Seismic design methods in US standards for pile-supported wharf are compared from their principle and adaptability.The displacement-based approach and its substitute structure method are focused on.Effects such as bi-linear approximation of pushover curve,damping ratio,and response spectrum attenuation are reviewed for the substitute structure method.Through pushover analysis and substitute structure method,the deformation capacity and seismic displacement are calculated,and the seismic performance of wharf is rechecked.Combined with practical cases,response spectrum analysis and substitute structure method are used to analyze the seismic behavior of a pile-supported wharf structure.The results show that the response spectrum method tends to be conservative and cannot reflect the load attenuation at plastic stage,and the substitute structure method is more precise.For the substitute structure method,different effective damping ratios will significantly affect the displacement calculation.