Strength of wooden pile foundations in Amsterdam

The municipality of Amsterdam and CEG have agreed to develop a method together to gain a better understanding of the structural state of the wooden pile foundations that are used in many bridges and quay walls in Amsterdam. Some of these pile foundations are more than 500 years old.

Currently we do not have much information about the loading capacity and the state these wooden pile foundations in Amsterdam are in. A better understanding is necessary to be able to know how long they can still last.

In the coming three years Wolfgang Gard and a team of researchers of the Biobased Engineering group will investigate the characteristics of the wood and the strength of the piles. Questions to be answered are: How do bacteria cause damage to the pile foundation and what is the load bearing capacity of these wooden structures? Ultimately these data will help to develop reliable and realistic models that can help determine the true strength of the pile foundations.