Ground liquefaction and deformation analysis of breakwater structures under earthquakes

Ground liquefaction and deformation is one of the important causes that damage engineering structures. Chinese current code for seismic design of breakwater is based on the single-level seismic design method as well as code for port and water-way engineering. However, this code can not exactly reflect the seismic performance of breakwater structures which experience different seismic intensities. In this paper, the author used a finite difference software, namely, FLAC3D, to analyze the state and compute seismic responses of breakwater structure. The breakwater foundation’s pore pressure ratio and displacement due to different earthquake have been studied. And the result show that: Smaller earthquakes have little influence on serviceability of the foundation, and severe earthquakes can liquefy some parts of the foundation; In the latter case , obvious changes of pores and foundation displaces can be found. Particularly, when seismic peak acceleration reachs 0.2g, Liquefaction appears in the foundation and mainly concentrated in the upper right side of the structure. In addition, the survey of ultra-hole pressure and displacement values of sand layers of the breakwater, manifests when the ultra pore pressure near 1.0, displacement and overturning structure is relatively large, resulting in varying degrees of damage to the structure. This paper’s research can provide theoretical and designable reference for similar engineering structures.