Investigation of Soil and Quay Wall Interaction Under Seismic Loading

Abstract

Optimal design of Quay Walls against seismic forces has become a challenge for engineers. For countries that are placed on the earthquake belt, it is very important to investigate the strength and behavior of quay walls against earthquakes. In this study, the behavior of cantilever concrete quay walls placed on the saturated cohesive soil is studied using finite element method in ANSYS Software. Patterns of the interaction between soil and structure prove to be very complicated. On the other hand, with the consideration of the interactions between soil and structure under the seismic forces, the problem will be made much more complicated. In the present study, height of the quay walls, soil type, strength and duration of the earthquake on the Bending moment against the wall are considered and pressure distributions behind the wall have been investigated.