CASE STUDY

Terminal 18 Piles Retrofitted With No Shutdown of Port Service

Under one of the Port of Seattle's largest container terminals, prestressed concrete piles with corrosion and delayed ettringite formation (DEF) were wrapped in PileMedic® jackets and filled with QuakeBond™ underwater grout while the terminal kept working.

PRODUCT: PILEMEDIC®
APPLICATION: CONCRETE PILES
INDUSTRY: PORTS & MARINE

GET A PILE REPAIR CONSULTATION ALL PROJECTS

Two white PileMedic jackets on piles under a pier beside an unrepaired octagonal concrete pile, with pile numbers painted on the cap

22 in. circular finish on the repaired piles

no shutdown of port service: Open
length of more than half the piles: 30 ft+
PileMedic® PLG60.60 laminate: 2 layers
finished pile diameter: 22 in.

Project Details

OWNER: Port of Seattle
LOCATION: Terminal 18 (T-18), Seattle, Washington
STRUCTURE: Octagonal prestressed concrete driven piles of varying length under the pier, in varying depths of water
DAMAGE: Corrosion and delayed ettringite formation (DEF), found in an underwater inspection
QUAKEWRAP® SYSTEM: PileMedic® jackets, two layers of PLG60.60 laminate, filled with QuakeBond™ Underwater Grout
SCOPE: 40 piles identified for immediate repair (Pile Buck, 2017)
YEAR: 2017

PROJECT VIDEO

PileMedic® Repairs at the Port of Seattle

Plays from YouTube

01 · THE CHALLENGE

Damaged Piles Under a Busy Container Terminal

Terminal 18 is one of the largest container handling and storage facilities at the Port of Seattle. An underwater inspection found that many piles under the pier were corroding and identified 40 that needed immediate repair. The piles also had delayed ettringite formation (DEF), a damaging defect in the concrete.

The repair had to happen without shutting the terminal down. More than half of the piles were 30 ft or longer, and they stood in varying depths of water.

Crew in orange safety gear handling white laminate on a work barge beside red container cranes at Terminal 18

02 · THE SOLUTION

Full-Height Jackets That Confine the Pile

Port of Seattle engineers selected PileMedic® for the structural confining pressure the jacket provides. The repair called for wrapping PileMedic® laminate completely around each pile, from just under the rocky base at the bottom to just below the pile cap.

Two layers of PileMedic® PLG60.60 laminate form a jacket around the retrofit region, and the annular space between jacket and pile is filled with QuakeBond™ Underwater Grout.

Seamless laminate jacket around each octagonal pile
Jacket height from below the rocky base to just under the pile cap
Annulus filled with QuakeBond™ Underwater Grout
Work done under the pier while the terminal stayed in service

Workers in hard hats wrapping a sheet of PileMedic laminate around a concrete pile under a pier

03 · THE RESULT

Stronger, Sealed Piles With a Circular Finish

The PileMedic® jackets increase both the axial capacity and the moment capacity of the piles. The repaired piles now have a circular finish about 22 in. in diameter and are sealed to resist further corrosion, extending their service life.

No shutdown of port service was needed during the repair, which was scheduled for completion at the end of 2017.