In the years to come, the Netherlands will face a substantial challenge as over 1,500 kilometers of aging quay walls and sheet pile walls approach the end of their technical lifespan. Infrastructure managers anticipate that the necessary replacements will necessitate investments amounting to billions of euros. Moreover, this task carries a significant environmental footprint, notably in terms of CO2 emissions. The construction work required for these replacements will also result in disruptions and reduced accessibility, inconveniencing users.
This study addresses two pivotal aspects. Firstly, it focuses on enhancing the design aspects of new structures and optimizing costs, with a specific focus exploring how these enhancements can ease the financial challenges faced by infrastructure managers. Secondly, it investigates the safety of existing structures and explores ways to maximize their loadbearing capacity while maintaining safety standards. The expected outcomes of this study promise improved design aspects, cost-efficiency, and enhanced safety measures.
Quay walls can fail due to various mechanisms. This research investigates three primary causes: yielding of soil, yielding of quay wall and anchor yielding. Quay walls illustrate the complexities of soil-structure interaction. To address this, models were developed in both Plaxis and D-Sheet Piling. D-Sheet Piling was the preferred choice due to its computational speed. The reliability analysis was conducted with Probabilistic Toolkit. Considering the calculation methods, First Order Reliability Method (FORM) was employed, emphasizing in efficient computational results in contrast to the Monte-Carlo approach.
In the first aspect, the partial factors were recalculated and compared them with the existing EC partial factor approach. To optimize the current design methodology, the retaining height of the structure was adjusted based on its reliability index. Additionally, the maximum anchor force required was re-evaluated for the structure. This procedure has been conducted for two scenarios, considering and not considering model uncertainty.
Furthermore, an analysis was conducted to understand how altering the retaining height can lead to reduced steel usage, subsequently impacting costs and CO2 emissions. In the second aspect, it was pursued to enhance the structure’s performance by introducing a factor "n" across four distinct scenarios: 1. Simultaneously increasing all loads. 2. Increasing the surcharge loads on the terrain. 3. Increasing the bollard load. 4. Raising the final excavation level in front of the quay wall. While this study aligns with the extensive body of research in the field of civil engineering, It seeks to offer a new and sustainable approach on understanding quay wall design, focusing specifically on the designers’ viewpoint. Through the exploration of innovative design frameworks and approaches, this research seeks to make a valuable contribution to the long-term sustainability of quay wall structures. It aims to redefine our approach to accessibility and safety in these crucial structures. The comprehensive investigations conducted throughout this study provide an enhanced comprehension of quay wall design, reliability, and the optimization of performance.

The objective of this thesis is to enhance understanding of the behaviour of a flexible dolphin and its interaction with the surrounding soil in order to determine the optimal embedded depth. A comprehensive field test is conducted to gain deeper insights into the behaviour of the flexible dolphin and the soil surrounding the pile. The test measurements are then analysed to assess the pile's behaviour. Additionally, calculation models are employed to predict the pile's behaviour, and a comparison is made between the measurements and predictions.
Four different calculation models, namely Blum, Brinch Hansen, P-y curves, and Plaxis are utilized to predict the pile's behaviour during the test. The pile behaviour is compared across these models. While most models do not account for repetitive loading, the best available inputs are employed to simulate the test as accurately as possible. The majority of the models exhibit similar top displacements of 0.9 meters, except for the drained Plaxis model, which calculates displacements of 1.05 meter, and Blum's model, which calculates a displacement of only 0.8 meters.
During the test, multiple instruments are employed to measure various parameters of the pile, including load, displacement, water pressures, and strains at different depths and time intervals. The total station measurements indicate a maximum displacement of nearly 0.7 meters, which differs by 0.2 meters from the predictions.
The deviation between the predictions and measurements can largely be attributed to inaccuracies in the hydraulic jack load measurements. The pile load was back-calculated using the strain data obtained from the pile. The loads estimated based on the strain measurements were found to be hundreds of kilonewtons lower than the hydraulic jack load measurements. As the strain measurements were considered more reliable, the actual load during the test differed from the prescribed load scheme. Consequently, the load inputs in the models need to be adjusted to align with the loads derived from the strain data.
The displacement measurements are analysed and compared with each other. The Saaf and optical fibre measurements exhibit similar curvatures, enhancing the reliability of the optical fibre strain measurements during load analysis. However, the total displacement measured by the Saaf and the total station do not match due to the incorrect assumption of zero movement at the pile tip. Determining the exact displacement of the entire pile is impossible due to the inadequate number of boundary conditions available to translate the Saafs curvature measurements into displacement.
The calculation models utilize the loads derived from the strain measurements to make predictions, and their results align comparably with the measurements. Plaxis is the only model capable of simulating different load cycles, which improves the comparability of the Plaxis results with the test.
Load-displacement graphs obtained from the Plaxis results and the optical fibre measurements display hysteresis in load cycles, consistent with findings in existing literature. The initial load exhibits less stiffness compared to the repetitive loads in both datasets. The amount of energy absorption by the soil is determined from the areas of the loadcycles. When considering the most complete load cycles, Plaxis conservatively estimates the absorbed energy.
Reducing the length of a pile results in larger displacements of the pile, while concurrently enhancing its capacity for energy absorption. However, it is crucial to strike a balance between these two parameters, while paying close attention to the permanent soil displacements.

