Bearing capacity, displacements, stiffness and hysteretic damping of Storebælt Bridge Piers under ice loading

Foundation analyses are presented for two idealized piers of the Western Storebaelt Bridge under ice loading. The geometries and the soil conditions for the two piers are representative for piers on stiff and soft clay tills, respectively. The analyses include bearing capacity, displacements, and backbone curves for use in dynamic analyses. Calculation procedures and numerical results are presented. The soil parameters are determined from laboratory tests on the clay till. The results of the analyses are used to calibrate simpler, more conventional procedures used in the detailed design.