GEOFLEX Sliding, flexible and extendible ductile iron fitting solution for applications requiring resistance to subsidence and differential settlement

Arch Henderson Design Consultants were tasked with designing a new water main to supply potable water to docked vessels when moored to a new jetty being built within the Port of Dublin. The water main would pass through docking structures called Dolphins designed to be flexible to allow for the rise and fall of the tide. An immediate solution was hard to find so they asked for the support of the Saint-Gobain PAM UK Technical Team.

The Dolphin docking structures are connected by a series of walkways with the water main suspended underneath. At one end of the walkway it has a flexible connection that needs to accommodate 2.5 degrees of movement in each direction. At the other, a sliding bearing to allow ± 100mm of lateral movement and ± 240mm longitudinal movement and ± 2.5° of rotation.