A Composite Precast

Prestressed Concrete System

for Marine Wharfs
Frank K. Peeples This article describes the con-
Owner and Industrial Engineer
Peeples Industries, Inc. cept and application of a
Savannah, Georgia composite precast, prestressed
concrete system for wharfs in
marine areas. The precast system
comprises piles, beams and a
Tony L. Chen
Senior Vice President,
composite slab with a cast-in-
Engineering Services place concrete topping . The
Translndustrial Development Group resulting structure is functional,
Savannah, Georgia
has strength, long-term durabil-
ity, economy and can be erected
P. Leonard Van Dyke, P.E. quickly. Desig n-construction
Vice President of Engineering highlights of the project are
Gate Concrete Products Company discussed.
j acksonv i lie, Florida

harfs, which come in the

Mike Coburn
Project M anager
Materials Handling & Engineering, Inc.
W form of deck s, dock s,
piers, platforms and termi-
nals , are necessary facilities in har-
Savannah, Georgia bors, river estuaries, lakes and other
marine environments. These facilities
are used to load and unload passen-
gers, cargo, raw materials and are also
Earl Mancill utilized for recreational purposes.
Construction Superintendent
Until now , s uch structure s were
Materials H and I ing & Engineering, In c. made of wood, steel and cast-in-place
Savannah , Georgia concrete. A much better alternative is
to use a precast, prestressed concrete
sys tem that will provide superior
stre ngth , dura bility and economy .
Hig h performance precast concrete
will also protect the facility from boat
collisions, severe storms and hurri-

110 PCI JOURNAL

canes. Another advantage is that the
structures can be erected on a fast- g OF CRANE RAIL
track schedule. FIELD POURED CONCRETE
The purpose of this article is to
BENT DOWELS AS REQUIRED
demonstrate the use of precast, pre-
stressed concrete in a composite sys-
tem for a deck requiring I 000 lbs per
sq ft (4882 kg/m2) of live load in addi-
tion to a 50 ton (45 t) moving crane. In
this project, precast, prestressed piles PRECAST
16 in. (406 mm) square (see Fig. 1)
with a 75 ton (68 t) load capacity are
used with 16 in. (406 mm) deep x 48
in. (1220 mm) wide prestressed con-
crete slabs (see Figs. 2 and 3) . To-
gether, they receive construction loads
and an 8 in. (203 mm) thick concrete
•24"
topping. The beams and some slabs are MIN. 2' -0" AFTER PILE CUTOFF
inter-connected to the topping concrete
with U-shaped reinforcing stirrups. Fig. 1. Precast beam-to-straight pile connection. Piles are driven or cut off to the
The precast system provides an in- elevation as specified for the precast beam to sit on.
stant working platform, thereby elimi-
nating the need for forming and plac-
ing of reinforcement over water. Figs. ships. The wharf addition was part of the effects of a corrosive salt environ-
4 through 11 show various erection an expansion project for Sumitomo ment on the cast-in-place concrete
stages of the precast components in Corporation of America , which will deck and steel piles, the cost of main-
constructing the wharf. use SBI as it' s Savannah Load Center. taining this type of wharf can become
Translndustrial Development Group Translndustrial Development Group is prohibitively expensive.
was retained by its sister company, an engineering design/build firm spe- One of the inherent problems in con-
Southern Bulk Industries, Inc., a sub- cializing in Marine Terminal Facilities structing a new wharf at an existing
sidiary of Peeples Industries, Inc., to for bulk material handling. marine facility is that the construction
design a marine wharf addition to the In the past, marine terminal wharfs of the new marine wharf cannot inter-
existing facilities in their private basin consisted of wood and steel piles. A rupt the busy on-going operations at
off the Savannah River for the loading reinforced concrete deck was then the existing terminal. After a careful
of kaolin bags into ocean-going cargo poured on top of the steel piles. Due to study of the shipping schedule and be-

13"
BENT DOWELS AS REQUIRED
14"
[ GROUT HOLE
6" PRECAST SLAB

PRECAST BEAM

4 #8 x 56" DOWELS
GROUT INTO 2" DIA HOLES

16x16 BATTER PILES

3'-3"
4'-0"

Fig. 2. Precast beam-to-batter pile connection . Dowels are erected and grouted to the precast beams to provide stability for
precast slab installation.

November-December 1996 111

 3'-0 ' 3'-0'
~
1'-4'
#8 @ 8' O.C.CTYP. AT RAIU
NEGATIV E REJNF. Ci_ OF CRANE RAIL TYP . SL AB LDNGIT . TEMP . RE JNF.
ENTIRE DOCK AREA ll4 I" 8'D .C.

