Monitoring Lateral Deflections of a Berthing Structure During Dredging — A Case Study

For one of the major ports in India, a shallow water berth is recently constructed comprising of a diaphragm wall and pile rows to support the deck structure. The soil strata are essentially very soft clay extending to a large depth. Reclaiming land behind this structure created number of problems including mud flow. The structure was constructed after placement of fill required for reclamation. After completion of the structure, when dredging work was undertaken, it was decided to monitor the lateral movements of berths, as the dredging depth increases. For this purpose inclinometer tubes were installed in one of the diaphragm wall panels and another in one of the piles of the structure. The structure is analysed using PLAXIS finite element software and results are compare with field measurements which are in good agreements