EFFECTS OF WAVE LOADING CONDITIONS ON THE FRAGILITY OF PILE-SUPPORTED WHARVES/PIERS

Pile-supported wharves/piers are often subjected to extreme forces caused by coastal hazards. For instance, hurricanes Katrina (2005) and Wilma (2005) caused significant structural damage to pile-supported piers (Gutierrez et al. 2006) and wharves (Bardi et al. 2007), respectively. The problem becomes more pressing as the hazard exposure of these structures evolves with sea level rise caused by climate change (Lamberti et al. 2011). Thus, in light of gaps in the risk assessment of these structures in hurricane prone regions, Balomenos and Padgett (2018a) proposed the first probabilistic framework for developing analytical fragility models for pile-supported wharves/piers vulnerable to hurricane-induced storm surge and waves. Then, Balomenos and Padgett (2018b) adopted this framework to provide an initial exploration into the sensitivity of the fragility estimate to epistemic uncertainties in the wave load model. However, considering that the wave period may have a significant variation at or near the coast based on reported periods during hurricanes Katrina and Rita (Dietrich et al. 2011), this study further explores the influence of hazard parameter variation on the resulting failure probability of these structures, while propagating uncertainties in other parameters such as concrete compressive strength, deck thickness, etc.