SEE VHARF PLAN FOR

SLAB TOP REINF.
PROVI DE SHEAR
CONN ECTORS
AT CANT . PRECAST
SLAB
BEAM

D.C .
3' GROUT TUBE DI A 270K . BOTTOM
AT BM SPLICE
V /(4)!l8X56 '
PRECAST BEAM
SPLICE AT 24' DR 32 '
OR AT PRECASTER ' S OPTION
CRANEVAY BEAMS

Fig. 3. Precast beam-to-slab connection . Horizontal shear reinforcing stirrups are embedded into the precast beam and grouted to
the precast slab to provide the composite action of precast beam and slab continuity.

cause of the necessity for durable con- die more than 500,000 tons (454000 t) ucts Company was chosen to fabricate
struction materials that require little of kaolin clay bags per year for sea- the precast concrete components and
maintenance, a precast, prestressed going vessels, with the aim of ensuring transport them to the project site. The
concrete pile and beam system with fast transportation. It will also have on- company has an excellent engineering,
composite slabs was recommended. wharf crane rail facilities to allow the sales and production staff. It has ma-
Economic considerations also played crane drivers to load from truck to ship rine facilities for barge loading and this
a major role in the decision to use pre- in one operation. The wharf is de- proved to be a considerable cost reduc-
cast concrete because the initial cost of signed for a live load of 1000 lbs per tion factor in the economy of the pro-
the structure is less than conventional sq ft (4882 kg/m 2) and a crane wheel ject. (Financing for the project, in part,
steel construction. In addition, con- load of 75 tons (68 t). will be provided by The CIT Group.)
struction schedules could fit into exist- After the precast concept was se- Because Gate Concrete Products
ing ship terminal facility operations. lected, several precasting companies Company possessed the proper steel
The new wharf will be able to han- were contacted. Gate Concrete Prod- forms for this project, considerable
time was saved. Their engineering de-
partment studied the contract draw-
ings and proposed several modifica-
tions , all of which were accepted by
the project engineer with no change in
contract price.
The design of the prestressed con-
crete components allows the concrete
to remain crack-free under full live
loads. This makes the structure much
more resistant to the harsh marine salt-
water environment than wood , steel
and cast-in-place concrete. The service
life of a typical steel pile under tide-
ebb salt electrode corrosion is approxi-
mately 20 years, while the service life
of a prestressed concrete pile is at least
75 years.
The prestressed composite wharf
slab provides integrated strength with
the precast beam. The deflection and
Fig. 4. Precast piles are driven by barge crane. A temporary steel beam temp late is stress-strain properties of the slab are
installed as a guide for driving the piles. A walkway bridge to barge and breasting reduced to one-third as compared to a
dolphin was also temporarily install ed. non-composite slab. Continuous
112 PCI JOURNAL
beam/slab design decreased deflection
and bending stresses by approximately
60 percent as compared to a non-
composite, simple span design. Conse-
quently, the supporting piling spacing
could be increased and the required
size of members decreased.
'
The 28-day concrete strength for all
members was 6000 psi (41 MPa). The
high strength pile-wharf slab system
also allowed increased bay sizes and
fewer piles; thus, less pile driving was
required. The precast slabs were de-
signed to sustain construction loads
immediately after placing. Precast
fabrication reduced on-site construc-
tion man-hours and immediate wharf
stability allowed the anchorage of
ships during construction.
The design of a marine fender sys-
tem depends on:
• Ship gross weight
• Velocity
• Approach angle hydraulic and wind
effects
The kinetic energy absorption of a
fender system requires a rubber sys-
tem , which necessitates strong wharf
mass inertia. A collision between a
ship and the wharf is an elastic colli-
sion and the mass of piles and con-
crete deck play an important role in
fender design. Prestressed concrete
piling transfers the energy more effec-
tively than steel piling. Fig. 5. Precast beams are installed into the tops of piles. Note that steel beam
templates provide the true plumb and square to the specified location .

WATERBORNE
TRANSPORTATION
The precast concrete components
were fabricated in the Gate Concrete
Products plant in Jacksonville,
Florida, next to waterfront property.
The average cost for water transporta-
tion in the United States is consider-
ably lower than that for truck or rail
transportation. Three barge loads of
precast components, each barge carry-
ing I 000 tons (907 t) in weight, trav-
eled from Jacksonville, Florida, to
Savannah, Georgia, through an intra-
coastal waterway.
Railroad officials may argue that the
actual cost of water transportation is
greater than by rail transportation if
federal subsidies in the form of navi-
gation improvements are considered.
However, the railroads also receive Fig. 6 . Simple span beams are field-connected into multiple span continuous beams.
substantial subsidies in their opera- Beams are spliced at approximate ly every three spans, over the pile cap.

