It is always in the interest of engineers to select fenders with high energy absorption with low reaction force. The reaction force is an important factor in the design of quay walls because sufficient savings could be resulted from low reaction force exerted by fenders.
In many fender systems such as rubber fender, load-spreading panel is often adopted to cater for high reaction force. Hence, the use of fenders with low reaction force gets rid of the need of load-spreading panel so that significant economies could be made.
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This question is taken from book named – A Closer Look at Prevailing Civil Engineering Practice – What, Why and How by Vincent T. H. CHU.
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