Quay walls are often designed with Finite Element models (FE models) to take into account the complex soil-structure interaction and highly non-linear soil behavior. However, the effect of temperature variations is uncertain if it is taken into account in the design of the quay walls at the Port of Rotterdam.

Nowadays, new quay walls are often equipped with sensors that collect information about their behavior. These quay walls are known as smart quay walls. The measurement data of smart quay walls could be used to validate FE models and reduce parameter uncertainties. This could lead to an optimization of the functionality of the quay walls.

Smart quay walls have been observed to show much higher strain levels in the anchors during summer compared to the winter period. According to strain records, differences of up to 10% and 20% seem to be present, which is quite high. The objective of this thesis is to verify the effect of temperature on anchor force in quay walls using the data of smart quay walls.

The data analysis that took place analyzed data from five different quay walls (HHTT, SIF, EMO, Brammen terminal, Brittanniëhaven). Deformations, strains, anchor forces, groundwater levels and temperatures are some of the measurements that were investigated in order to understand the quay wall reaction to the seasonal temperature fluctuation effect. The most useful measurement data proved to be the deformations of the combi walls and the anchor forces in the MV-piles.

This research will eventually highlight the results of the extensive data analysis from different smart quay walls, while it will further prove that quay walls are affected by the effect of seasonal temperature fluctuation. The gain is that with the available data, it is verified that the wall is moving back and forth depending on the season. However, the deformations are minor compared to the deformations of the dredging period.

After data analysis, a FE model was set up to predict the deformations and anchor forces of the quay wall during seasonal temperature fluctuations. For the parameter determination, CPTs, later research projects, design records and triaxial tests were used. Regarding the FE model, the case that was used is the HES Hartel Tank Terminal (HHTT-quay), which is a smart quay wall in the port of Rotterdam. HHTT quay wall was selected as the most well monitored quay wall regarding the needs of this research. Moreover, the HHTT-quay consists of sections with and without a relieving platform. Both types were considered in this thesis.

Then comes the validation of the FE model with the measurement data. Moreover, having a FE model in PLAXIS 2D which can realistically model the cycle heating effects, could be used both to estimate deformations due to climate change effect, as well as the anchor forces leading to better quay wall design for the future.

As with all of the cycle effects, heating and cooling of the quay wall could cause deformations that after many years of operation of a quay wall could lead to excessive deformations. Additionally, increasing temperature will cause higher temperature fluctuations, which means larger cycles. Therefore, further research with more cycles, better quality data and a FEM that could calculate the cycle heating effects is crucial to a better understanding of the cycle phenomenon.

