to a piacticable pump capacity. In addition to watei, bentonite may be injected thiough the
lubiicating jets, ieducing the skin fiiction. Compiessed aii may be alteinated with watei jetting.
Othei methods of aiding sinking aie employed. Vibiation may be useful in sinking the caisson
thiough sands, especially when it is accompanied by jetting. This vibiation may be impaited by
intense vibiation of a steel pile located inside the caisson oi even by diiving on it with an impact
hammei to liquefy the sands locally.
Giound anchois inseited thiough piefoimed holes in the caisson walls may be jacked against the
caisson to inciease the downwaid foice. They have the advantage that the actual penetiation may
be ieadily contiolled, both iegaiding foice exeited and displacement.
Since all the paiameteis of iesistance and of diiving foice vaiy as the caisson penetiates the soil,
and because the imbalance is veiy sensitive to ielatively minoi changes in these paiameteis, it is
essential to plan the sinking piocess in closely spaced stages, typically each 2 to 3 m. Values can be
piecalculated foi each such stage, using the values of the soil paiameteis, the changes in contact
aieas between soil and stiuctuie, the weights of conciete and steel and the displaced volume. These
need not be exact calculations; the soil paiameteis aie estimates only since they aie being constantly
modifed by the jetting. Howevei, they aie valuable guides to engineeiing contiol of the opeiations.
Theie aie many wainings fiom the wiitings of engineeis in the past, often based on neai-failuies
oi actual catastiophes.
1. Veiify stiuctuial stiength duiing the stages of oating and initial penetiation, with consid-
eiation foi potentially high iesistance undei one coinei oi edge.
2. In iemoving false bottoms, be suie the excess piessuie undeineath has fist been ielieved.
3. Do not excavate below cutting edges.
4. Check outside soundings continually foi evidence of scoui and take coiiective steps piomptly.
5. Blasting undeineath the cutting edges may blow out the caisson walls. Blasting may also cause
liquefaction of the soils leading to loss of fiictional iesistance and sudden plunging. If blasting
is needed, do it befoie staiting penetiation oi, at least, well befoie the cutting edge ieaches
the haid stiata so that a deep cushion of soil iemains ovei the chaiges.
6. If the caisson tips, avoid diastic coiiections. Instead, plan the coiiection to ensuie a giadual
ietuin to veitical and to pievent the possibility of tipping ovei moie seiiously on the othei
side. Thus steps such as digging deepei on the high side and oveiballasting on the high side
should be last iesoits and, then, some means mobilized to aiiest the iotation as the caisson
neais veitical. Jacking against an exteinal dolphin is a safei and moie effcient method foi
coiiecting the tipping (Figuie 47.16).
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Sinking the caisson should be a continuous piocess, since once it stops the soil fiiction and/oi
sheai inciease signifcantly and it may be diffcult to iestait the caisson`s descent.

Caissons founded on baie iock piesent special diffculties. The iock may be leveled by diilling,
blasting, and excavation, although the blasting intioduces the piobability of fiactuies in the undei-
lying iock. Mechanical excavation may theiefoie be specifed foi the last metei oi two. Rotaiy diills
and undeiwatei ioad-headeis can be used but the piocess is long and costly. In some cases, hydiaulic
iock bieakeis can be employed; in othei cases a hammei giab oi stai chisel may be used. Foi the
Piince Edwaid Island Biidge, the soft iock was excavated and leveled by a veiy heavy clamshell
bucket. Hydiaulic backhoes and dippei diedges have been used elsewheie. A poweiful cuttei-head
diedge has been planned foi use at the Stiait of Gibialtai.
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The planning should include methods foi dealing with contingencies. The iesistance of the soil and
especially of haid stiata may be gieatei than anticipated. Obstiuctions include sunken logs and even
sunken buiied baiges and small vessels, as well as cobbles and bouldeis. The founding iock oi
stiatum may be iiiegulai, iequiiing special means of excavating undeineath the cutting edge at high
spots oi flling in with conciete in the low spots. One contingency that should always be addiessed
is what steps to take if the caisson unexpectedly tips.
Seveial innovative solutions have been used to constiuct caissons at sites with especially soft
sediments. One is a double-walled self-oating concept, without the need foi false bottoms. Double-
walled caissons of steel weie used foi the Mackinac Stiait Biidge in Michigan. Ballast is piogiessively
flled into the double-wall space while diedging is caiiied out in the open wells.
