Anchoring of Barge with Piles

[BONILL]

A barge carrying 700 Tons of added weight (7 motors) plus its own weight is to be anchored using driven steel pipes (piles), (48” diameter, 5/16” thick) that run 34 meters deep into the sea bed. The barge is to have free vertical movement while its lateral movement is to be transferred to the pile cap through bumpers, so it seems that only lateral loading of the piles would be important to consider.

The geotechnical report states that the allowable lateral load for the piles is 10 Tons.
I really need some guidance, since most of my experience is based on designing building structures. Some of the questions that come to mind are the following:

1)What lateral loads to consider. Certainly Seismic loads, but what type of structure would it be? Should I treat it as a cantilever structure? While considering loads related to the tide, is there a way to consider or estimate the lateral load as a percentage of the load supported by the barge and the weight of the barge itself?

2) What detailing goes into achieving that fact that the piles would permit the barge to freely move vertically while restraining it laterally? Should there be a fixed connection that the pile head? Is there a special detail of the piles at the sea bed?

3)Any other thing that I might be missing.

Thanks for your time.

 

[dhengr]

The Army Corps of Engineers and the US Navy ‘NavDocs’ used to have a lot of info. on these topics; docks, fenders, mooring dolphins and the like. Also, take a look a Civil Engineering, Structural Engineering and Heavy Construction Handbooks, many of them have a chapter or two on these topics. Docking and berthing forces are a function of the mass and velocity of the barge. Otherwise, wave action, wind action, river flow or tidal action are a function of the barge surface exposed to them, and certainly should be summed. I believe you do improve the action of piles and dolphins, by fixing them together at their top elev., plus the fact that they are cantilevered out of the soils below. The suppliers of the various energy absorbing bumper systems should have a wealth of info. for you too. The GeoTech Engineer will be a helpful adviser on something like this.