Seismic stability and displacement of an embankment and pile supported wharf

An embankment to be constructed with small rocks, is designed to contain hydraulic fill dredged from a waterfront site. Pre-stressed piles are then driven through the rock embankment to support a concrete wharf deck. The following issues were of concern to the design scheme: (1) The stability and displacement of the embankment which consists of small well graded rock placed on the bottom of the waterfront site; (2) The liquefaction potential of the hydraulic fill to be placed behind the embankment and its remedial method; (3) The drivability of the pre-stressed concrete piles into the rock embankment and the underlying dense bearing soil to obtain the necessary pile capacity; and (4) The overall stability of the system under design earthquake load. This paper presents: the stability analyses of the above four items at question; the computation and computer software used in the stability and displacement evaluation of the system; and the lessons learned from the geomechanic stability and displacement analyses.