High-pile and beam-slab quays have been widely used after several years development. They are mature enough to be one of the most important structural types of wharves in China coastal areas. In order to accommodate large tonnage vessels, wharves should be eorrstructed in deep water gradually. However, conventional high-pile and beam-slab structares are hard to meet the requirements of large deep-water wharf. According to arch＇ s stress characteristics, a new type of wharf with catenary arched longitudinal beams is presented in this paper. The new wharf structure can make full use of arch＇s overhead crossing and reinforced concrete compression resistance, improve the interval between transverse bents greatly, and decrease underwater construction quantity. Thus, the construction cost cab be reduced. Take the third phase project of the Yangshan Deep-water Port for example, comparative analysis on catenary arched longitudinal beams and conventional longitudinal beams has been made. The result shows that with the same wharf length and width, the same loads and same longitudinal beam moment, catenary arch structure can improve the interval between bents up to 28 m, decrease the nmnber of piles and underwater construction quantity.
