Integrating Soil-Structure Interaction Analyses of Pile-Supported Wharfs in Seismic Risk Management of Port Systems

This paper presents the general framework for the development and calibration of simplified nonlinear Winkler-type mechanical models via finite element simulations for the analysis of seismic response of pile foundations in soil conditions remediated against liquefaction. These models are currently being developed for implementation in Monte Carlo simulations for risk assessment analyses of waterfront structures, to allow computationally efficient seismic response predictions of 3D pile-supported wharves for alternative scenarios of ground motion intensity and remediation configurations. The macro-elements are formulated to account for the multitude of soil resistance mechanisms mobilized at the foundation of pile-supported structures by considering both material and soil-pile interface (geometric) nonlinearities during dynamic loading of single piles, thus retaining the physical soundness of the mechanical configuration. This paper describes work under progress, and focuses on the alternative formulations investigated to identify the optimal macroscopic model that will allow credible yet efficient simulations of the seismic performance of pile-supported structures required for the quantification of damage states in liquefiable and treated-against sites.