Soil-pile interaction of wharf structures having verti̇cal and/or batter pile using detailed and simplified modelling

Wharfs are essential to shipping and support very large gravity loads on both a short-term and long-term basis which cause quite large seismic internal forces. Therefore, these structures are vulnerable to seismic activities. As they are supported on vertical and/or batter piles, the pile-wharf connection has an important part of the seismic resistance. However, the seismic performance of pile-wharf connections is not yet fully understood. In seismic performance evaluation of such structure based on performance-based evaluation criteria is set forth by the Turkish Code for shore structures (TCSS, 2008). According to TCSS (2008), the nonlinear interaction between soil and pile should somehow be considered (soil springs) in non-linear analysis. However, in non-linear analysis, the piles assume to be fully restrained at an accepted distance below the mudline by the design engineers. In this study, vertical and batter pile-wharf structures are first modeled as a one slab supported by piers of equivalent lengths that are fully restrained at their bases (simplified modeling) and then modeled with nonlinear soil springs (detailed modeling) considering current soil conditions. Besides, one of the structures has been analyzed for one more weak soil condition to explore the soil interaction. Nonlinear static analysis of these structures is separately accomplished according to TCSS (2008) and results have been discussed. Key Words: Pile-wharf structures, soil-structure interaction, flush length, nonlinear ground springs