Speaker: Jeremiah Fasl, PhD, PE
Topic: Barbours Cut Terminal – Container Port Wharf Expansion Design
Sponsor: Jacobs
Jeremiah Fasl, PhD, PE is an Associate Principal in the Austin office of Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates, Inc. (WJE). He is chair of ACI Committee 357, Offshore and Marine Structure, and a voting member of ACI Committee 348, Structural Reliability and Safety, and Subcommittees B and C of ACI 562, Evaluation, Repair, and Rehabilitation of Concrete Buildings. His interests include structural reliability, structural stability, civil infrastructure, structural health monitoring, and rehabilitation. He is a licensed Structural Engineer in Arizona and licensed Professional Engineer in Texas.
Barbours Cut Terminal is one of two container ports operated by the Port of Houston Authority (PHA). Wharf 3 at Barbours Cut Terminal was recently upgraded to support larger 100-foot-gage container gantry cranes that can unload the new Panamex container ships entering via the recent Panama Canal expansion. This presentation will discuss the rehabilitation of the wharf, which also involved an in-depth assessment with service life evaluation and repair design. The rehabilitation design that was developed to accommodate the larger gantry cranes featured demolition of a portion of the existing structure and construction of two new crane beams to support the crane rails. The design of the new structural elements featured several challenges, including the significant gantry crane loads and integration of the new elements with the existing structure of the wharf.
