RAPID: Seismic Performance Assessment of the Wharf and Pier at the Port de Port-au-Prince

Georgia Tech Research Corporation, Atlanta GA

Investigators

Abstract

The Port de Port-au-Prince suffered extensive damage during the 12 January 2010, Mw 7.0 Haiti earthquake. The North Wharf, which collapsed completely, was a pile-supported marginal wharf constructed on un-engineered fill. The South Pier is a pile-supported structure that was built in about 1975. During the earthquake, the western-most section of the pier collapsed and the remaining portion was heavily damaged; approximately 40% of the piles were broken, 45% were moderately damaged, and 15% were slightly damaged. The extensive damage to these facilities provides an important opportunity to validate numerical models of pile-supported port structures, particularly for severe damage states including collapse. However this opportunity requires that detailed data about the structural and geotechnical conditions that existed prior to the earthquake are quickly gathered. Because the existing data is very limited, additional data is needed to accurately characterize the conditions. Because of ongoing work to repair and replace the damaged facilities, relevant data are perishable. The team will obtain structural and geotechnical data via several means, including (1) meeting with representatives from the Government of Haiti, Autorite Portuaire Nationale, and the U.S. Naval Facilities Engineering Command to discern the as-built structural and geotechnical conditions of the port facilities in as much detail as possible based on available documents and other types of information they may have available and (2) performing additional soil borings and cone penetration tests to evaluate the soil conditions at the port and obtaining concrete cores for strength testing. The objective is to acquire sufficient data to allow these heavily damaged structures to be accurately modeled and used to advance our understanding of the seismic response of port structures. The intellectual merits of the study are: (1) validating numerical models of pile-supported structures, especially for the severe damage states (e.g., collapse) that occurred at the port and (2) collecting data on soils that liquefied during the earthquake and developed lateral spreads that will be useful in its own right as a liquefaction case history. A broader impact of the study is that it will contribute to knowledge of the seismic design of port structures and the geotechnical and structural data acquired will assist with the effort to rebuild the heavily damaged Port de Port-au-Prince. Data from the study will be archived in the Network for Earthquake Engineering Simulation (NEES) Data Repository. This award is co-funded by the NSF Office of International Science and Engineering (OISE).