General View;
The project was belonged to Kumport Port Management Company located at Ambarlı Port region. There were reinforced concrete slabs before which had some deformation problems due to high consolidated clay layers under the platforms. The RTG Crane lanes were solved by the pile foundations. But the slabs were casted on the actual soil. The thickness of slabs was 20 cm and ~50 cm preparation layer granular filling was placed before the slab. Deformation of the slabs caused several problems. The different elevation on the surface causes the container structures set by 6 containers tilted. Tilting cause stability problems of the storage lines. Second problem is when the maintenance wanted to be applied main method is to break the problematic area prepare the foundation and casting the slab again. This repair time is around 3-4 days which is a major consequence for the operation area. Main objective is to find a solution which has a similar bearing capacity with concrete slab and if there will be a deformation very short repair time.
Difficulties:
The footings of the containers are 10x10 cm steel which directly acting on the surface. The 6 container is around 156 tons acting on 4 footing. The foundation should have enough bearing capacity resisting these loads which is almost dead load as long-term criteria, the surface will be rigid enough to resist the puncture effect of the footings. The container numbers are changing due to loading and unloading cycle means the structure will behave according to load changes.
Solution:
Nonwoven geotextile was used to separate the clay soil from the granular filling material. 15 cm filling placed and compacted. Fortex biaxial geogrid layer was placed with 50 cm overlaps. 30 cm filling placed and compacted. 30 cm filling grains are bigger then the first and last filling layers to maintain drainage and tolerate the change in water pressure. Nonwoven geotextile was placed to make a puncture resistant surface and separate the geocell and base filling. ForCell 330/150 applied and filled with granular material as around 18cm. Concrete (parkette) keystone was used to make a finishing layer. Total section is around 70 cm. The area was observed after 4 years and this section reached the main targets and solved most of the problems. There are 3 local deformation was noted which the repair time was 1 day which is satisfactory for client.
