Marine Anchoring Systems
Posted on Wednesday, April 9th, 2025
The purpose of our project was to determine the feasibility of a proposed marine anchoring system located at the Confederation Basin Promenade in Kingston, Ontario. The proposed design was provided to us by our client, Kehoe Marine Construction (KMC), along with their submission to the City of Kingston as part of their Value-Added Proposal. The feasibility of the proposed design was evaluated in comparison to the tender design through investigation of wave-induced uplift forces, site-specific geotechnical conditions, and installation methodologies.
The tender design featured Dywidag anchors, intended to be drilled, grouted, and tensioned on the inside of a driven Hollow Structural Steel (HSS) pile to provide preload against wave-induced uplift forces. KMC’s proposed design of interest consists of the same HSS specified in the tender, in conjunction with a prefabricated non-shrink grout plug at the bottom of each pipe pile. KMC’s proposed design locates all anchoring connection details at the bottom of the pipe pile, eliminating the need for post-tensioning as seen in the tender drawings.
It was determined that the alternative anchoring design submitted by KMC was feasible, offering significant cost savings, improved constructability, and sufficient structural integrity to withstand wave-induced uplift forces and site-specific geotechnical conditions.