To ensure the long-term operational safety of frame-structure vertical wharfs in inland waterways,it is crucial to conduct monitoring and inspection of their service performance.The placement and scheme of monitoring sensors directly affect the accuracy and reliability of monitoring results.Therefore,sensors should ideally be positioned within the structural load sensitive areas.However,due to the complexity of frame-structure vertical wharfs and the large number of load combinations,the locations and distributions of structural load sensitive areas under the most adverse load combinations remain unclear.To address this issue,this study,based on a large inland hub port,establishes a three-dimensional numerical simulation model of a frame-structure vertical wharf segment.By developing an algorithm to identify the most adverse load combinations for critical structural components,the most adverse load combinations for each component are determined.On this basis,the distribution patterns of load response points and the ranges of sensitive areas under the most adverse load combinations are identified by using finite element numerical simulation.The results indicate that under complex load combinations,steel components of frame-structure vertical wharfs exhibit greater load sensitivity compared to concrete components.The sensitive areas of steel components are primarily located at the junctions of high and low water levels and the cantilever ends of the front-row steel mooring structures.This study addresses issues such as redundancy and ineffectiveness in monitoring point placement,providing a theoretical basis for the deployment of monitoring sensors in inland hub port wharfs.