• 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.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
• /
• v.63 no.6
• /
• pp.809-824
• /
• 2017

The accurate evaluation of wind characteristics and wind-induced structural responses during a typhoon is of significant importance for bridge design and safety assessment. This paper presents an expectation maximization (EM) algorithm-based angular-linear approach for probabilistic modeling of field-measured wind characteristics. The proposed method has been applied to model the wind speed and direction data during typhoons recorded by the structural health monitoring (SHM) system instrumented on the arch Jiubao Bridge located in Hangzhou, China. In the summer of 2015, three typhoons, i.e., Typhoon Chan-hom, Typhoon Soudelor and Typhoon Goni, made landfall in the east of China and then struck the Jiubao Bridge. By analyzing the wind monitoring data such as the wind speed and direction measured by three anemometers during typhoons, the wind characteristics during typhoons are derived, including the average wind speed and direction, turbulence intensity, gust factor, turbulence integral scale, and power spectral density (PSD). An EM algorithm-based angular-linear modeling approach is proposed for modeling the joint distribution of the wind speed and direction. For the marginal distribution of the wind speed, the finite mixture of two-parameter Weibull distribution is employed, and the finite mixture of von Mises distribution is used to represent the wind direction. The parameters of each distribution model are estimated by use of the EM algorithm, and the optimal model is determined by the values of $R^2$ statistic and the Akaike's information criterion (AIC). The results indicate that the stochastic properties of the wind field around the bridge site during typhoons are effectively characterized by the proposed EM algorithm-based angular-linear modeling approach. The formulated joint distribution of the wind speed and direction can serve as a solid foundation for the purpose of accurately evaluating the typhoon-induced fatigue damage of long-span bridges.

• Smart Structures and Systems
• /
• v.3 no.3
• /
• pp.341-356
• /
• 2007

A good understanding of normal modal variability of civil structures due to varying environmental conditions such as temperature and wind is important for reliable performance of vibration-based damage detection methods. This paper addresses the quantification of wind-induced modal variability of a cable-stayed bridge making use of one-year monitoring data. In order to discriminate the wind-induced modal variability from the temperature-induced modal variability, the one-year monitoring data are divided into two sets: the first set includes the data obtained under weak wind conditions (hourly-average wind speed less than 2 m/s) during all four seasons, and the second set includes the data obtained under both weak and strong (typhoon) wind conditions during the summer only. The measured modal frequencies and temperatures of the bridge obtained from the first set of data are used to formulate temperature-frequency correlation models by means of artificial neural network technique. Before the second set of data is utilized to quantify the wind-induced modal variability, the effect of temperature on the measured modal frequencies is first eliminated by normalizing these modal frequencies to a reference temperature with the use of the temperature-frequency correlation models. Then the wind-induced modal variability is quantitatively evaluated by correlating the normalized modal frequencies for each mode with the wind speed measurement data. It is revealed that in contrast to the dependence of modal frequencies on temperature, there is no explicit correlation between the modal frequencies and wind intensity. For most of the measured modes, the modal frequencies exhibit a slightly increasing trend with the increase of wind speed in statistical sense. The relative variation of the modal frequencies arising from wind effect (with the maximum hourly-average wind speed up to 17.6 m/s) is estimated to range from 1.61% to 7.87% for the measured 8 modes of the bridge, being notably less than the modal variability caused by temperature effect.

• Geotechnical Engineering
• /
• v.7 no.2
• /
• pp.67-82
• /
• 1991

When bridge abutments are constructed on pile foundations in unstable slope, horizontal deflections may be developed in the piles and the abutments due to lateral soil movements arisen from backfills. In most of the above mentioned cases, the piles are situated in a soft layer where lateral earth pressures are developed between the piles and the soils. The undesirable lateral earth pressures decreases the stability of the piles. However, the piles may have a preventive effect against lateral soil movements and improve the stability of the slope. For the stability problem of such slope containing piles in a row, two kinds of analyses for the slope-stability and the pile-stability have to be performed. The whole stability of bridge abutments on pile foundation can be obtained only by the stabilization for both the slope and the piles. A reasonable analytical method for the bridge abutments on pile foundation was established in this study By use of the analytical method for an example, several factors which influence affect the stability of bridge abutment were investigated. Finally, for the bridge abutment subjected to lateral deflections damage, the fixity condition of pile head was investigated.

