Caisson Seawalls

Singapore

Singapore has created 414 hectares of retained land with an 8.6 km long quay wall consisting of 221 large caissons.

Figure 1: Gantry scaffolding to construct large concrete caissons in Singapore. Stall on the left has a partially completed caisson. Behind that stall, a semi-submersible barge waits to transport the new caisson. [MPA]

Figure 2: View from the other side. Completed large caisson (center) is sliding on steel rails to a semi-submersible barge (lower right) that will transport the caisson. [MPA]

Figure 3: The semi-submersible barge submerges. The caisson floats and is pulled away. [MPA]

Figure 4: Caissons are pulled straight out, very carefully to avoid colliding with the vertical sides of the submerged barge. [MPA]

The empty concrete caissons float because they have a bottom. When the caisson is empty, there is only air between the concrete walls, making the overall caisson lighter than water. When in position to lower to the seabed, the caisson will be filled to make it heavy and sink into position.

Temporary metal grating allows workers to walk on top of the caisson.

After a new caisson is freed from the semi-submersible barge, it is tied to a standard barge, which a tug boat guides to an already positioned caisson that the new caisson will attach to.

Figure 5: New caisson (left) is pushed into an already positioned caisson (right). The new caisson is filled with water pumped from the sea, to make it sink into position. [MPA]

Electricity generators (green boxes on the new caisson) power firehose-type pumps that are hanging in the water over the sides of the new caisson. The large water hoses are placed on top of the temporary metal grating walking surface that allows water to flow downward into the vertical partitions (cells) of the concrete caisson.

Later, after the caissons are in place, the walking surface is removed, and water in the caissons is replaced with sand or other fill.

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Caisson Seawalls

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Introduction
Quays
Quay Construction
Singapore (this page)
Tema, Ghana
Le Portier, Monaco
Colombo, Sri Lanka
Hitachinaka, Japan
Slip Form
Seawater Construct
Breakwater

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