Construction is nearing completion at the Port of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia for the new Southern Cross Cement Terminal, a cement storage facility comprising eight elevated silos with a combined capacity of 42,000 tonnes, two 44 metre high transfer towers and associated wharf infrastructure.
The original design of the facility was completed overseas and yielded an estimated construction cost far in excess of the asset owner’s budget. Bonacci Infrastructure provided value engineering services, which ultimately led to us being awarded a re-design contract for the concrete superstructures and piled foundations supporting the eight storage silos, as well as the piled foundations for the two transfer towers.
The site itself is on reclaimed land, with competent basalt existing at a depth of approximately 40 metres below surface level. The material above the bedrock ranges from stiff silty clay to loose silty sand. The relatively poor geotechnical nature of the site presented significant challenges for the design of the piles, including dealing with buckling effects under high compression loads, significant lateral pile forces under earthquake loading, and large axial shortening which occurs as a result of the pile lengths and sustained compressive stresses.