The significance of earthquake-induced dynamic forces in coastal structures design

Abstract

The dynamic forces of sea water and backfill soil acting on coastal embankments and the hydrodynamic forces on offshore breakwaters have been analyzed using a finite-difference scheme. A non- horizontal sea bottom is considered in the analysis. Both rigid and flexible embankments are included in the study. For a coastal embankment, the hydrodynamic pressure of sea water acting on the embankment face significantly increases as the slope of the sea bottom increases. On the other side of the embankment, the pore pressure and the interaction force between the soil and fluid will augment significantly when the backfill soil is compressed during earthquakes. When the sea-embankment-backfill soil interaction is included, the dynamic forces acting on a flexible embankment are much larger than those on a rigid one. The comparison of evaluating the sliding of a caisson in a case study of SPM by a conventional analysis and the present seismic analysis was made. The earthquake-induced dynamic pressures on both sides of the embankment (or breakwater) could be much larger than the force generated by the storm surge. The hydrodynamic (or seismic) analysis incorporating the effect of an earthquake should be included in the coastal embankment or offshore breakwater design, especially for the area with active earthquakes.