Design and engineering of a soft soil foundation improvement scheme for the Dung Quat breakwater. Formulation and supervision of a Site Investigation in Vietnam. Design work carried out in the Netherlands.
The Government of Vietnam authorised PetroVietnam to build and operate a petroleum refinery at Dung Quat in the province of Quang Ngai in Vietnam to process 6.5 million tonnes of Vietnamese crude per year. Part of this facility involves the construction of a breakwater to provide shelter to berths for receiving oil tankers.
Poor foundation conditions were encountered during construction of the breakwater and it became necessary to review the foundation design of the breakwater. After an international bidding process for supply engineering and construction for soft soil treatment of the breakwater foundation, Van Oord Dredging and Marine Contractors of the Netherlands was awarded the contract.
We provided Van Oord with specialised geotechnical design consultancy services, which included
(a) review of existing breakwater foundation design,
(b) specification and supervision of geotechnical site investigation and laboratory testing,
(c) detailed design of a suitable foundation improvement scheme,
(d) drafting technical specifications for placement, compaction and testing of hydraulic fill and rock bedding layer,
(e) preparation of construction drawings.
The foundation improvement scheme was successfully implemented by Van Oord during the period May 13 October 2005 and comprised the removal of soft material from beneath the envisaged breakwater foundations, its replacement by granular material (including compaction) following by the placement of a 2m thick rock bedding layer.
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