Port of Galveston Pier Beam Repair With Stay-in-Place FRP Shells

01 · THE CHALLENGE

Corroded Beams Under a Low, Confined Pier Deck

Years of salt-laden air and moisture had badly corroded the beams and deck of the concrete cargo pier at the CHS terminal in the Port of Galveston. Chlorides had corroded the reinforcing steel, cracking and spalling the concrete. Structural inspections found that up to 50% of the steel reinforcement had deteriorated in several elements, so the pier needed repair right away.

The owner's original design was a conventional repair: remove the deteriorated concrete, add reinforcement, build timber and plywood forms beneath each beam, place repair concrete and strip the forms. Beneath an operating terminal, every form had to be built over water in a confined space, held while the concrete cured, then taken apart, and by the time estimates were done the temporary formwork was one of the largest costs on the job. Gunite was not practical this close to the water either.

02 · THE SHELLS

Split SPiRe® Shells Built for Tight Clearance

The approach came from the patented SPiRe® seawall system, where only one face of the wall can be reached: composite panels are anchored to that face, grout fills the gap, and the panel stays as permanent protection. At Galveston the idea was adapted to pier beams. Molds replicated the exact geometry of the deteriorated beams and girders, including the annular space to be grouted.

The first design called for one-piece shells, but the low clearance under the girders made them hard to maneuver into place. Each shell was instead made in two matching halves joined by an overlapping longitudinal seam along the bottom of the beam, which also absorbed the dimensional variations of an old structure. The shells were made in a plant from fiberglass composites and vinyl ester resin, with a rigid core between glass FRP skins, only 3/8 in. thick and 2.2 lb per sq ft. Grout ports and attachment details were built in before shipment.

• Two-piece shells sized for low clearance
• Grout ports and attachments built in at the plant
• No timber formwork under the deck

04 · THE RESULT

Capacity Restored, Steel Sealed From Salt Spray

The completed repair restored the load-carrying capacity of the pier. The shells that served as forms are now permanent parts of the repaired beams, an impermeable skin against salt spray and chloride intrusion. In the design, the bond between the shells and the grout was assumed to be negligible, so the shells' structural contribution was conservatively not counted.

The procedure saved considerable time and cost during construction, because the effort went into permanent components rather than temporary works that would be thrown away. The bonded composite structure has a projected service life of more than 50 years with minimal maintenance. Prof. Ehsani's article on the project was the cover story of the September/October 2025 Concrete Repair Bulletin.