Inefficient installation of pile foundations may lead to high risks of material damage, inadequate pile capacity, and time delays that can have significant financial implications to any kind of project, both onshore and offshore. Therefore, there is high demand for a comprehensive driveability analysis that considers key aspects of the installation process, such as the soil conditions, the pile-soil interaction and efficiency of the driving equipment used.
The total resistance during pile driving is usually estimated through numerical simulation techniques based on the wave equation, whereby the main inputs are the hammer, pile and soil properties. Commercially available driveability software, such as AllWave PDP, enable the modelling of the hammer-pile-soil system and simulate the stress wave phenomena during the installation process. Moreover, these programs have an integrated database of a variety of hammer models (hydraulic, diesel and more) that are used in practice, and also static and dynamic parameters for a variety of soils.
One of the key aspects in which this Thesis focuses on, is the static component of the driving resistance, referred to as SRD. Over the years, various SRD models have been developed, with the aim of estimating the static soil resistance during driving, while the dynamic components of the total resistance (increasing resistance due to inertial and viscous rate effects) are commonly being quantified in terms of damping factors.
This Thesis investigates the performance of frequently used traditional driveability models, such as the Alm & Hamre (2001), Toolan & Fox (1977) and Stevens et al (1982), in predicting the SRD in dense sand conditions. Furthermore, it examines the application of the Unified Method in SRD estimations. The Unified Method is a recently developed static capacity design approach for driven piles in silica sand. This design method will be included in the forthcoming 2022 edition of the ISO guidelines and will replace the four CPT based design methods (ICP, UWA, NGI, Fugro).
The performance of the aforementioned models has been evaluated through predictions of blow count profiles by utilizing pile driving records from five sites in the Netherlands, namely the Eemshaven (project known as Euripides) and APM, RWG, SIF and HHT terminals in the Port of Rotterdam. The diameter of the open-ended steel tubular piles examined in this study, is 0.762 m for the Euripides project and 1.42 m for the rest of the projects.
This research, will eventually highlight advantages and disadvantages of the commonly used SRD models, while it will further prove that by modifying the Unified Method, overall better driveability predictions can be made for a larger range of pile diameters than the current methods. The gain is that on one hand, with improved driveability predictions it is possible to minimize installation risks, optimize driving acceptance criteria, and select an appropriate hammering equipment. On the other hand, having a set of formulas that can be used both in estimating the SRD, as well as the static axial capacity, can reduce the engineering effort.

In practice, many structures among which quay walls are designed according the Dutch national guidelines (CUR). Dutch national practical guidelines (NPR), with guidelines for renovation, is still in development for the building industry. These guidelines follow the Dutch Norms (NEN) and Annexes. The guidelines propose procedures in which newly-built or existing quay walls are designed. This study investigates the effects of past performance on the semi-probabilistic level I method for the purpose of design and evaluation of quay walls. This research is performed with a case study considering a CUR class III quay wall from. The objective of this research is gathering insight into the different aspects of past performance, among which degradation and information about survived years, on the reliability level and corresponding influence factors. Firstly, prior analyses including deterministic validation are performed. The output resulting from characteristic values of the cross-section is validated by means of Blum and analyses with the subgrade reaction method. The computed deterministic output appears to be in accordance with the results from the reference study. Afterwards, prior probabilistic analyses were performed in which the reliability, weight factors and corresponding partial safety factors are reconsidered. Failure mechanism ’yielding of front wall’ is a frequent phenomenon and is assessed in this research. Level II FORM is used for the calculation and level III Importance sampling for the validation. The cross-section is adjusted according the reference case and the results are reasonably in compliance with the results found by GeoDelft for CUR class III. The computed 50 year reliability index β = 4.53 and corresponds well to the target reliability level of β_t = 4.5. Additionally, the situation in which random input variables are correlated and model uncertainty is included, is considered as well. These correlations and model uncertainty are determined based on previous researches among which. The cohesion of clay, internal friction angles, wall friction angles and water levels are correlated. The model uncertainty factor is lognormally distributed and applies as multiplication factor on the maximum bending moment. Explicitly, the latter results in a significant influence on the limit state. Effects given the reference period are considered as well. Large numbers of the dominant load variable q are simulated. The (extreme value) distribution converges to a Gumbel distribution with σ = 0.61. The stochastic distribution of the dominant load is transformed from and to different reference periods: 1, 5, 10, 25, 50 and 100 years. Eventually, for posterior analyses the 50 year reference case is translated to an annual situation in which the annual reliability index and sensitivity factors are derived. Including model uncertainty and cross correlated random variables, one finds a reliability index β = 2.33 as assumption for the posterior analyses. The Equivalent Planes method (EPM) has already been applied in the field of flood defences for reliability updating. This method formulates an failure plane equivalent to two or more combined limit states. In this research, the method has been applied in the temporal context. This means that the Equivalent Planes method is considered in the derivation of the reliability given effect(s) of past performance. The annual reliability index and sensitivity factors are used in this reliability updating method. The autocorrelation represents the correlation of the concerned variable in time. Time-dependent variables including uniform load and water levels assume an auto-correlation of 0, other parameters initially assume an auto-correlation equal to 1. The annual reliability index and sensitivity values are iteratively applied in this method for combining limit states. The equivalent failure plane Z uses a simplified expression in the standard normal space. Eventually a time-dependent reliability curve, as presented by the green line in figure 1, is found. Without model uncertainty, the blue curve is obtained. A higher initial annual reliability index results in a relatively smaller increase of the conditional reliability index. Hence, the effect of past performance decreases when a higher start value of the reliability index is used. Due to the reduced cross-correlation between the water levels on both sides, the time-dependent reliability significantly increases. At last, the time-related effects of quay walls are considered. These effects include:

• The irreducible time-dependent uncertainty related to the model uncertainty factor. Randomness or natural variation is included in the model uncertainty factor. This is performed by considering situations with a reduced autocorrelation ρ(Z_i, Z_j) (0.25, 0.50 and 0.75). The reducible time-dependent uncertainty of load variables including q, w_a and w_p. Knowledge uncertainties (epistemic uncertainties) are reducible in time, meaning autocorrelation approaching 1. The autocorrelations of the considered variables distributions are derived by using transformed random distributions.

