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Manual on the use of concrete in maritime engineering (RP764)

Over £500m is spent on coastal defences in the UK every year. At least 15% of these works include concrete in various forms (sea walls and wave walls, concrete armour units, etc.). In addition, other parties, such as port authorities, make extensive use of concrete in the marine environment. The recent OST funded FORESIGHT project on flood and coastal defences suggested that annual expenditure on flood and coastal defences will need to be doubled in real terms by the 2080’s to take account of effects such as sea level rise and increased storminess. Socio-economic factors were also shown to be very significant, a major challenge being where to place new housing in our densely populated island. This challenge has been highlighted recently by the government’s commitment to the Thames Gateway development, much of which will be in flood risk zones. Linked to this is the need to spend between £4 and £8 billion to upgrade the Thames flood defences, which include many structures formed wholly, or in part, of concrete.

However, despite the recognised need for capital expenditure of concrete maritime structures, The Defra review of engineering materials (Technical Report W5A-069/TR/1) in 2004, identified that there was a gap in structured guidance documents available with regard to the use of concrete in maritime structures. The only recent English language guidance document known to be available is Allen, RTL (ed) (1998) Concrete in coastal structures. London: Thomas Telford. This guide is a compilation of various papers written by different authors from Halcrow and HR Wallingford. This document covered the main topics at the time of writing.

The project will build on this document and combine the new findings into a manual for use within the maritime engineering industry. The manual will include guidance on:

• New concrete materials technologies, including those to:
  • provide strength to mass concrete, whilst avoiding use of conventional reinforcing steel
  • mitigate chloride-related corrosion of reinforcing steel
  • deliver concrete that is resistant to abrasion, for example to meet the challenge of providing access steps and ramps. (Various solutions have been proposed for improving abrasion resistance including use of selected harder aggregates. Recycled glass is the most recent of these and apparently offers other useful durability properties when used as fine aggregate, sand or filler in concrete.)
• New European Standard methods for specifying concrete and its component materials

Project target audience

The overall objectives of the project are to:

• distil conclusions from existing UK and international research and practical experience on the use of concrete in the marine environment
• develop best practice guidance on marine concrete materials, design, construction and maintenance
• identify any areas where new research may be needed over the subsequent 5 years.

Some specific aspects of concrete in maritime engineering require guidance, including:

• on pre-casting of a variety of elements, including parts of larger structures, wave return walls, and armouring units for wave energy dissipation
• on appropriate design with mass concrete
• on concrete protection and repair techniques.

The main beneficiaries of the project will be:

• Within coastal defence: Asset management of the EA flood defences and EA operational units, maritime district councils, consultants and contractors
• Outside of coastal defence: port authorities, water authorities, consultants and contractors.

Project status

This project started May 2007.

Project Funders

Civil & Marine Slag Cement Ltd, The Concrete Centre, Edmund Nuttall Ltd, Environment Agency, Institute for Civil Engineers, UK Quality Ash Association, CETMEF and CIRIA core.

Project Steering Group

Aberdeen Harbour Board, CIRIA, Civil & Marine Slag Cement Ltd, The Concrete Centre, The Concrete Society, BAM Nuttall Ltd, Environment Agency, Giffords, Mott MacDonald Group Ltd, Scott Wilson, United Kingdom Quality Ash Association and University of Dundee

Research contractor

A consortium led by HR Wallingford with Halcrow.

Contact CIRIA Kristina Gamst CIRIA Project Manager +44 (0) 20 7549 3300

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