Assessment of Seismic Performance of Two Pile-Deck Wharf Connections

This paper examines the seismic response of two full-scale pile-to-deck connections of marginal wharves built in the 1980s at the Port of Los Angeles. The first test represented a precast pretensioned concrete pile-deck connection at Berth 145. This berth required extending the deck for a new crane rail and a new line of piles. The proposed wharf upgrade considered leaving the existing piles if their lateral displacement capacity exceeded the expected seismic demands. A representative connection was tested to assess the rotation capacity under reversed cyclic loading. The second test represented a typical steel pile-deck connection used in Berth 226. In this structure, the piles support a crane rail. A reversed cyclic loading test was also conducted to assess the connection deformation capacity. Both connections were able to carry the imposed axial load throughout, even when the flexural strength had degraded. The precast pile-deck connection maintained the flexural strength up to a rotation of 0.04 rad, and the steel pile-deck connection maintained its flexural strength up to a rotation of 0.015 rad.