Pursuant to Government Code 4526, The California States Lands Commission (CSLC) announced [1] its need for Engineering Consultants to perform a number of structural analyses with ADINA finite element program [2]. SC Solutions was selected to conduct this project for CSLC. As a part of this project, SC Solutions examined the MOTEMS [3] requirements applied to several typical pile-supported wharf structures using the ADINA finite element program. As per MOTEMS requirements, wharf structures can be modeled and analyzed using pushover analysis as well as time-history analysis. MOTEMS also allows detailed modeling of Soil-Structure Interaction (SSI) as well as using “point-of-fixity” approach to model the wharf. In this paper, the typical wharf structure that was defined by CSLC was modeled considering both detailed SSI modeling of the piles and the simplified approach with fixed-base. The two approaches were compared in this paper. The following six models were developed for detailed SSI and fixed-base models:
1. Reinforced concrete piles (detailed SSI and fixed-base models).
2. Pre-stressed piles (detailed SSI and fixed-base models).
3. Hollow steel piles (detailed SSI and fixed-base models).
The 475-year Contingency event (CLE) and the NEHRP Maximum Considered
Earthquake (MCE) were considered for each model for the following analyses (total of 48 analyses).
1. Response spectrum analysis (CLE and MCE).
2. Pushover analysis in the transverse direction (CLE and MCE).
3. Pushover analysis in the longitudinal direction (CLE and MCE).
4. Nonlinear Dynamic analysis (CLE and MCE).
