Pile Fatigue Failures. I: Damage Appraisal
Publication: Journal of Waterway, Port, Coastal, and Ocean Engineering
Volume 113, Issue 3
Abstract
During construction of an oil tanker loading terminal in the northern Arabian Gulf, two vertical, singly standing piles failed due to fatigue damage in girth butt welds near the mudline. The failures were reported ten days after an unusually strong storm on December 4–6, 1974. On‐site inspection revealed through‐thickness cracks in two additional vertical piles. A total of 17 vertical, singly standing piles were thus presumed to contain severe fatigue damage. They were cut off at the mudline and overdriven with larger diameter piles. Batter piles in sets of two or more were inspected in situ by X‐ray radiography. One unacceptable crack was found in a sample of 90 piles. Analytical and experimental studies supporting field inspection showed that piles exhibiting no detectable cracks should perform in a safe manner during the service life of the terminal. The mechanism that produced the fatigue damage could not be fully explained at the time.
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References
1.
Boulton, C. F., “Assessment of Failures in Deep Sea Terminal Piles,” Report LD 21914, The Welding Institute, Cambridge, England, 1975.
2.
Dailey, J. E., Weidler, J. B., Jr., Hanna, S. Y., Zedan, M. F., and Yeung, J. Y., “Pile Fatigue Failures. II: Mechanism Studies,” Journal of Waterway, Port, Coastal, and Ocean Engineering, ASCE, Vol. 113, No. 3, May, 1987, pp. 215–232.
3.
Dailey, J. E., Weidler, J. B., Jr., Hanna, S. Y., Zedan, M. F., and Yeung, J. Y., “Pile Fatigue Failures. III: Motions in Seas,” Journal of Waterway, Port, Coastal, and Ocean Engineering, ASCE, Vol. 113, No. 3, May, 1987, pp. 233–250.
4.
Dailey, J. E., Weidler, J. B., Jr., Hanna, S. Y., Zedan, M. F., and Yeung, J. Y., “Pile Fatigue Failures. IV: Fatigue Description,” Journal of Waterway, Port, Coastal, and Ocean Engineering, ASCE, Vol. 113, No. 3, May, 1987, pp. 251–263.
5.
Report on Pile Failures, report to Republic of Iraq State Consulting Company for Oil Projects, Rendel, Palmer, and Tritton, London, England, 1976.
6.
Metallurgical Examination Pipe Girth Weld Failures, report to Brown & Root, Inc., Underwood and Associates, Houston, Tex., 1974.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Waterway, Port, Coastal, and Ocean Engineering
Volume 113 • Issue 3 • May 1987
Pages: 205 - 214
Copyright
Copyright © 1987 ASCE.
History
Published online: May 1, 1987
Published in print: May 1987
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