In almost all quay and sheet piling projects, large amounts of data are collected, which could also be used for other purposes. Think about how much extra load a quay could still handle, when considering using larger cranes, for example. Or better estimating the expected lifespan and thus the time when maintenance work or replacement should take place. Here, data on grout anchor tests and corrosion plays a major role. At present, this data is not routinely made available, preventing the development of new applications of this kind.
Aim of this project
Two pilots were launched within this project:
- Data from anchor tests. Many earth retaining structures, such as quay walls and sheet piling, are reinforced with anchors grouted in the ground to ensure the wall stability. Grout anchors are 20 to 70 metres long and are installed every 2 to 5 metres. To ensure the safety and reliability of the anchors, these structural components are subjected to extensive quality control immediately after construction: so-called acceptance, suitability tests and investigation (failure) tests. The aim of this pilot is to bring together and disclose the relevant data on grout anchors. Based on this, we want to gain new useful insights about the global quay wall response. For example, whether loads can be increased or not, when inspection and retrofitting interventions should take place, but also how we can build them even more efficiently and sustainably in the future.
- Data on corrosion of sheet piling. The saltier the water, the more susceptible sheet-pile walls generally are to corrosion. By collecting and processing relevant data, we can more accurately predict when management and maintenance of sheet piling is needed.
The aim of both pilots is to bring together and access the relevant data and, based on this, gain new useful insights about the quay walls. This goal can be divided into three parts:
- Inventory what data on grout anchors and corrosion are available, who the owners are and in what standard format with associated metadata these can be shared.
- Mapping how these standardised data can be brought under one collection to be stored and made findable via the 4TU research data repository.
- Demonstrate how the data from the 4TU research data repository can be easily found and used to generate new insights related to managing and using quay walls.
Partners and collaboration
Participating in this pilot are: Port of Rotterdam, Royal HaskoningDHV, Deltares, Jetmix and TU Delft sections Ports and Waterways and Geo-Engineering. Technical support for uploading to and downloading from the 4TU research data repository is provided by TU Delft’s Digital Competence Centre.
State of affairs at the end of 2023
Over the past year, the cooperation partners have worked on two agreements to share Port of Rotterdam data with TU Delft; one for grout anchor data and one for corrosion data. The agreement has been drafted so that it can be very simply adapted when new types of data are necessary, only the last part needs to be changed to start working on these as well.
While these agreements were being drawn up, TU Delft also worked on scripts to read in the data and process it in a useful way. All the necessary conditions to start collecting and analysing data have thus been created.
Challenges that the researchers now face is that much of the historical data on grout anchors and corrosion appears to be difficult to access. For instance, the contractors who carried out the relevant anchor tests for the Port of Rotterdam often supplied the incomplete data or in awkward formats, so now a lot of work is necessary for using it. Think photos, PDFs or screen prints of Excel files, which means the data cannot directly be used.
Collaborative partners are now focusing on the insights that can be extracted from historical data. For instance, Luca Flessati from TU Delft is working on an advanced approaches to still be able to draw useful conclusions about the design of sheet piling and quay walls with a limited amount of data.
Formats for data on grout anchor tests and corrosion
In the future, it is expected that data on corrosion and grout anchor tests will be collected, supplied and processed in a standardized manner. For this purpose, a standard format for grout anchor tests has been developed in collaboration with Royal HaskoningDHV. A beta version is publicly available on Luca Flessati’s github. There you will also find a simple Python script to give the basic test an interpretation according to today’s standards. This script is also still in beta version and you can report all bugs by emailing Luca.
“It really takes very little time to collect this data,” indicates Luca, “only it has to be done. For this, both clients and contractors need to be aware that it is important to do this in a disciplined way so that we can help them build safer, more reliable and more sustainable structures in the future. The Basis Registratie Ondergrond with information on soil investigations throughout the Netherlands, shows that it can be done.”
As far as corrosion data is concerned, a standard was specifically tailored for the data of Port Of Rotterdam. For this reason, it can’t be shared at this point, but if you have any questions, curiosities or ideas, you can contact Luca Flessati.
