• Earthquakes and Structures
• /
• v.9 no.2
• /
• pp.415-430
• /
• 2015

Integral abutment bridges have many advantages over bridges with expansion joints in terms of economy and maintenance costs. However, in the design of abutments of integral bridges temperature loads play a crucial role. In addition, seismic loads are readily transferred to the substructure and affect the design of these components significantly. Currently, the European and American bridge design codes consider these two load cases separately in their recommended design load combinations. In this paper, the importance and necessity of combining the thermal and seismic loads is investigated for integral bridges. A 2D finite element combined pile-soil-structure interactive model is used in this evaluation. Nonlinear behavior is assumed for near field soil behind the abutments. The soil around the piles is modeled by nonlinear springs based on p-y curves. The uniform temperature changes occurring at the time of some significant earthquakes around the world are gathered and applied simultaneously with the corresponding earthquake time history ground motions. By comparing the results of these analyses to prescribed AASHTO LRFD load combinations it is observed that pile forces and abutment stresses are affected by this new load combination. This effect is more severe for contraction mode which is caused by negative uniform temperature changes.

• Earthquakes and Structures
• /
• v.16 no.1
• /
• pp.11-28
• /
• 2019

This article investigates the response of Integral Abutment Bridges (IAB) when subjected to a sequence of seasonal thermal loading of the deck followed by ground seismic shaking in the longitudinal direction. Particular emphasis is placed on the effect of pre-seismic thermal Soil-Structure Interaction (SSI) on the seismic performance of the IAB, as well as on the ability of various backfills configurations, to minimize the unfavorable SSI effects. A series of two-dimensional numerical analyses were performed for this purpose, on a complete backfill-integral bridge-foundation soil system, subjected to seasonal cyclic thermal loading of the deck, followed by ground seismic shaking, employing ABAQUS. Various backfill configurations were investigated, including conventional dense cohesionless backfills, mechanically stabilized backfills and backfills isolated by means of compressive inclusions. The responses of the investigated configurations, in terms of backfill deformations and earth pressures, and bridge resultants and displacements, were compared with each other, as well as with relevant predictions from analyses, where the pre-seismic thermal SSI effects were neglected. The effects of pre-seismic thermal SSI on the seismic response of the coupled IAB-soil system were more evident in cases of conventional backfills, while they were almost negligible in case of IAB with mechanically stabilized backfills and isolated abutments. Along these lines, reasonable assumptions should be made in the seismic analysis of IAB with conventional sand backfills, to account for pre-seismic thermal SSI effects. On the contrary, the analysis of the SSI effects, caused by thermal and seismic loading, can be disaggregated in cases of IAB with isolated backfills.

• Coupled systems mechanics
• /
• v.9 no.4
• /
• pp.359-379
• /
• 2020

Due to susceptibility of bridges in the past earthquakes, vulnerability assessment and strengthening of bridges has gained a particular significance. The objective of the present study is to employ an analytical method for the development of fragility curves, as well as to investigate the effect of strengthening on the RC box-girder bridges. Since fragility curves are used for pre-and post-earthquake planning, this paper has attempted to adopt the most reliable modeling assumptions in order to increase the reliability. Furthermore, to acknowledge the interaction of soil, abutment and pile, the effect of different strengthening methods, such as using steel jacketing and FRP layers, the effect of increase in the bridge pier diameter, and the effect of vertical component of earthquake on the vulnerability of bridges in this study, a three-span RC box-girder bridge was modeled in 9 different cases. Nonlinear dynamic analyses were carried out on the studied bridges subjected to 100 ground motion records via OpenSEES platform. Therefore, the fragility curves were plotted and compared in the four damage states. The results revealed that once the interaction of soil and abutment and the vertical component of the earthquake are accounted for in the calculations, the median fragility is reduced, implying that the bridge becomes more vulnerable. It was also confirmed that steel jackets and FRP layers are suitable methods for pier strengthening which reduces the vulnerability of the bridge.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
• /
• v.19 no.1
• /
• pp.21-29
• /
• 2003

In this study, practical guidelines to check the possibility of some lateral movement of piled abutment were investigated. In these tests, both the depth of soft clay and the rate of embankment construction are chosen to examine the effect on lateral soil movements. The depth of soft clay layer varies from 5.2 m to 11.6 m, and the rate of embankment construction has two types : staged construction(1m/30days, 1m/15days) and instant construction. Various measuring instruments such as LVDTs, strain gauges, pressure cells, and pore pressure transducers are installed in designed positions in ordo. to clarify the soil - pile interaction and the short and long term behavior f3. piled bridge abutments adjacent to surcharge loads. The validity of the proposed guidelines by centrifuge test was compared with the observed performance by lateral movement index, F(Japan Highway Public Corporation) and modified I index(Korea Highway Corporation). Based on the results obtained, the critical values off and modified I, as a practical guidelines, are proposed as 0.03 and 2.0, respectively.

• Proceedings of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute Conference
• /
• 2001.04a
• /
• pp.454-461
• /
• 2001

Dynamic responses of a multi-span simply supported bridge are examined under seismic excitations considering damage of bearings. An idealized mechanical model which can consider components such as pounding, friction at the supports, abutment-soil interaction, rotational and translational motions of foundations, and the nonlinear pier motions, is developed to analyze the effects due to damage of bearings. It is assumed that the bearing's response after failure can be expressed with a sliding model with a friction coefficient between the superstructure and the pier top. It is found that the global seismic behaviors are significantly influenced by the damage of bearings and the damage of bearings may lead to unseating failure at unpredicted supports. Therefore, It can be concluded that detailed seismic response analyses of bridge systems considering damage of bearings is required for the purpose of the seismic safety evaluation.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
• /
• v.19 no.1
• /
• pp.5-19
• /
• 2003

A series of centrifuge model tests were conducted to investigate the behavior of piled bridge abutments subjected to lateral soil movements induced by approach embankments. The effect of clay layer depth and the rate of embankment construction on piled bridge abutments are the main focus of this study. Tests were performed for two loading types: (1) incremental loading applied in six lifts to the final embankment height; (2) instant loading corresponding to the final embankment height applied in one lift quickly. A variety of instrumentations such as LVDTs, strain gauges, earth pressure transducers, and pore pressure transducers are installed in designed positions in order to clarify the soil-pile interaction and the short- and long-term behavior for piled bridge abutments adjacent to surcharge loads. Based on the results of a series of centrifuge model tests, the distribution of lateral flow induced by staged embankment construction has trapezoidal distribution. The maximum lateral soil pressure is about 0.75$\gamma$H at surcharge loading stage, and about 0.35 $\gamma$H at over 80% consolidated stage.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
• /
• v.9 no.2 s.42
• /
• pp.47-58
• /
• 2005

Dynamic response analysis in time dimain is conducted for floating bridges with discrete pontoons subject to spatial variation of ground motions. The Spatial variation of ground motions is considered with the coherency function model which represents wave passage, incoherence and local site effects. The superstructure of the bridge is represented by space frame and elastic catenary cable elements, the abutment us modelde with the spring element of FHWA guideline for considering soil structure interaction and the concept of retardation function is utilized to consider the frequency dependency of the hydrodynamic coefficients which are obtainde by boundary element method. multiple support excitations considering the spatial variation. The noticeable amplification of the response can be shown when the spatial variation of ground motions is incorporated in the anallysis of floating bridges.