A composite modelling approach for the retrofitting and rehabilitation of an historical coastal asset

The Pont del Petroli pier is a coastal structure located in the coastal town of Badalona, north of Barcelona, in Spain. The pier was built in the 60s to allow mooring of petroleum tankers, but fallen in disuse in 1990. Restored between 2003 and 2009, the pier is now regarded as a historical and social asset of the Catalan coast. In January 2020 the storm Gloria (Amores et al., 2020), characterized by extreme wave conditions (recorded offshore significant wave heights in excess of 8.5 m) and lasting for nearly two days, caused flooding events, casualties and severe damages to several structures in Spain. The pier head platform was damaged, four supporting piles failed and part of footbridge beam was washed away. There is no recorded wave climate that hit the pier so strong during its 50-year life. To reproduce the conditions that led to the failure of the pier a compositemodelling has been carried out at Universitat Politènica de Catalunya (UPC). The outcomes of the work provide further insight and information on the interaction between waves and the key pier elements (platform, footbridge, piles, pile caps) and aided the design for the structural retrofitting, including the study of four different alternatives for the pier head platform and the footbridge attached to it.