Project Details
Projekt
GRK 1096: Harbours for Container Ships of Future Generations: Interaction of Ship, Fluid, Structure and Soil
Subject Area
Construction Engineering and Architecture
Mechanics and Constructive Mechanical Engineering
Mechanics and Constructive Mechanical Engineering
Term
from 2005 to 2014
Project identifier
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 451665
Worldwide there is an enormous growth in container handling. At present the biggest ship units contain 8,000 TEU. TEU (twenty-foot-equivalent-unit) means the volume of a container that is 20 feet long, eight feet wide and 8,5 feet high. There are already design studies for ship sizes of 18,000 TEU with a length of more than 400 m, a width of 70 m and a draft of 21 m.
This leads to enormous challenges for harbour construction in the future. Maneuverability of such ship giants under shallow water conditions in narrow waterways is obviously difficult. The probability of ship collisions with harbour facilities is increasing. The use of high-power thrusters can cause deep scours, which negatively influence the load bearing capacity of the quay constructions. The docking pressure on the quay caused by these ships is by far higher than by smaller units. Moreover, the ships can cause swelling and harbour resonances in complex harbour geometries.
Big ship units demand high handling activities of the container bridges. The effects are higher dynamic loads for quay construction. For existing quay walls, concepts for retrofitting and subsequent excavation have to be developed. For the increasing demands on ports for future generations of container ships basic research in the field of interaction of ship, fluid, structure and soil is required.
The aim of the following Research Training Group and the associated study program is to develop these fundamentals. The research programme is divided thematically in topics on construction of quay walls with big dimensions, operational load cases and extreme load situations. Due to the complexity an interdisciplinary collaboration of researchers of shipbuilding, mechanics and ocean engineering, steel- and concrete construction as well as geotechnics is essential. This overall consideration approach is innovative and a necessary precondition for accomplishing the worldwide challenges for port construction for container ships of future generations.
This leads to enormous challenges for harbour construction in the future. Maneuverability of such ship giants under shallow water conditions in narrow waterways is obviously difficult. The probability of ship collisions with harbour facilities is increasing. The use of high-power thrusters can cause deep scours, which negatively influence the load bearing capacity of the quay constructions. The docking pressure on the quay caused by these ships is by far higher than by smaller units. Moreover, the ships can cause swelling and harbour resonances in complex harbour geometries.
Big ship units demand high handling activities of the container bridges. The effects are higher dynamic loads for quay construction. For existing quay walls, concepts for retrofitting and subsequent excavation have to be developed. For the increasing demands on ports for future generations of container ships basic research in the field of interaction of ship, fluid, structure and soil is required.
The aim of the following Research Training Group and the associated study program is to develop these fundamentals. The research programme is divided thematically in topics on construction of quay walls with big dimensions, operational load cases and extreme load situations. Due to the complexity an interdisciplinary collaboration of researchers of shipbuilding, mechanics and ocean engineering, steel- and concrete construction as well as geotechnics is essential. This overall consideration approach is innovative and a necessary precondition for accomplishing the worldwide challenges for port construction for container ships of future generations.
DFG Programme
Research Training Groups
Applicant Institution
Technische Universität Hamburg
Spokesperson
Professor Dr.-Ing. Jürgen Grabe
