A RELIABLE METHOD FOR DESIGN OF GRAVITY QUAYWALLS; A CASE STUDY FOR SHAHID-BEHESHTI PORT

Gravity quaywalls are commonly used for the location with acceptable soil strengths. To design a gravity type quaywall, several items shall be considered including: sliding of the wall, overturning of the wall, bearing capacity of the foundation, overall stability of the wall, settlement and the amount of eccentricity (e/B) both in the foundation level and between blocks. All of these items depend on the earth pressure acting on the quaywall. It has been proved that a humpbacked arrangement of blocks make a better response in earthquake condition rather than a regular arrangement. The results of analysis by Sadrekarimi et al. 2007 and Sadrekarimi 2010 show that the earth pressure decreases by a leaning slope at lower elevations [1,2]. Shafiefar and Mirjalili, 2006 utilized an optimistic method for determining the best quaywall geometry [3]. They calculated the earth pressure based on analytical formulations in OCDI, 2002 [4]. However, since simplified analytical equations are used usually for evaluating the earth pressure, the reliability of this method should be investigated. In this study, a design method is introduced for evaluating the earth pressure more accurately. For this purpose, quaywall of Shahid-Beheshti port is selected as a case study and earth pressure is obtained by means of FLAC software as well as analytical formula.