Design and Constructuon of Concrete Floating Pier in Golden Harbor, Incheon

Abstract – The Incheon International Passenger Terminal is located at the west of South Korea, Incheon. It is constructed as a part of the Golden Harbor which will make up the core center of world trade and economy in the eastern Asia as well as the west gate of South Korea. In this sea area, it is famous for a huge tidal variation of approximately 9.27m. To overcome this large tidal gap, a concrete floating pier was adopted (instead of a pile deck pier) so that it can safely move up and down with respect to the tidal level and maintain a constant freeboard for berthing of cruise ships. The construction of the floating pier was completed in 2017. In order to guarantee the design life of 50 years, concrete was used for the three mooring piers and two floating modules (the main module measuring 85m in length × 39m in width and the sub-module measuring 200m in length × 30m in width). To successfully construct this large floating concrete structure, the modular construction method was applied. Considering the capacity of an available floating crane, which is capable of lifting 3,600ton, the main and sub modules were prefabricated on land as 3 and 6 segments, respectively, with each segment weighing approximately 3,200ton. Each segment was lifted and launched by the floating crane, towed to the destination by tug boats and assembled together on the sea by prestressing bars. Compared to a conventional method using a big floating dock, this adopted construction method enhances the quality of concrete and reduce the construction period. More technical details in design and construction are presented herein.