East Quay

Port of Piombino - Livorno | Italy

The port of Piombino is situated in Livorno,

Tuscany, part of central Italy. Since 2012, this
port is moving ahead with the realisation of the
improvements foreseen in the Port Master Plan,
a largescale project for industrial, logistic and
port development. Foreseen to be completed in
2020, the sizable infrastructural development
of the port area will include new quay walls
and the necessary rail and road connections.
Thereafter, up to three and a half kilometres of
quaysides and around 800 000 square metres of
port space will be available, in addition to those
currently existing.
The Port Master Plan includes the construction
of a new dock with a 350 m long and 50 m wide
East Quay. The dock will be dredged to 20 m
below average sea level (l.m.m.).
The East Quay’s original tender documents
specified a tube combined wall solution, where
the primary elements were 38 m long steel
tubular piles, Ø 2060 mm, steel grade S420 MH,
with a variable thickness of 26 and 32 mm in
function of the design draught; the tendered
intermediary sheet piles were 29 m long
Z sections with an elastic modulus of 3 870 cm3/
double element in steel grade S430 GP.

Typical cross section

+8.50 Protection wall against wave action
+7.20

38.00
Bollard 100t/20 m +4.40
3

+4.00 1

Rubber fenders +3.00

1750x900 mm int. +/- 10 m
0.00 m l.m.m. Concrete capping -2.00 m l.m.m. +1.00 0.00 m l.m.m.
0
2.8

-2.00
3.00

Tie rod
0

Ro
2.0

ckfi
Concrete fill C35/45 ll fr
om
Ro 50
ckfi to 7
ll fr 0k 6.50
om N
Coating to -6.00 l.m.m. Anchor wall 5 to
10 -7.50
Backfill kN
8.00

Concrete filling C8/10

-10.00 -12.00 l.m.m.
Initial soil level Variable fondation
(from -10.00 to -12.00) Rockfill from 3
29.00

Dredging
27.00
38.00

-20.00
Final dredge level
Combined wall
- Pipe Ø2060 x 26 mm (L = 38 m)
- Reinforcement plates from -4.50 m to -25.00 m l.m.m.
- Intermediary sheet piles AZ 28-700 (L = 29 m)

Silty sand
-28.00

Soil improvement by jet grouting

-30.00

-37.00

Sandy clay
 East Quay
Port of Piombino - Livorno | Italy
Project owner Autorità Portuale di Piombino
Design engineer dott. eng. Antonio Riccardi
Contractor JV CMC / Sales SpA
Tubes
Ø 2060 x 26 mm 38.0 m S 420 MH 5501 t
Sheet Piles
AZ 28-700 29.0 m S 430 GP 702 t
Clutches
C9 29.0 m S 355 GP 61 t
Reinforcement plates
600 x 26 mm 20.5 m S 420 M 559 t
Total 6823 tonnes

350.00
Tie rod ø120 Steel tube Concrete
interval 3.53 m interval 3.53 m capping beam
ø 2060 mm +4.00 3.26 x 6.0 mm +4.00
39.30 Joint 38.83 Joint 38.83 Joint 38.83 Joint 38.83 Joint 38.83 Joint 38.83 Joint 38.83 Joint 38.89

344.90
304.10
46.50

38.40
24.40

Concrete anchor beam

48.39 Joint 49.42 Joint 49.42 Joint 49.42 Joint 49.42 Joint 49.42 Joint 49.42 Joint
+4.50
+7.20 Concrete protection wall against wave action +8.50

General layout drawing

The combined wall was planned to be anchored at to the tube’s longitudinal axis. They are placed in
-0.50 m below l.m.m. with steel tie rods Ø 120 mm, the positions of the highest stresses: 90° from the
one each primary element, to a reinforced concrete clutches from elevation -4.50 m to -25.00 m below
beam positioned in the vicinity of the breakwater at l.m.m. The intermediary sheet pile section selected was
the sea-side of the quay platform (see «Typical cross an AZ 28-700 in S430 GP,TIPO
SEZIONE with
“C” an elastic modulus of

section»). The distance between the main wall and the
anchor beam was approximately 38 m.
In order to provide a more economical solution and
a faster delivery, ArcelorMittal, in collaboration with
CMC, proposed an alternative design using spirally
welded tubes with a constant wall thickness of 26 mm
(locally reinforced when needed), a higher anchoring
level and a more economical intermediary sheet pile.
The alternative solution consisted of steel tubular piles,
Ø 2060 mm, reinforced with two internal stiffener
steel plates (600 x 26 mm), shaped to fit the tube
curvature, welded both parallel and perpendicular
Stiff. plate
3’865 cm3/double element
The actual tie rod position was raised from level
-0.50 m to +0.50 m above water level, outside the
usual tidal movements, in order to lower the corrosion
influence. The rise in the anchoring level causes a
different distribution of the acting forces, causing
a modest increase in the stresses on the tube at a
slightly higher elevation, while reducing the anchoring
forces. This reduction in the forces acting on the
tie rod prolongs its service live while maintaining its
diameter (Ø 120 mm). The higher stresses in the
tubular pile, however, are countered by the positioning
of the reinforcement plates inside.
The design of this tube combined wall was performed
according to Eurocode 3 (Part 4 and Part 5) and
Driving frame
Due to the soil conditions, consisting of an upper
medium-dense silty sand layer (ϕ =30°~34°) up to
-30.00 m below l.m.m, and a lower sandy clay layer
(cu=110-150 kPa) up to -50.00 m below l.m.m, a
normal frequency vibratory hammer could be used
for the installation. Also, as a part of ArcelorMittal’s
services, a complete custom-made driving template
was delivered to the jobsite to enable the accurate
11.2016 - CS 022 - Piombino East Quay - GB

Eurocode 8 (seismic design). driving of the 111 tubular piles. The driving was
The minimum quay wall design life time is 100 years, carried out between June and October 2014.
without considering the additional measures that can The Piombino Port project showcases perfectly the
extend the design life time up to 300 years, which are: advantages of collaborating with ArcelorMittal’s
Clutch 1 Clutch 2 technical services. Thanks to this collaboration among
0° 180°
• steel stress verification performed assuming a
corrosion loss for 100 years; designers, contractors and supplier, a more simplified
• coating over the 7 upper meters of the combined and cost efficient solution has been installed. The
wall; different technical modifications explained resulted
in an easier execution and significant savings in steel
• cathodic protection (the anchoring system, the
weight (the installed intermediary piles are 20% lighter
combined wall and the concrete reinforcement);
than the tendered ones).
Stiff. plate • filling of the steel tubes with concrete and jet
C o a ti n g grouting (this also helps to avoid ovalisation and
increase the pile inertia).

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