Approximate seismic displacement capacity of piles in marine oil terminals

Abstract

Aabtract. This paper proposes an approximate procedure to estimate seismic displacement capacity − defined as yield displacement times the displacement ductility − of piles in marine oil terminals. It is shown that the displacement ductility of piles is relatively insensitive to most of the pile parameters within ranges typically applicable to most piles in marine oil terminals. Based on parametric studies, lower bound values of the displacement ductility of two types of piles commonly used in marine oil terminals − reinforced-concrete and hollow-steel − with either pin connection or full-moment-connection to the deck for two seismic design levels -Level 1 or Level 2 − and for two locations of the hinging in the pile − near the deck or below the ground − are proposed. The lower bound values of the displacement ductility are determined such that the material strain limits specified in the Marine Oil Terminal Engineering and Maintenance Standard (MOTEMS) are satisfied at each design level. The simplified procedure presented in this paper is intended to be used for preliminary design of piles or as a check on the results from the detailed nonlinear static pushover analysis procedure, with material strain control, specified in the MOTEMS.