2537
Construction and Performance of Containment Bund Using Geotextile Tubes Filled
With Cement Mixed Soil in Singapore
La construction et la performance de la digue de confinement utilisant des tubes géotextiles remplis
de terre mélangée au ciment à Singapour
Loh C.K.
Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA), Singapore
Chew S.H., Tan C.Y.
Department of Civil Engineering, National University of Singapore (NUS), Singapore
Lim S.K.
Housing and Development Board (HDB), Singapore
Lam J.P.W.
Surbana Corporation Pte Ltd, Singapore
ABSTRACT: In a major port development project in Singapore, a containment bund using modified geotextile tubes (M-GT) filled
with cement mixed soil has been constructed. The main purpose of this bund is to create a containment area to contain any sediment
plumes due to construction activities (i.e. dredging activities, dumping activities and sand-filling activities). The containment bund
also serves as a retaining structure to retain dredged materials during the sand-key construction and other port expansion works. This
paper presents the key consideration in the innovative design and construction of a geotextile containment bund. In addition, instead
of usual sand fill, the dredged soil mixed with cement was used as the fill material in this bund. Among the challenges faced in this
project were the great water depth of this containment bund location (>25m) and high traffic volume in Singapore water course as the
site is next to the existing operating port terminal. Extensive field instrumentation and monitoring were carried out during and post
construction phase to verify the design, as well as ascertain the performance of the geotextiles containment bund system.
RÉSUMÉ : Dans un important projet de développement portuaire à Singapour, une digue de confinement utilisant des tubes
géotextiles modifiés (M-GT) et remplis de terre mélangée au ciment, a été construite. Le but principal de cette digue est de créer une
zone de confinement afin de contenir les déblais de sédiments provenant des travaux de construction (c’est-à-dire travaux de dragage,
de déversement et de remplissage au sable). La digue de confinement sert également de structure de retenue pour retenir les matériaux
de dragage lors de la construction de la tranchée d'étanchéité et d'autres travaux d'extension de port. Cette étude présente le facteur clé
dans la conception innovatrice et la construction d'une digue de confinement en géotextiles. En outre, au lieu du remplissage au sable
habituel, le sol dragué est mélangé avec du ciment avant d’être utilisé comme matière de remplissage dans cette digue. Parmi les défis
relevés durant ce projet étaient la grande profondeur des eaux à l’emplacement de la digue de confinement (> 25m) et le volume du
trafic maritime dans les eaux de Singapour vue que le site se trouve à proximité du terminal portuaire existant. Des instrumentations et
mesures approfondies ont été menées pendant et après la phase de construction pour vérifier la conception, de même que la
performance du système de digue de confinement en géotextiles.
KEYWORDS: Geotextile tubes, containment bund, cement mixed soil.
1 INTRODUCTION
A containment bund consisting of modified geotextile tubes (M-
GT) filled with cement mixed soil has been constructed for a
major port development project in Singapore. This containment
bund forms part of the Pasir Panjang Terminal Phase 3 & 4
Expansion Project, which is located at the Southern part of
Singapore water (Figure 1). During the project construction
phase, this bund serves as a retaining structure to retain dredged
materials and at the same time contains any sediment plumes
arises from construction activities from being transported
towards the nearby forest reserve area by currents. This
containment bund, termed as a geotextile containment bund, is
being constructed by systematically stacking of modified
geotextile tubes (M-GT) and filling of cement mixed dredged
soil. A typical cross section of the geotextile containment bund
is shown in Figure 2.
A “geotextile tube” is a tubular container (diameter 1m to
10m) that is formed in-situ, on land or in water, by hydraulically
filling the tube with sand or dredged material (Pilarcyzk, 2000)
and Lawson, 2006). On the other hand, “geotextile container” is
made of geotextile sheet laid onto a split-bottom barge, filled
mechanically with sand or other fill material, and sewn the top
opening to form into a closed “container”. The barge will then
move to the desired position, and the bottom of the barge will
open allowing the containers to sink into the sea at the intended
location. The volume of these containers can range from 100m
3
to 800m
3
.
Figure 1 Location of project site in Singapore (Google image)
