Seismic Response of Columns in Horizontally Curved Bridges

Seismic Response of Columns in Horizontally Curved Bridges
Author: Michael John Levi
Publisher:
Total Pages: 1290
Release: 2011
Genre: Electronic books
ISBN:

As part of a FHWA sponsored research project to study highway system resilience, a two-fifths scale curved steel plate girder bridge was constructed and subjected to earthquake simulation at the Large Scale Structures Laboratory at the University of Nevada, Reno (UNR). The objective of this simulation was to study the seismic system behavior of the bridge as well as additional components including reinforced concrete columns, effects of live load, isolation systems, ductile-cross frames, and abutment behavior. Ultimately design recommendations will be developed from this research. The research that is presented in this document is the results of the design, analysis, and experimental results of the conventional bridge columns and substructure elements as part of the research being conducted at UNR. The design of the substructure elements was completed according to the requirements of the AASHTO Guide Specifications for LRFD Seismic Bridge Design. In addition, the column design was based on the typical column sizes used by the local departments of transportation. The Sylmar recording of the 1994 Northridge, California earthquake was used as the input ground motion in the system. Analytical modeling using SAP2000 was performed on the scaled bridge model to estimate the seismic response of the bridge using non-linear time-history analysis. Numerical analysis was used to check the system at the design level earthquake and at a large amplitude motion intended to cause column failure. In addition, the analytical models were subjected to the testing protocol, ten ground motions with increasing amplitudes, to determine the effect of the loading protocol on the system. The response of the columns during experimental testing met all performance requirements at the design level and maximum considered earthquakes. The effects of shear keys in the system were shown to have an impact on the torsional loads in the system. At the end of the last test, longitudinal reinforcement started buckling in the columns, however; columns had not reached the maximum lateral capacity. Testing was stopped at this point due to shake table limitations.

Seismic Response and Analytical Fragility Functions for Curved Concrete Box-girder Bridges

Seismic Response and Analytical Fragility Functions for Curved Concrete Box-girder Bridges
Author: Reihaneh Sarraf Shirazi
Publisher:
Total Pages: 642
Release: 2015
Genre: Electronic books
ISBN:

Curved bridges are constructed to conform to geometric constraints resulting from traffic and structural restrictions. They are different from their straight counterparts since the response coupling in the longitudinal and transverse directions and rotation of the superstructure may lead to significantly different seismic response. Observations from past earthquakes highlighted the seismic vulnerability of these bridges due to this coupled response. The consequence of bridge damage on the performance of transportation system is commonly assessed through Seismic Risk Assessment (SRA) of lifeline systems. Thus, seismic fragility curves are essential input to SRA to estimate damage to highway bridges and consequently to the network. The literature review shows shortcomings in fragility studies on the effect of horizontal curvature of bridges, specifically concrete box-girder bridges. This study aims to fill in the gap on the current state-of-the-knowledge in the seismic response and vulnerability of curved concrete box-girder bridges. Since this bridge type is common in California, the modern details adopted by CALTRANS along with the current seismic design considerations from SDC (2013) are used to select the representative benchmark bridges. To incorporate the uncertainty in geometrical, structural, and material properties of bridges into the analytical models, five sets of statistical bridge samples (each includes 160 bridges) with various subtended angles are developed. These bridge models are subjected to four sets of ground motions representing different site soil conditions and spectral characteristics. A total of 800 response history analyses are performed and the results are used to develop analytical component and system fragility functions for a range of subtended angles. A comprehensive study on the effect of horizontal curvature on the bridge dynamic characteristics and component seismic response is conducted. The median of system (bridge) fragility curves are proposed as a function of the subtended angle for each ground motion set. These functions can be used as input into SRA tools. The fragility analysis shows that the seismic vulnerability of bridges depends on the soil condition of the site and ground motion characteristics as well as the horizontal curvature of the bridge. Columns are found to have the most significant contribution to the system fragility curves. The analyses confirm that the current seismic details including PTFE/spherical bearings and isolated shear keys, suggested by CALTRANS, achieve the objectives of capacity-protected design of piles. Since the dynamic characteristics of bridges are sensitive to the curvature, curved bridges with subtended angles greater than 30 degrees require explicit modeling of curved geometry. In curved bridges, the coupling of transverse and longitudinal modes reduces the dominance of the fundamental mode in the bridge response and leads to the contribution of higher modes. The statistical evaluation of structural demands indicates that the curvature and the torsion demands on columns are amplified in curved bridges.

Preliminary Seismic Analysis and Design of Reinforced Concrete Bridge Columns for Curved Bridge Experiments

Preliminary Seismic Analysis and Design of Reinforced Concrete Bridge Columns for Curved Bridge Experiments
Author: Nathan W. Harrison
Publisher:
Total Pages: 542
Release: 2011
Genre: Columns
ISBN: 9781124682358

