PTC - Job report - Free hanging piling

200HD-130HD-65HD and 2 hydraulic hammers working in the Southhampton Port expansion, England.
Associated British Ports (ABP) appointed Contractor VolkerStevin the design and build contract for the reconstruction and deepening of berths 201 and 202 in Southampton Port. This project will enable the Port to accommodate the current generation of large container vessels at their loaded draught.
KEY FACTS
Combined wall:

- Tubes 38 m long, - 1800mm diameter, - 22 mm wall thickness - PU22 sheet piles. New port capacity: - 2.7 million TEU a year.

The increase in size of container ships has meant that the current deep-sea berths at the container terminal (Berths 204 to 207) can no longer accommodate four large vessels simultaneously. However by combining berths 201 and 202 it will create approximately 500m of quay with a 16m water depth, which will enable the terminal to again be able to accommodate four of the larger vessels. When works are finished, the total handling capacity of the port will be increased from 2 million to 2.7 million TEU a year. The project has been the subject of an extensive environmental study, which carried out an assessment of the effect of construction activities on the surrounding area, and included a comprehensive monitoring programme during the construction phase. The result of the study identified that the noise emitted from Vibrodrivers was acceptable, despite that the use of percussive piling operations was restricted. These environmental demands encouraged the use of Vibrodrivers to drive the piles as far as possible. Therefore they were used for the initial pitching of the piles and the subsequent driving of the piles, to achieve the maximum penetration possible. Once practical refusal was achieved with the Vibrodrivers an impact hammer was used to drive the piles to the required toe level. The reconstruction of the 500 m-long quay wall required the installation of a combined wall. This combi wall was made of 149 tubes (38m long and 1820mm diameter) and three PU22 sheet piles installed between each tube. The tubes were initially driven with the PTC 200HD Vibrodriver and then driven to level with an IHC S280 Impact hammer, which was equipped with a noise mitigation shroud. The Vibrodriver was powered by power pack 1200C (806 kW) equipped with ecomode system, which reduces fuel consumption up to 20%. To drive the PU22 sheet piles in triples, the contractor chose to initially drive them with a PTC 65HD Vibrodriver equipped with triple jaws, with final backdriving carried out by a BSP CX110 hydraulic impact hammer. VolkerStevin, decided to use a 3rd Vibrodriver, the PTC 130HD, which was used to drive and extract the spud legs for the piling frames. The 130HD and the 65HD, were both powered by an additional PTC 1200C power pack equipped with Ecomode system.

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