REUSE OF EXISTING STEEL PILES THROUGH INTEGRITY ASSESSMENT

This paper refers to the reuse of steel piles of existing marine facilities, in the frame of the modernization of the oldest refinery in the Arabian Gulf area. The first units were built in the 1930s and two wharves for exporting oil products were added respectively in 1940 and 1960. The refurbishment of existing structures was selected, rather than going for the provision of brand-new facilities. Very few and uncontrolled data were available for the driven steel piles supporting these wharves, hence the main challenge was assessing the existing piles’ integrity underwater and their penetration into seabed, while keeping these wharves operational. The option to carry out a static load test on an existing pile appeared immediately to be dangerous, specifically the possible pile destruction, damages to surrounding piles, and disruption to wharf operations. A Sonic Integrity Testing (or eco-test, or PIT) campaign was instead proposed on a representative number of piles. This test is a widely-used NDE method to assess piles’ conditions. Results allowed for determining all data for the structural verification of piles for their reuse. The sustainable option to revamp existing structures may benefit from this simple and inexpensive NDE method.