Constructability Opportunities In Design Of Marine Structures

The Marine construction industry is a challenging sector of the construction world because the projects involved are unlike most other construction projects. Due to the frequently changing environment and strict safety and environmental regulations, marine projects can prove to be more restrictive than most commercial and heavy civil projects. Most of the projects for large marine construction firms, take place over and under the water, in order to build structures such as wharves, piers, terminals, bridges, marinas and outfalls. Due to the numerous factors that are involved in this industry, a well-engineered design with constructability kept in mind is crucial to the construction phase of any marine project. Constructability can be defined as the use of construction knowledge to review and identify project restrictions in order to reduce delays, unnecessary costs and to produce a successful project outcome. It helps bring the two aspects of engineering design and construction closer together making the transition smother process. This study evaluated Manson Construction Company's Pier 12 Replacement Project located on Naval Base San Diego. The goal of this study was to identify and analyze designs details that increased the constructability for the contractor. The project included the construction of a 1,500-foot concrete pier capable of supporting multiple naval ships. The study focused on the design details and construction processes of the pile driving, rebar placement and concrete construction of the marine structure. A literature review was carried out regarding the constructability implementation and principles of similar construction projects. Contractor and design personnel were then interviewed and multiple design documents were evaluated to identify constructability opportunities in the design of the new Pier 12.