In the case of extiemely soft bottom sediments, the bottom may be initially stabilized by giound
impiovement, foi example, with suichaige by dumped sand, oi by stone columns, so that the caisson
may initially land on and penetiate stable soil. Gieat caie must, of couise, be exeicised to maintain
contiol when the cutting edge bieaks thiough to the native soils below, pieventing eiiatic plunging.
Open caisson foi Sunshine Biidge acioss the Mississippi Rivei. This caisson tipped duiing iemoval
of false bottoms and is shown being iighted by jacking against dolphins.
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This same piinciple holds tiue foi constiuction on sand islands, wheie the cutting edge and initial
lifts of the caisson may be constiucted on a stiatum of giavel oi othei stable mateiial, then the
caisson sunk thiough to softei stiata below. Guides oi giound anchois will be of beneft in con-
tiolling the sinking opeiation.
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These caissons diffei fiom the open caisson in that excavation is caiiied out beneath the base in a
chambei undei aii piessuie. The aii piessuie is suffcient to offset some poition of the ambient
hydiostatic head at that depth, thus iestiicting the inow of watei and soil.
Access thiough the deck foi woikeis and equipment and foi the iemoval of the excavated soil is
thiough an aiilock. Peisonnel woiking undei aii piessuie have to follow iigid iegimes iegaiding
duiation and must undeigo decompiession upon exit. The maximum piessuies and time of expo-
suie undei which peisonnel can woik is limited by iegulations. Many of the pieis foi the histoiic
biidges in the United States, e.g., the Biooklyn Biidge, weie constiucted by this method.

To oveicome the pioblems associated with woiking undei aii piessuie, the health hazaids of caisson
disease," and the high costs involved, iobotic cutteis 5] have been developed to excavate and iemove
the soil within the chambei without human inteivention. These weie iecently implemented on the
pieis of the Rainbow Suspension Biidge in Tokyo (Figuies 47.17 and 47.18).
The advantage of the pneumatic caisson is that it makes it possible to excavate beneath the cutting
edges, which is of special value if obstiuctions aie encounteied. The gieat iisk is of a blowout" in
which the aii escapes undei one edge, causing a iapid ieduction of piessuie, followed by an inow
of watei and soil, endangeiing peisonnel and leading to sudden tilting of the caisson. Thus, the use
of pneumatic caissons is limited to veiy special ciicumstances.
Excavating within piessuiized woiking chambei of pneumatic caisson foi Rainbow Suspension
Biidge, Tokyo. (Photo couitesy of Shiiaishi Coipoiation.)
w --
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One of the most impoitant developments of iecent yeais has been the use of box caissons, eithei
oated in oi set in place by heavy-lift ciane baiges 4]. These box caissons, ianging in size fiom a
few hundied tons to many thousands of tons, enable piefabiication at a shoie site, followed by
tianspoit and installation duiing favoiable weathei windows" and with minimum iequiiements
foi oveiwatei laboi. The development of these has been laigely iesponsible foi the iapid completion
of many long oveiwatei biidges, cutting the oveiall time by a factoi of as much as thiee and thus
making many of these laige piojects economically viable.
The box caisson is essentially a stiuctuial shell that is placed on a piepaied undeiwatei foundation.
It is then flled with conciete, placed by the tiemie method pieviously desciibed foi coffeidam seals.
Alteinatively, sand fll oi just ballast watei may be used.
Although many box caissons aie piismatic in shape, i.e., a laige iectangulai base suppoiting a
smallei iectangulai column, otheis aie complex shells such as cones and bells. When the box caisson
is seated on a fim foundation, it may be undeilain by a metei oi two of stone bed, consisting of
densifed ciushed iock oi giavel that has been leveled by scieeding. Aftei the box has been set,
undeibase giout is often injected to ensuie unifoim beaiing.
-
The box caisson shell is usually the piincipal stiuctuial element although it may be supplemented
by ieinfoicing steel cages embedded in tiemie conciete. This lattei system is often employed when
joining a piefabiicated piei shaft on top of a pieviously set box caisson.
Box caissons may be piefabiicated of steel; these weie extensively used on the Honshu-Shikoku
Biidges in Japan (Figuies 47.19 and 47.20). Aftei setting, they weie flled with undeiwatei conciete,
in eailiei cases using giout-intiuded aggiegate, but in moie iecent cases tiemie conciete.
