The Effects of Free Field Ground Motion Analysis on Seismic Response of Offshore Piles

Nonlinear response of piles is the most important source of potentially nonlinear behavior of pile-supported offshore platforms due to earthquake excitations. Earthquake design of offshore platforms is one of the main parts in offshore platforms design on which seismic soil pile structure interaction could be the main concern. In this paper, seismic response of offshore piles embedded in layered soil deposits is determined using a BNWF model (Beam on Nonlinear Winkler Foundation). Results of the free field ground motion analyses using equivalent-linear or nonlinear approaches are applied as input seismic excitations to the support nodes of BNWF model. Sensitivity of the results to input ground motions are discussed and addressed in this paper. Computed responses are also compared with centrifuge test results.