Comparative Analysis On Seismic Design Method Of Gravity Quay In China And The United States

Port and harbor are not only the hub of water transportation, but also the window of international trade. So it plays an important role in the economic development. The gravity quay structures have relatively high requirements on ground bearing capacity, but it has been built widely in China and all over the world because of the simpler construction and the better cost performance. With the development of China's economy and acceleration of economic globalization, more and more overseas wharf construction programs have attracted domestic companies. Meanwhile, the connection between China and abroad standards is a major problem need to be considered. Since the coastal areas in China are not located in seismic active zones, the seismic action is generally not the major factor affecting design in comparison with other actions. Moreover, the seismic research ability in domestic port engineering is weak. Consequently, the seismic design of China is far behind, and has significant differences in comparison with other countries, resulting in the poor performance in overseas bids. So there is a need to study the differences between domestic seismic design methods and those in other countries.A comparative study is conducted for the seismic design methods of gravity quay in the code or guidelines of China and the United States. The main contents include the following aspects:(1) The development of the seismic design codes for port structures of China and the United States and seismic damage cases are presented.(2) The design methods of the seismic action in China and the U.S. are introduced in this paper. The research shows that there are many differences in the calculation of seismic coefficient, pore water pressure, hydrodynamic water pressure, earth pressure, inertial force. Generally speaking, the U.S. methods are more exquisite.(3) The seismic design procedures of China, the U.S. are introduced, and the procedures based on preselected seismic coefficient and controlling displacement in the U.S. are emphatically described. The research shows that quasi-static method is used for seismic design both in China and U.S. code, but Chinese code uses the partial factor instead of the safety factor in U.S. code. On the other hand, the analysis procedure for gravity quay in U.S. code has been divided into three cases: no excess pore water pressures, excess pore water pressures and liquefied backfill. However, only the submerged unit weight is utilized to address the water in soil for China.(4) The seismic design of a gravity quay has been performed by codes in China and the U.S. respectively.