NAVFAC Dry Dock Repairs: Dynamic Soil Structure Interaction Analyses Confirmed Design Solution in Real Time

The US Navy (Navy) completed an accelerated progressive design-build (PDB) retrofit of three dry docks in the Pacific Northwest. The retrofit design followed conventional limit equilibrium analyses to provide design solutions in real time to allow construction to commence, continue, and finish to meet deadlines for drydocking of Navy vessels. In combination with the traditional analyses, the Navy authorized the team to complete two- and three-dimensional (2D and 3D), dynamic, soil-structure interaction modeling to provide a more robust evaluation of the permanency of the construction. The modeling showed that the dry docks would survive the design earthquake ground motions, meeting the no-collapse and repairable damage criteria.