• Proceedings of the Korea Concrete Institute Conference
• /
• 2008.11a
• /
• pp.93-96
• /
• 2008

The near fault ground motion(NFGM) is characterized by a single long period velocity pulse of large magnitude. NFGM's have been observed in recent strong earthquakes, Turkey Izmit (1999), Japan Kobe(1995), Northridge(1994), etc. These strong earthquakes have caused considerable damage to infrastructures because the epicenter was close to the urban area, called as NFGM. Extensive research for the far fault ground motion(FFGM) have been carried out in strong seismic region, but limited research have been done for NFGM in low or moderate seismic regions because of very few records. The purpose of this study is to investigate and analyze the effect of near-fault ground motions on RC bridge piers without lap-spliced longitudinal reinforcing steels. The seismic performance of two RC bridge piers under near-fault ground motions was investigated on the shake table. In addition, Two of four identical RC bridge piers were tested under a quasi-static load, and the others were under a pseudo-dynamic load. The respectively two RC bridge pier is comparatively subjected to Pseudo-dynamic loadings and Quasi-Static loadings. This paper indicated that more gives bigger ultimate strain of longitudinal steels to be fractured at bigger PGA motion.

• International Journal of Concrete Structures and Materials
• /
• v.9 no.3
• /
• pp.345-367
• /
• 2015

Past earthquakes have signaled the increased collapse vulnerability of mainshock-damaged bridge piers and urgent need of repair interventions prior to subsequent cascading hazard events, such as aftershocks, triggered by the mainshock (MS). The overarching goal of this study is to quantify the collapse vulnerability of mainshock-damaged substandard RC bridge piers rehabilitated with different repair jackets (FRP, conventional thick steel and hybrid jacket) under aftershock (AS) attacks of various intensities. The efficacy of repair jackets on post-MS resilience of repaired bridges is quantified for a prototype two-span single-column bridge bent with lap-splice deficiency at column-footing interface. Extensive number of incremental dynamic time history analyses on numerical finite element bridge models with deteriorating properties under back-to-back MS-AS sequences were utilized to evaluate the efficacy of different repair jackets on the post-repair behavior of RC bridges subjected to AS attacks. Results indicate the dramatic impact of repair jacket application on post-MS resilience of damaged bridge piers-up to 45.5 % increase of structural collapse capacity-subjected to aftershocks of multiple intensities. Besides, the efficacy of repair jackets is found to be proportionate to the intensity of AS attacks. Moreover, the steel jacket exhibited to be the most vulnerable repair intervention compared to CFRP, irrespective of the seismic sequence (severe MS-severe or moderate AS) or earthquake type (near-fault or far-fault).

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
• /
• v.11 no.5
• /
• pp.1799-1804
• /
• 2010

In regard to fill loading structures such as bridge abutments and retaining walls on soft ground, the soft ground undergoes excessive deformation, which causes the lateral movement of the ground, resulting in increased risk of much damage. In this study, a centrifuge model test was conducted to check the possibility of lateral movement of a bridge abutment during back filling in a field, and a numerical analysis considering the lateral movement of the bridge abutment under the influence of the counterweight fill method applied during construction was carried out by using MIDAS/GTS as the FEM(Finite Element Method) program. The results of this study showed that the lateral movement of the abutment can exceed the allowable lateral movement value(15mm), and that the counterweight fill method was effective for the stability of the lateral movement.

