Effect of Earthquake Coefficient Selection on Seismic Performance of Gravity Block Type Quay Walls

Abstract

Gravity block type quay walls are one of the main options when the seabed has a suitable bearing capacity. Today, the design of quay walls is based on its seismic performance, and the pseudo-static method is the most common design method. In this method, the force caused by the earthquake is considered as the product of the equivalent acceleration coefficient in the effective mass of the structure. The choice of the value of this coefficient, consisting of horizontal (kh) and vertical (kv) components, is of great importance. Therefore, in this paper, the effect of selecting the earthquake equivalent acceleration coefficient on the seismic performance of the hunch-back quay wall of Pars Petrochemical Port has been studied as a case study. In this regard, the recommendations and relationships reflected in the old and new editions of the Japanese Maritime Codes (OCDI, 2002, 2009) are more comprehensive and complete than other codes, especially in the seismic design of berths. The results illustrated that the proposed relationships of horizontal earthquake acceleration coefficient (kh) based on the new version of the Japanese code is more suitable and helps predict the seismic performance of this type of quay walls more accurately and their realistic design. Moreover, in this research, based on acceleration time-histories resulted from seismic hazard studies at the site, using FLAC2D software, the values of horizontal displacement of the quay wall crown have been investigated, and based on that, earthquake coefficient values have been predicted for each relevant time-history.