Instrumentation of Waterfront Structures for Monitoring During Extreme Events and Life-Cycle Management

The long-term use of instrumentation and sensor technology for monitoring the condition and performance of waterfront structures has become a topic of increased focus in practice. This is due in part to the adoption within portions of the ports community of engineering concepts such as performance-based design and life-cycle management, which necessitate that the condition of the wharves and ancillary structures as well as foundation components are well characterized throughout their service life. Many of the integral components of waterfront structures are submerged and/or embedded in soil often making it difficult, if not impossible, to directly and frequently inspect. For this reason the use of geotechnical and structural instrumentation has been implemented on several recent port projects in order to monitor the performance of structures above and below grade. The specific objectives of these instrumentation programs have been to obtain field data for one or more of the following issues; (a) construction-induced ground deformations and pile alignment, (b) post-construction base line data on as-built conditions, (c) operational performance characteristics during routine loading conditions, (d) performance data in the event of extreme loading due to natural hazards (hurricane storm surge or flood, earthquake, tsunami), and (e) time-dependent issues such as corrosion impacts, ground deformations due to soil consolidation or creep near slopes, near shore scour or sedimentation, and the performance of aging infrastructure. This paper provides an overview of the needs, objectives, benefits, and impediments to the implementation of instrumentation programs at ports. This supplements the companion paper in these proceedings prepared by the ASCE-TCLEE Ports Lifelines Committee on the monograph Instrumentation for Monitoring the Performance of Port and Coastal Infrastructure that has been recently published by ASCE.