Foi ieasons of economy and duiability, most box caissons aie made of ieinfoiced conciete.
Although they aie theiefoie heaviei, the concuiient development of veiy laige capacity ciane baiges
and equipment has made theii use fully piacticable. The weight is advantageous in pioviding stability
in high cuiients and waves.
Excavating beneath cutting edge of pneumatic caisson. (Photo couitesy of Shiiaishi Coipoiation.)
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Piefabiication of the box caissons may be caiiied out in a numbei of inteiesting ways. The caissons(s)
may be constiucted on the deck of a laige submeisible baige. In the case of the two conciete caissons
foi the Tsing Ma Biidge in Hong Kong, the baige then moved to a site wheie it could submeige to
launch the caissons. They weie oated to the site and ballasted down onto the piediedged iock
base. Aftei sealing the peiimetei of the cutting edge, they weie flled with tiemie conciete.
In the case of the 66 pieis foi the Gieat Belt Westein Biidge in Denmaik, the box caissons weie
piefabiicated on shoie in an assembly-line piocess. (Figuies 47.21 and 47.22). They weie piogies-
sively moved out onto a piei fiom which they could be lifted off and caiiied by a veiy laige ciane
baige to theii site. They weie then set onto the piepaied base. Finally, they weie flled with sand
and antiscoui stone was placed aiound theii base.
Steel box caisson being positioned foi Akashi Stiait Biidge, Japan, despite stiong cuiients.
Akashi Stiait Suspension Biidge is founded on steel box caissons flled with tiemie conciete.
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A similai pioceduie has been followed foi the appioach pieis on the Oiesund Biidge between
Sweden and Denmaik and on the Second Sevein Biidge in Southwest England. Foi the Gieat Belt
Eastein Biidge, many of the conciete box caissons weie piefabiicated in a constiuction basin
(Figuie 47.23). Otheis weie fabiicated on a quay wall.
Foi the Piince Edwaid Island Biidge, bell-shaped pieis, with open bottom, weighing up to 8000
tons, weie similaily piefabiicated on land and tianspoited to the load-out piei and onto a baige,
using tianspoiteis iunning on pile-suppoited conciete beams (Figuies 47.24 thiough 47.26). Mean-
while, a shallow tiench had been excavated in the iock seaooi, in oidei to ieceive the lowei end
of the bell. The bell-shaped shell was then loweied into place by the laige ciane baige. Tiemie
conciete was placed to fll the peiipheial gap between bell and iock.
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Laige conciete box caissons have been oated into location, mooied, and ballasted down onto the
piepaied base (Figuie 47.27). Duiing this submeigence, they aie, of couise, subject to cuiient, wave,
and wind foices. The mooiings must be suffcient to contiol the location; taut mooiings" aie
theiefoie used foi close positioning.
Piefabiication of box caisson pieis foi Gieat Belt Westein Biidge, Denmaik.
Piefabiicated conciete box caissons aie moved by jacks onto piei foi load-out.
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The taut mooiings should be led thiough faiileads on the sides of the caisson, in oidei to peimit
lateial adjustment of position without causing tilt. In some cases wheie navigation iequiiements
pievent the use of taut mooiings, dolphins may be used instead. These can be faced with a veitical
iubbing stiip oi mastei pile. Toleiances must be piovided in oidei to pievent binding.
Laige conciete box caissons fabiicated in constiuction basin foi subsequent deployment to site by
self-otation, Gieat Belt Eastein Biidge, Denmaik.
Schematic iepiesentation of substiuctuie foi Piince Edwaid Island Biidge, Canada. Note ice shield,
designed to ieduce foices fiom oating ice in Noithumbeiland Stiait.
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Stability is of ciitical impoitance foi box caissons which aie confguied such that the watei
plane diminishes as they aie submeiged. It is necessaiy to calculate the metacentiic height, ,
at eveiy change in hoiizontal cioss section as it ciosses the watei plane, just as pieviously desciibed
foi open caissons.
Duiing landing, as duiing the similai opeiation with open caissons, the cuiient undei the caisson
incieases, and scoui must be consideied. Foitunately, in the case of box caissons, they aie being
Piefabiication of piei bases, Piince Edwaid Island Biidge, Canada.
Piefabiicated piei shaft and icebieakei, Piince Edwaid Island Biidge, Canada.

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landed eithei diiectly on a leveled haid stiatum oi on a piepaied bed of densifed stone, foi which
scoui is less likely.
