Seismic Design of the Wharves with Performance-Based and Conventional Force-based Design Methods

Due to the complexity of loads applied to wharves and piers because of their special application as mooring and berthing structures, their design always has many challenges. These structures have a large mass, and the piles and pile caps connections must sustain large inelastic deformations during major earthquakes which force-based design method cannot consider properly. So this study was undertaken to evaluate the full seismic performance of a typical synchrolift wharf located at Hormozgan province with performance-based design method by a series of static pushover analyses for three different hazard levels in accordance with ASCE/COPRI 61-14 code requirements and local seismicity. Soil-structure interaction, material overstrength, and site-specific response spectra were used to determine the displacement demands. The results reveal that using conventional force-based design method leads to the unreliable deck as well as uneconomical pile foundation designs.