Inspections

 

The project included the underwater inspection and

examination of maritime structures for the following

ports: Newport, Cardiff, Barry, Port Talbot, and

Swansea.

 

Load assessments were carried out on corroded sheet

piled walls and on concrete gravity walls.

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Inspections were carried out by a Graduate Engineer

and HSE Surface Supplied Commercial Dive Team.

All reports were signed off by a Chartered Engineer.

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Inspection record drawings and technical reports were

produced which included recommendations for repair

and budget costings.

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We were asked to carry out visual above water and below water inspections for maritime structures in South Wales. This formed part of an overall asset management system with which Constructex had been involved. The inspection required the recording of defects and an overall assessment of the structures.
 
The client wanted an appraisal of their structure to ensure mitigation of the risk of failure for the structures. Some of these structures were critical to the revenue stream for ABP and others were no longer in use, but required inspection for Health and Safety purposes.

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A drone was used to assist with the project. This had RTK GPS capability which permitted accurate positioning of the defects as present on the structures.

The photographs obtained from the inspection were in high resolution form which provided a very high quality record of the defect. The images could be appraised immediately whilst the inspection team were on site. For some defects this allowed experienced Chartered Civil and Structural Engineers to review the inspection data and request further inspection as necessary.
 
The information was presented through a client extranet where all the inspection data could be accessed and reviewed. This also had inspection record drawings where inspection data was added as attributes.

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Concrete Repairs

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Project Scope 

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We were asked to undertake a series of minor repair works to dock walls across Newport and Swansea docks owned by Associated British Ports.

The quay walls had suffered damage and deterioration in a number of locations and the work formed part of ABP’s standard maintenance framework. 

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Technical Approach

The concrete repair mortar specified developed by our engineers was considerate of the existing concrete material, the location (underwater or above water) and what possible formwork system could be used.

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In all cases it was ensured that voids were completely filled. This was achieved by the design of letterbox pouring solutions where appropriate. Various mortar repair solutions were employed including Renderoc BP, Conbextra HF, Conbextra HF.

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Stainless steel was installed in areas where there was excessive risk of contamination to the underlying reinforcement.

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Record Maintenance

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All repairs carried out were logged and recorded onto an as-built drawing for ABP so that maintenance work could be tracked.

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Defects identified in addition to those originally identified were regularly communicated back
to the client and a prioritisation exercise was carried out between ABP and Constructex engineers to ensure the maintenance spend was targeted effectively.