As the base of the caisson appioaches contact, the piism of watei tiapped undeineath has to
escape. This will typically occui in a iandom diiection. The ieaction thiust of the massive watei jet
will push the caisson to one side. This phenomenon can be minimized by loweiing the last metei
slowly.
Coiiections foi the two phenomena of cuiient scoui and watei-jet thiust aie in opposition to
one anothei, since loweiing slowly incieases the duiation of exposuie to scoui. Thus it is essential
to size and compact the stone of the stone bed piopeily and also to pick a time of low cuiient, e.g.,
slack tide foi installation.
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In iecent yeais, veiy heavy lift equipment has become available. Jack-up, oating ciane baiges, and
catamaian baiges, have all been utilized (Figuies 47.28 thiough 47.31). Lifts up to 8000 tons have
been made by ciane baige on the Gieat Belt and Piince Edwaid Island Biidges.
The box caissons aie then set on the piepaied bed. Wheie it is impiacticable to scieed a stone
bed accuiately, landing seats may be pieset to exact giade undei watei and the caisson landed on
them, and tiemie conciete flled in undeineath.
Heavy segments, such as box caissons, aie little affected by cuiient - hence can be accuiately
set to neai-exact location in plan. Toleiances of the oidei of 20 to 30 mm aie attainable.
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Electionic distance fndeis (EDF), theodolites, laseis, and GPS aie among the devices utilized to
contiol the location and giade. Seabed and stone bed suiveys may be by naiiow-beam high-
fiequency sonai and side-scan sonai. At gieatei depths, the sonai devices may be incoipoiated in
an ROV to get the best defnition.

Giouting oi concieting undeineath is commonly employed to ensuie full beaiing. It is desiiable to
use low-stiength, low-modulus giout to avoid haid spots. The edges of the caisson have to be sealed
by penetiating skiits oi by exible cuitains which can be loweied aftei the caisson is set in place,
Piefabiicated box caisson is oated into position, Gieat Belt Eastein Biidge, Denmaik. Note tem-
poiaiy coffeidam above conciete caisson.
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since otheiwise the tiemie conciete will escape, especially if theie is a cuiient. Heavy canvas oi
submeiged nylon, weighted with anchoi chain and tucked into folds, can be secuied to the caisson
duiing piefabiication. When the caisson is fnally seated, the cuitains can be cut loose; they will
iestiain conciete oi giout at low ow piessuies. Backfll of stone aiound the edges can also be used
to ietain the conciete oi giout.
Heat of hydiation is also of concein, so the mix should not contain excessive cement. The offshoie
industiy has developed a numbei of low-heat, low modulus, thixotiopic mixes suitable foi this use.
Some of them employ seawatei, along with cement, y ash, and foaming agents. BFS cement has
also been employed.
Box caissons may be constituted of two oi moie laige segments, set one on top of the othei and
joined by oveilapping ieinfoicement encased in tiemie conciete. The segments often aie match-
cast to ensuie peifect ft.
Installing piecast conciete box caissons foi Second Sevein Ciossing, Biistol, England. Extieme tidal
iange of 10 m and high tidal cuiient imposed seveie demands on installation pioceduies and equipment.
Lifting box caisson fiom quay wall on which it was piefabiicated and tianspoiting it to site while
suspended fiom ciane baige.
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Theie is a stiong incentive today to use laige piefabiicated units, eithei steel oi conciete, that can
be iapidly installed with laige equipment, involving minimal on-site laboi to complete. On-site
opeiations, wheie iequiied, should be simple and suitable foi continuous opeiation. Filling piefab-
iicated shells with tiemie conciete is one such example.
Two of the concepts pieviously desciibed satisfy these cuiient needs. The fist, a box caisson -
a laige piefabiicated conciete oi steel section - can be oated in oi lifted into position on a haid
seaooi. The second, laige-diametei steel tubulai piles, can be diiven thiough soft and vaiiable soils
to be founded in a competent stiatum, eithei iock oi dense soils. These tubulai piles aie especially
suitable foi aieas of high seismicity, wheie theii exibility and ductility can be exploited to ieduce
the acceleiation tiansmitted to the supeistiuctuie (Figuie 47.32). In veiy deep watei, steel-fiamed
Setting piefabiicated box caisson on which is mounted a tempoiaiy coffeidam, Gieat Belt Eastein
Biidge, Denmaik.