As part of a Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) sponsored research project to study highway system resilience, a 40 percent scale curved steel plate girder bridge is to be constructed and subjected to earthquake simulation at the Large Scale Structures Laboratory on the University of Nevada, Reno (UNR) campus. The 145 foot long bridge model is to have three-spans, supported on two single-column bents with hammer-head pier caps, and have a subtended angle of 104°. The purpose of the shake table testing is to study the seismic system behavior of the bridge as well as additional bridge components including; conventional columns, isolation, ductile-cross frames, abutment behavior, and the seismic behavior of bridges including the effects of live load. Ultimately design recommendations will be developed from this research. The research presented in this document is the results of preliminary analysis and design of conventional reinforced concrete bridge columns and substructure elements as part of the larger project to examine global seismic behavior of the scaled bridge model. In order to prepare for seismic testing of the scaled bridge model, extensive pre-experimental numerical analysis was performed. Finite element models were developed using SAP2000 and non-linear time-history analysis was performed to investigate the seismic response of the bridge model. Analytical bridge models were analyzed using both 16-inch and 20-inch column diameters and various abutment support conditions. The models were subjected to two levels of horizontal bidirectional earthquake excitation representing a design level earthquake and a large amplitude earthquake intended to cause column failure. Using the results from the analysis, preliminary construction plans were prepared for one set of columns and the adjacent substructure components using the provisions from the AASHTO Guide Specifications for LRFD Seismic Bridge Design. In addition to the investigation into column performance, a parametric study was performed to determine axial response of the bearings at both the abutments and piers when subjected to seismic loading. The numerical analysis showed that system effects due to superstructure-substructure interaction can cause column flexural response that is typically not observed with stand-alone column tests. The effects of bridge horizontal curvature was shown to have a significant impact on the axial performance of the bearings in which the response was not uniform for all bearing at one support location. As a component of the analysis and design, two strut-and-tie models were developed to provide adequate joint detailing in order to ensure capacity protection of the column-to-bentcap connection under multiple cycles of seismic loading.

Seismic Design and Assessment of Bridges

Seismic Design and Assessment of Bridges
Author: Andreas J Kappos
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 233
Release: 2012-04-17
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 9400739435

The book focuses on the use of inelastic analysis methods for the seismic assessment and design of bridges, for which the work carried out so far, albeit interesting and useful, is nevertheless clearly less than that for buildings. Although some valuable literature on the subject is currently available, the most advanced inelastic analysis methods that emerged during the last decade are currently found only in the specialised research-oriented literature, such as technical journals and conference proceedings. Hence the key objective of this book is two-fold, first to present all important methods belonging to the aforementioned category in a uniform and sufficient for their understanding and implementation length, and to provide also a critical perspective on them by including selected case-studies wherein more than one methods are applied to a specific bridge and by offering some critical comments on the limitations of the individual methods and on their relative efficiency. The book should be a valuable tool for both researchers and practicing engineers dealing with seismic design and assessment of bridges, by both making the methods and the analytical tools available for their implementation, and by assisting them to select the method that best suits the individual bridge projects that each engineer and/or researcher faces.

Seismic Response Analysis of a Multi-span Curved Continuous Box-grider Bridge with Multiple Supports

Seismic Response Analysis of a Multi-span Curved Continuous Box-grider Bridge with Multiple Supports
Author: Yifan Wang
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2022
Genre:
ISBN:

"Curved concrete box-girder bridges are widely applied in highway systems to enable traffic to move from one highway to another. The Akşemsettin Viaduct (termed A Viaduct in the current study) in Istanbul, Turkey, is a typical 11-span curved continuous bridge with a total length of 596.8 m. Located in the high seismicity zone, the A Viaduct exhibits complex seismic behaviour because varying ground motion inputs are expected to excite the bridge at different column/abutment foundations. This study investigates the seismic responses of the A Viaduct under different ground motion scenarios using nonlinear time history analyses (NTHAs). In particular, the software of OpenSees is used to develop a high-fidelity finite element model for the A Viaduct, from which seismic responses of multiple critical components are compared under uniform versus multiple support excitations. To supplement such comparisons, a literature survey is conducted regarding seismic damage to curved bridges, their soil-structure interaction effect, and the multi-support excitation scheme. Moreover, modelling considerations of key components are presented for the A Viaduct, and 6 representative groups of simulated ground motions are selected to capture the effects of site-specific surface topography and soil stratigraphy at the bridge site"--

Experimental and Analytical Investigations on the Effects of Live Load on the Seismic Performance of a Highway Bridge

Experimental and Analytical Investigations on the Effects of Live Load on the Seismic Performance of a Highway Bridge
Author: Hartanto Wibowo
Publisher:
Total Pages: 1572
Release: 2013
Genre: Electronic books
ISBN:

Current bridge design specifications have few requirements concerning the inclusion of live load in the seismic design of bridges for perhaps two reasons: 1) the likelihood of the full design live load occurring at the same time as the design earthquake is deemed to be very low, and 2) adverse behavior in an earthquake due to live load has not been observed in practice. However, with increasing congestion in major cities, the occurrence of the design earthquake at the same time as the design live load is now more likely than in the past. But little is known about the effect of live load on seismic response and this dissertation describes an experimental and analytical project that investigates this behavior. The experimental work included shake table testing of a 2/5th -scale model of a three-span, horizontally curved, steel girder bridge loaded with a series of representative trucks. The model spanned four shake tables each synchronously excited with scaled ground motions from the 1994 Northridge Earthquake. Observations from the experimental work show the presence of the live load had a beneficial effect on performance of this bridge, but this effect diminished with increasing amplitude of shaking. During the design earthquake, the bridge with live load was essentially elastic whereas the bridge without live load suffered some yielding and the maximum displacement at the top of the column was approximately 35% less in the live load case. Parameters used to measure performance included column displacement, abutment shear force, and degree of concrete spalling in the plastic hinge zones. Results obtained from nonlinear finite element analyses of the bridge with and without trucks confirm this behavior, that live load reduces the dynamic response of the bridge. The most likely explanation for this phenomenon is that the trucks act as a set of nonlinear multiple mass dampers, a variation of tuned mass dampers that are known to be effective at controlling wind vibrations in buildings. Parameter studies have also been conducted and show the above beneficial effect is generally true for other earthquake ground motions and vehicles with different dynamic properties. Exceptions exist, but adverse effects are usually within 10-15% of the no-live load case. Although the above results were obtained for a particular bridge, earthquake loading, and vehicle configuration, they may also apply to other bridges. Further work is required to confirm this observation.