Sensitivity analysis of design variables for caisson type quay wall

Sensitivity analysis was carried out to quantify the effects of design variables on the reliability indices of caisson type quay wall using Hasofer-Lind approach. A target reliability index from reliability analysis was estimated with three failure modes of overturning, sliding and bearing capacity for stabilities of the structures. The results showed that the reliability indices for both bearing capacity and sliding failure modes were mostly lower than those for overturning failure mode. Consequently, the major design variables affecting on the reliability indices were found to be coefficient of friction, residual water pressure and resistance moment for sliding, overturning and bearing capacity failure, respectively. Especially, coefficients of sensitivity of both the inertia force and dynamic water pressure with high variation in seismic cases were not large and this corresponds to the previous research obtained by correlation study between variations of design variables and coefficients of sensitivity.