Numerical Simulation on the Frequency Response of 3-D Reef–Seawater–Seabed Coupling System Under Seismic Excitation

The seismic safety evaluation of artificial reef islands is of great significance for ensuring their long-term stable operation and the safety of residents’ lives. However, due to an insufficient understanding of coral reefs’ basic characteristics, current research on coral reef seismic stability neglects the influence of pore water pressure and abnormal reef layers formed during geological evolution. To further study the impact of earthquakes on coral reefs in the South China Sea, this paper takes Meiji Reef as the research object, establishes a 3-D model containing a saturated coral reef–seawater–seabed coupling system, and considers the influence of abnormally high-porosity weathered layers to study the seismic response of the coupling system in the frequency domain. The results show that ignoring the influence of pore water pressure will underestimate the impact of earthquakes on coral reefs. The seismic waves with a frequency of 4.1 Hz in the horizontal direction have a significant impact on the reef, and the side parallel to the direction of wave propagation is more affected, while the side perpendicular to the direction of wave propagation is less affected. The reef flat near the seawater side is less affected by earthquakes, while that on the lagoon side is more affected. Highly porous, weathered layers increase the seismic impact on reef flats.