November-December 1996 113

 tute. See in particular the "Recom-
mended Practice for Design, Manu-
facture and Installation of Pre-
stressed Concrete Piling" by the PCI
Committee on Prestressed Concrete
Piling, PCI JOURNAL, March-April
1993 , pp. 14-41.
The pile driver should install tem-
plates for each location of a pile be-
fore driving. Immediately on comple-
tion of pile driving, the erector should
determine if the pile is plumb, level,
aligned and properly fastened. Dis-
crepancies should immediately be
brought to the attention of the erector
so that proper corrective action can be
Fig. 7. Positive reinforcement is spliced at the grout to be embedded in the precast taken.
beam. Steel dowels tie the connection together. The work of pile driving is complete
once the pile ha s been properly
plumbed, leveled and aligned within
tions. Because of many intangible fac- PILE DRIVING
the established tolerances. Precast
tors such as recreational benefits and Some variation is to be expected concrete beams can then be placed on
national defense, today' s waterways in the overall dimensions of piling top of the piles.
play an important role in the United locations. It is common practice for
States transportation system. Indeed , the pile driver to work within the
they are used frequently to transport tolerances recommended by the CONTINUOUS BEAM
precast concrete components from the American Concrete Institute and the CONNECTION
fabricating plant to the project site. Precast/Prestressed Concrete Insti-
The connection of segmental pre-
cast beams must meet a variety of
design and performance criteria:
strength, ductility , volume change
accommodation, durability , corro-
sion resistance, and constructability.
A 3 in. (76 mm) diameter galvanized
grout tube was used as a conduit for
the reinforcin g bar connection. The
conduit must have s ufficient con-
crete around it for adequate confine-
ment to transfer tension or compres-
s ion forces and be convenient for
connections.

COMPOSITE DECK
A cast-in-place concrete topping
over the precast slabs was used to de-
velop composite slab structures. The
increased stiffness and strength were
required for gravity loads during con-
struction and for developing a
diaphragm to transfer lateral loads.
Full transfer of horizontal shear
forces was assured at the interface of
the precast member and the cast-in-
place topping . This required that the
interface surface be clean and free of
Fig. 8. The barge crane and tug boat has to be off the navigation channel when a laitance; roughening and horizontal
ship arrives. The precast erector seizes the opportunity to install precast beams in the shear ties were used to tran sfer the
time all otted. loads.

114 PCI JOURNAL

 MAl NTENANCE
The long-term maintenance require-
ments of precast, prestressed marine
structures are minimal in comparison
to steel piles. Test data show that a
2 in. (51 mm) concrete cover will pro-
tect the steel reinforcement and give
the structure an additional 50 years of
service. In this way, the owner is re-
ceiving excellent value for his capital
investment.

Fig. 9. Precast slabs are installed over precast beams. The prestressing strand is left
COST
exposed 12 in . (305 mm) at both ends of the slab, providing the anchorage with The wharf consists of 1100 linear ft
positive reinforcement. (335 m) of 48 x 16 in. (1220 x 406
mm) precast, prestressed beams ,
18,200 sq ft (1690 m2) of 6 in. (152
mm) precast, prestressed slabs, and
160 80ft (24 m) long 16 x 16 in. (406
x 406 mm) precast piles. All precast
components as stated above were de-
livered to the site at a cost of about
$20 per sq ft.
The erection cost of labor, Fquip-
ment, and materials for the cast-in-
place composite concrete topping ,
including reinforcing bars, curb
forming , grout, and accessories',
amounted to about $15 per sq ft.
The total structural cost of the
wharf, not including mechanical and
electrical work, was estimated to be
S35 per sq ft.
Fi g. 10. Precast slab provides an instant working platform, thereby eliminating the
need fo r forming and placement of reinforcing steel over water. CONCLUDING
REMARKS
Precast, prestressed concrete pro-
vides an ideal construction material in
a harsh marine environment from the
viewpoint of function , strength, long-
term durability and cost. Piles and
beams together with a composite deck
slab system are all high quality prod-
ucts that can be produced and erected
quickly. We believe very strongly that
there is an expanding market for this
type of construction.

AC KNOWLEDGMENT
The authors wish to express their
appreciation to the participating com-
panies and the many individuals for
their cooperation and contributions to
this project.
Fig. 11 . Negative reinforcement is placed over the precast bea m and precast slab,
with 8 in . (203 mm) of cast-in-place concrete over the reinforcing bars .

November-December 1996 115