Wave is a common environmental load that often causes serious damages to offshore structures. In addition, the stability for the submarine artificial slope is also affected by the wave loading. Although the landslide of submarine slopes induced by the waves received wide attention, the research on the influence of solitary wave is rare. In this study, a 2-D integrated numerical model was developed to investigate the stability of the foundation trench under the solitary wave loading. The Reynolds-averaged Stokes (RANS) equations were used to simulate the propagation of a solitary wave, while the current was realized by setting boundary inlet/outlet velocity. The pore pressure induced by the solitary wave was calculated by Darcy’s law, and the seabed was characterized by Mohr–Coulomb constitutive model. Firstly, the wave model was validated through the comparison between analytical solution and experimental data. The initial consolidation state of slope under hydrostatic pressure was achieved as the initial state. Then, the factor of stability (FOS) for the slope corresponding to different distances between wave crest and slope top was calculated with the strength reduction method. The minimum of FOS was defined as the stability index for the slope with specific slope ratio during the process of dynamic wave loading. The parametric study was conducted to examine the effects of soil strength parameters, slope ratio, and current direction. At last, the influence of upper slope ratio in a two-stage slope was also discussed.

The evaluation of the trench stability under the action of ocean waves is an important issue in the construction of an immersed tunnel. In this study, a two-dimensional coupling model of a wave-seabed-immersed tunnel is proposed for the dynamic responses of a trench under wave action in the immersing process of tunnel elements. The porous seabed is characterized by Biot consolidation equations. The $k-\epsilon$ model and RANS equation are adopted to achieve the flow field simulation, and the level set method (LSM) is used to capture the free surface between the water and air. The proposed numerical model is verified using the experimental data and analytical results. Then, the transient liquefaction and shear failure in the vicinity of the trench are discussed at two different conditions, namely, after the foundation groove is excavated and after the tunnel element is placed. The pore pressure amplitude on the weather side slope is demonstrated to be significantly smaller than that on the lee side slope. Also, the distribution of the surrounding flow field and pressure field change dramatically after the tunnel element is settled, leading to the significant changes of seabed stability.

The excess pore water pressure (EPWP) generated under the combined vertical and horizontal earthquake excitations is generally greater than that under the unidirectional excitation, which may further affect the dynamic response of soil-pile-superstructure-quay wall (SPSQ) system. This study conducted a coupled effective-stress analysis for the response of SPSQ system to liquefaction-induced lateral displacement under horizontal and vertical earthquake excitations. To accurately describe the lateral displacement behind the quay wall, the liquefaction behavior of soils was described by a modified generalized plasticity model with parameters properly determined from laboratory tests. The numerical model of the SPSQ system was validated against the previously reported centrifuge model tests. The results show that the earthquake excitation with abundant low-frequency component causes greater residual lateral displacements of footing (u_x,RF) and quay wall (u_x,RQ ) than that with abundant high-frequency component. The u_x,RF and u_x,RQ tend to increase as the peak vertical acceleration increases for both vertical and inclined piles. Increasing the fixity of the quay wall significantly reduces the influence of vertical ground motion on the u_x,RF and u_x,RQ. The polarity reversal of the vertical ground motion also has a significant effect on the u_x,RF and u_x,RQ and should be considered in the analyses. In addition, the lateral displacement of liquefied ground causes an amount of rotation of the cap of the inclined pile, probably leading to the potential shear failure at the head of piles.