Failures of harbour walls at Malaga and Barcelona

The paper describes the failure of harbour walls which occurred at Malaga on 4th July 2004 and at Barcelona on 1st January 2007, associated with an inadequate consideration of the ground conditions in the light of the marine environment. At Malaga, there was an existing breakwater hence the new harbour was protected from the effect of the waves while at Barcelona, the construction of the quay wall proceeded at a faster rate than the breakwater. In both cases the wharf backfill was placed rapidly on the soft muds, progressing from the inland side. The paper discusses the importance of an overview including the ground investigation, engineering design, construction method and speed of construction