Stability analysis quay structure at the Amazonehaven, port of Rotterdam

The stability of any structure is an important aspect in civil engineering. The subject of this thesis is the stability of the quay structure at the Amazonehaven, port of Rotterdam. The reason for writing this report is to investigate the safety and stability of the quay structure, which was built in 1990, throughout its service lifetime while the toe of the combined wall was deformed. The focal point is the behaviour of the quay structure, specifically the combined wall. The method based on finite element method, Plaxis 3D, which takes into account the 3-dimensional effects of the quay structure and considers the actual soil behaviour during calculation is a more sophisticated manner for modelling a quay structure. For this thesis a calibration model (which is the actual designed of the quay structure) and a series of models with different penetration depths of the combined wall are modelled in Plaxis 3D. A comparison is made between the calibration model and model 2B (which was the actual situation of the combined wall in reality). The calibration model which is modelled with or without surcharge turned out to be stable enough to withstand the design loads as did model 2B. After safety analysis (phi, c-reduction) of the soil parameters in both models the safety factor proved to be slightly smaller than 1.5 which indicates that the safety margin used in the previous design calculations were correct. It is advised to design quay structure with relieving platform structures with finite element method, Plaxis 3D. This provides a 3-dimensional view of how the foundation elements and relieving platform structure work and the stability of the quay structure can be modelled in detail. The finite element method, Plaxis 3D, is a better simulation program of the reality however this program is very time-consuming when accurately trying to model the quay structure in Plaxis 3D.Structural EngineeringCivil Engineering and Geoscience