Netherlands company Strukton Immersion Projects has immersed the first of eight concrete caissons shipped to Chioggia, as part of the storm-surge barrier near Venice, Italy.
The eight enormous caissons which are 60 metres long and 40 metres wide, were built in 2012 and 2013 in a dry dock - the immersion of the first caisson began on Friday.
After construction, the dock was flooded; the caissons now lie in the dock, ready to be floated to the surface, transported and then immersed. Tugboats will be used to transport each of the 21,000,000 kg concrete giants to the entrance of the lagoon. The last caisson will be immersed at the end of August this year.
Home to a very large fleet of fishing boats, the inlet blockage at Chioggia must be cleared as quickly as possible. The requirements state that the inlet must not be blocked for more than 24 hours. The immersion operation also needs to take into account the large flow rate caused by the tides on the lagoon; the water flows through the inlet twice a day. In addition, immersion must be possible even with a wave height of 75 cm.
The surveyors at Geocon, a subsidiary of Strukton Civiel, completed their activities in the construction dock in January and February 2014 where the caissons were dimensioned so that all of the measurements needed to properly determine the place on the seabed are known.
Work on the caissons is part of the MOSE Project - the largest engineering project in Italy which has been in the works for a decade already. The project involves the construction of a storm-surge barrier in Italy to be able to seal off the Venetian Lagoon from the Adriatic Sea. Strukton, as the sole foreign party, is also helping Venice to combat high-water at Chioggia.
The storm-surge barrier is being constructed at the three inlets to the lagoon, at Lido, Malamocco and Chioggia. The storm-surge barrier is made up of a system of caissons containing movable flood gates. The system will only be closed in cases of extremely high water, similar to the Maeslant Barrier in the Netherlands.
The storm-surge barrier is expected to officially be put into use in 2017.
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