Construction of Flexible Waterstops on Underwater Cofferdams for Pile Caps in Bridge Projects

The water-stopping efficiency of cofferdams for pile caps is an important indicator with direct influ- ence to the quality and durability of the pile-pouring process. In recent years, a new technique fea- turing flexible capsules serving as waterstops has been introduced, but is still in experimental stage. This thesis, taking the water-stopping construction programme of underwater PC houses of the J. P. Magufuli Bridge project in Tanzania as background, analyzed the two existed types of flexible water- stopping construction methods, id est the integral and separate structures, and studied on measures for improving the flexible water-stopping construction techniques and optimizing the rubber cap- sule waterstops, in the hope of providing references and, possibly, inspirations for similar projects in the future.