2017 대한토목학회 정기학술대회

[전문연구세션] 항만 및 어항설계기준 고도화를 위한 성능기반 내진설계 기술 개발

원심모형실험을 이용한 잔교식 안벽의 지반-말뚝 동적 상호작용 분석

Dynamic Soil-pile Interaction of Pile-supported Wharves by Centrifuge

Tests

원옥보∗ · 전수원엽∗∗ · 김성렬∗∗∗

Nguyen, Ngoc Bao · Tran, Nghiem Xuan · Kim, Sung Ryul

Soil-pile interaction and slope effect are the major issues in the design of pile-supported wharves.
These aspects become more complicated when the wharf is subjected to earthquake motion. Thus,
this study aims to acquire the wharf behavior under seismic loading by utilizing a centrifuge modeling
technique. The sloping ground was a uniform loose silica sand layer. Results were analyzed in the
form of dynamic p-ypile loops. It can be seen that the behavior of dynamic p-ypile loops was different
with depths and pile locations due to the variation in unsupported length and confining stress.
Especially, the ground slope has a significant effect on the soil resistance and the shape of p-ypile
loops.

Keywords: pile-supported wharf, soil-pile interaction, dynamic p-y, loose sand, centrifuge modeling.

1. Introduction

A pile-supported wharf is a waterfront structure which has a deck supported by a set of piles.
Slope effect and soil-pile interaction are the major factors that should be carefully considered in the
analysis of the wharf under seismic loading. Thus, this study aims to acquire the wharf behavior under
sinusoidal wave motion by utilizing a centrifuge modeling technique.

2. Centrifuge modeling and soil-pile interaction

A centrifugal machine with a nominal radius of 4.5 m was used to spin the model up to a factor of
48g. A wharf with 9 piles distributed in both row and column was modeled to simulate a wharf
prototype located in Pohang coastal city. A uniform ground was prepared by using an air pluviation
technique. A sinusoidal wave motion with a maximum acceleration amplitude of 0.28g and a
predominant frequency of 1 Hz was used to analyze the soil-pile interaction during shaking.

The soil resistance, p, and pile deflection, ypile, represented in Eqs. (1) and (2) were obtained by
double differentiating and integrating the bending moment following the simple beam theory,
respectively. The Matlab program was used to derive p and ypile (Haiderali and Madabhushi, 2016).

∗
DongA University, Dept. of Civil Eng., Graduate student (E-mail: phapthien12@gmail.com)
∗∗
DongA University, Dept. of Civil Eng., Graduate student (E-mail: xuannghiem90@gmail.com)
∗∗∗
Member·DongA University, Dept. of Civil Eng., Professor (E-mail: sungryul@dau.ac.kr) – Corresponding author

3
 2017 대한토목학회 정기학술대회
[전문연구세션] 항만 및 어항설계기준 고도화를 위한 성능기반 내진설계 기술 개발

d 2M ( z) (1)
p=
dz 2
M (z) (2)
y pile = ∫∫ EI
dzdz

where EI is the flexural stiffness of the pile, and z is the depth along the pile below ground surface.

Figure 1(a) describes that the initial and secant subgrade modulus increased with depth according
to the increase of confining stress. Figure 1(b) presents that the pile deflection increased from
seaside pile, pile 1, to the landside pile, pile 3. In addition, the p-ypile loops became stiffer from the
landside to the seaside direction. The differences in unsupported length and earth pressure induced by
slope configuration might cause the distinct behavior of piles along the slope.

Fig. 1. Experimental p-ypile loops a) for pile 1 at different depths and b) for each pile at 1.6 m depth.

3. Conclusion

Soil-pile interaction of a pile-supported wharf under seismic loading was analyzed through the
representation of experimental dynamic p-ypile loops. Results showed that the behavior of p-ypile
loops was different with depths and pile locations due to the variation in unsupported length and
confining stress. This study might be probably useful for developing the dynamic p-y backbone curve,
which is a major tool in the design of pile-supported wharves under earthquake.

Acknowledgement

This research was supported by the project entitled “Development of performance-based seismic
design technologies for advancement in design codes for port structures,” funded by the Ministry of
Oceans and Fisheries of Korea.

References

1. MATLAB (2016). “MATLAB version R2016a, a computer program.” The MathWorks Inc., Natick,
Massachusetts, USA.
2. E. Haiderali, and G.Madabhushi. (2016). “Evaluation of Curve Fitting Techniques in Deriving p-y
Curves for Laterally Loaded Piles.” Geotechnical and Geological Engineering, Vol.37, pp.1453-
1473.