Setting 7000-ton piefabiicated box caisson, Gieat Belt Westein Biidge, Denmaik.
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jackets may be employed to suppoit the piles thiough the watei column (Figuie 47.33). The box
caisson, conveisely, is most suitable to iesist the impact foices fiom ship collision. The expanding
use of these two concepts is leading to fuithei inciemental impiovements and adaptations which
will inciease theii effciency and economy.
Meanwhile coffeidams and open caissons will continue to play an impoitant but diminishing
iole. Conventional steel sheet pile coffeidams aie well suited to shallow watei with weak sediments,
but involve substantial oveiwatei constiuction opeiations.
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The Japanese have had a study gioup investigating concepts foi biidge pieis in veiy deep watei, and
soft soils. One initial concept that has been puisued is that of the ciiculai coffeidam constiucted
of conciete by the sluiiy wall piocess 3]. This was employed on the Kobe anchoiage foi the Akashi
Stiait Biidge and on the Kawasaki Island Ventilation Stiuctuie foi the Tians-Tokyo Bay tunnels, the
lattei with a pumped-out head of 80 m, in extiemely soft soils in a zone of high seismicity (see
Section 47.3.1).
Floating pieis have been pioposed foi veiy deep watei, some employing semisubmeisible and
tension leg-platfoim" concepts fiom the offshoie industiy. While technically feasible, the entiie
iange of potential adveise loadings, including accidental ooding, ship impact, and long-peiiod
swells, need to be thoioughly consideied. Tetheied pontoons of piestiessed conciete have been
successfully used to suppoit a low-level biidge acioss a fjoid in Noiway.
Most spectaculai of all pioposed biidge pieis aie those designed in pieliminaiy feasibility studies
foi the ciossing of the Stiait of Gibialtai. Watei depths iange fiom 305 m foi a westein ciossing to
470 m foi a shoitei eastein ciossing. Seaooi soils aie highly iiiegulai and consist of ielatively weak
sandstone locally known as ysch. Cuiients aie stiong and vaiiable. Wave and swell exposuie is
signifcant. Foi these depths, only offshoie platfoim technology seems appiopiiate.
Conceptual design foi deep-watei biidge piei, utilizing piefabiicated steel jacket and steel tubulai
pin piles.
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Belled footing piovides gieatei beaiing aiea foi diiven-and-diilled steel tubulai pile.
Concept foi piepaiation of seabed foi seating of piefabiicated box pieis in 300 m watei depth, Stiait
of Gibialtai.
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Both steel jackets with pin piles and conciete offshoie stiuctuies weie investigated. Among the
othei ciiteiia that pioved extiemely demanding weie potential collision by laige ciude oil tankeis
and, below watei, by nucleai submaiines.
These studies concluded that the conciete offshoie platfoim concept was a ieasonable and piac-
ticable extension of cuiient offshoie platfoim technology. Leveling and piepaiing a suitable foun-
dation is the gieatest challenge and iequiies the integiation and extension of piesent systems of
diedging well beyond the cuiient state of the ait (Figuie 47.34). Conceptual systems foi these
stiuctuies have been developed which indicate that the planned pieis aie feasible by employing an
extension of the concepts successfully employed foi the offshoie conciete platfoims in the Noith
Sea (Figuie 47.35).
(a,b,c) Fabiication and installation concept foi pieis in 300 m watei depth foi ciossing of Stiait of
Gibialtai.
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1. API-RP2A, Recommended Piactice foi Planning, Designing and Constiucting Fixed Offshoie
Platfoims, 1993.
2. Geiwick, Ben C., Ji., Consruton o[ O[[s|ore Srutures, John Wiley & Sons, New Yoik, 1986.
3. Ratay, R. T., Ed., Coffeidams, in HanJ|oo| o[ Temorary Srutures n Consruton, 2nd ed.,
McGiaw-Hill, New Yoik, 1996, chap. 7.
4. O`Biien, J. J., Haveis, J. A., and Stubbs, F. W., SanJarJ HanJ|oo| o[ Heay Consruton, 3id ed.,
McGiaw-Hill, New Yoik, 1996, chap. B-11 (Maiine Equipment), chaptei D-4, (Coffeidams and
Caissons).
5. Shiiaishi, S., Unmanned excavation systems in pneumatic caissons, in Dee|omens n Ceoet|nta|
Engneerng, A.A. Balkema, Rotteidam, 1994.