Rational Treatment of Simultaneous Berthing and Mooring Load Effects on the Design of Oil Docks

A critical gap exists in current guidelines regarding the treatment of simultaneous berthing and mooring loads on pile-supported oil docks. Despite the common occurrence of such loading conditions, particularly in double-sided berthing structures such as “island” type docks (loading/unloading platforms with a series of isolated breasting and mooring dolphins) or narrow finger piers, which are very common in the industry, existing design provisions lack clarity and do not properly address such conditions. This paper addresses this critical oversight by presenting a theoretical evaluation and rational treatment of the problem using a case study to highlight the complexities associated with designing these types of structures for concurrent berthing and mooring loads.