• Degradation by corrosion of the stiffest elements in the steel front wall. Corrosion is studied by considering the effects of a log normally distributed wall thickness loss according to corrosion curve 3. This corrosion rate affects the primary element characteristics of the equivalent combined wall. The correlation between the water levels on the active and passive is reconsidered and changed from 0.75 to 0.25.


As follows, the below figures show the annual development of the annual reliability as a function of time t. Notice that the annual reliability index increases as the extent to which the uncertainty is epistemic increases. Further, the reliability converges less rapid to larger value(s) in case of auto-correlation approaching 0. In this research, corrosion is considered as an epistemic uncertainty. Two modelling approaches have been considered: an engineering approach, a second order approach. The engineering approach solely considers a reducing section modulus W, whereas the second order approach is additionally including the second moment of inertia I. Corrosion curve 3 results in both approaches to a flattening of the conditional reliability index as time progresses. In addition, the speed in which the influence of time-independent epistemic uncertainties decreases, is less in case of corrosion. Hence, the involvement of stochastic degradation negatively affects the extent to which the uncertainties are reducible. The updated reliability index is also calculated per reference period. This is performed with probabilistic calculation rules. The corresponding sensitivity values, given survival of previous years (see figure(s) 5), can be used in the semi-probabilistic level I method for derivation of the updated partial safety factors. These factors can be applied in the derivation of the design values per random variable considering a service life time t. Hence, the reliability of a quay wall and the transformed sensitivity coefficients can be updated with the Equivalent Planes method. Incorporation of degradation and other time-related effects is seemingly possible. However, further research with finite element modelling is recommended for verification purposes.

Quay walls are often designed with Finite Element models (FE models) to take into account the complex soil-structure interaction and highly non-linear soil behaviour. These are complex models that rely on many input parameters that have uncertainties. Nowadays, new quay walls are often equipped with sensors that collect information about the behaviour of the quay wall. These quay walls are known as \textbf{smart} quay walls. The measurement data of smart quay walls could be used to validate FE models and reduce parameter uncertainties. This could lead to an optimisation of the functionality of the quay walls. By means of a case study this thesis determines if measurement data obtained during the construction process has the potential to optimise the functionality of smart quay walls. The case used is the HES Hartel Tank Terminal (HHTT-quay), which is a smart quay wall in the port of Rotterdam. The HHTT-quay consists of sections with and without a relieving platform, both are considered in this thesis. In this thesis the functionality of a quay wall refers to the retaining or bearing functionality. Therefore, an optimisation of the functionality could consist of an optimisation in the retaining height or the surface loads. The case study used in this thesis shows that measurement data obtained during the construction process already provides important information that can be used to optimise the functionality of the quay wall. This indicates that for smart quay walls the construction process can act as a load test and this could reduce the necessity to perform a load test during the service life.

The design and reassessment of quays is subject to uncertainties. Examples of these uncertainties are the soil parameters, soil behavior and the current state of the structural parts. Especially in the reassessment of existing structures it is hard to prove a quay to be safe. In this thesis Bayesian updating is used as a method to reduce this uncertainty. Bayesian updating is a technique to probabilistically update the model prediction based on measurement data. One of the solutions to obtaining this data is test loading a quay wall. How to perform a test load and possible other solutions to obtaining the measurement data are not part of this research. The research focusses on how to use the data one obtains from a test loading. The effectiveness of test loading is reviewed by performing Bayesian updates with several fictitious measurement cases. Both Blum and a finite element model are updated based on fictitious strain and displacement measurements. The results show that Bayesian updating successfully reduces the standard deviations in all model predictions. This has a significant impact on the calculated reliability indices. The key benefit of performing a Bayesian update is that a statistically most likely combination of stochastic input parameters is determined. The thesis gives recommendations towards an application of Bayesian updating in practice and as fictitious measurement cases are used, an overall strategy is given for obtaining the required measurement data in practice.