• Smart Structures and Systems
• /
• v.8 no.2
• /
• pp.173-190
• /
• 2011

As a practical and effective seismic resisting technology, the base isolation system has seen extensive applications in buildings and bridges. However, a few problems associated with conventional lead-rubber bearings have been identified after historical strong earthquakes, e.g., excessive permanent deformations of bearings and potential unseating of bridge decks. Recently the applications of shape memory alloys (SMA) have received growing interest in the area of seismic response mitigation. As a result, a variety of SMA-based base isolators have been developed. These novel isolators often lead to minimal permanent deformations due to the self-centering feature of SMA materials. However, a rational design approach is still missing because of the fact that conventional design method cannot be directly applied to these novel devices. In light of this limitation, a displacement-based design approach for highway bridges with SMA isolators is proposed in this paper. Nonlinear response spectra, derived from typical hysteretic models for SMA, are employed in the design procedure. SMA isolators and bridge piers are designed according to the prescribed performance objectives. A prototype reinforced concrete (RC) highway bridge is designed using the proposed design approach. Nonlinear dynamic analyses for different seismic intensity levels are carried out using a computer program called "OpenSees". The efficacy of the displacement-based design approach is validated by numerical simulations. Results indicate that a properly designed RC highway bridge with novel SMA isolators may achieve minor damage and minimal residual deformations under frequent and rare earthquakes. Nonlinear static analysis is also carried out to investigate the failure mechanism and the self-centering ability of the designed highway bridge.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
• /
• v.22 no.6
• /
• pp.138-147
• /
• 2018

With the recent series of damage caused by earthquakes in Korea, such as Gyeongju and Pohang, we know that Korea is no longer a safe zone for earthquakes and that we need to be prepared for them. In addition, bridges built prior to the introduction of seismic design concepts remain without adequate seismic reinforcement measures, and earthquake reinforcement should be performed efficiently considering economic and structural safety. Preliminary assessment of seismic performance of existing bridges is divided into four seismic groups, taking into account seismicity, vulnerability and Impact, considering the magnitude of the existing bridge's seismic, and prioritization for further evaluation of seismic performance. In this study, unlike the existing anti-seismic reinforcement priority method, scores are calculated based on the seismic design criteria applied to bridges, importance coefficient of the bridge including the zone coefficient and the Importance, vulnerability index of the bridge including the soil condition and the elapsed years, detail coefficient of the bridge including the superstructure form, the span length, the width, the height, the design load, and the daily traffic volume. The calculated score items will be weighted and grouped according to the results. Using this, a simpler and more efficient algorithm was proposed to determine the priority of seismic reinforcement on a bridge.

• Smart Structures and Systems
• /
• v.15 no.1
• /
• pp.99-117
• /
• 2015

The Stonecutters Bridge (SCB) in Hong Kong is the third-longest cable-stayed bridge in the world with a main span stretching 1,018 m between two 298 m high single-leg tapering composite towers. A Wind and Structural Health Monitoring System (WASHMS) is being implemented on SCB by the Highways Department of The Hong Kong SAR Government, and the SCB-WASHMS is composed of more than 1,300 sensors in 15 types. In order to establish a linkage between structural health monitoring and maintenance management, a Structural Health Rating System (SHRS) with relevant rating tools and indices is devised. On the basis of a 3D space frame finite element model (FEM) of SCB and model updating, this paper presents the development of an SHR-oriented 3D multi-scale FEM for the purpose of load-resistance analysis and damage evaluation in structural element level, including modeling, refinement and validation of the multi-scale FEM. The refined 3D structural segments at deck and towers are established in critical segment positions corresponding to maximum cable forces. The components in the critical segment region are modeled as a full 3D FEM and fitted into the 3D space frame FEM. The boundary conditions between beam and shell elements are performed conforming to equivalent stiffness, effective mass and compatibility of deformation. The 3D multi-scale FEM is verified by the in-situ measured dynamic characteristics and static response. A good agreement between the FEM and measurement results indicates that the 3D multi-scale FEM is precise and efficient for WASHMS and SHRS of SCB. In addition, stress distribution and concentration of the critical segments in the 3D multi-scale FEM under temperature loads, static wind loads and equivalent seismic loads are investigated. Stress concentration elements under equivalent seismic loads exist in the anchor zone in steel/concrete beam and the anchor plate edge in steel anchor box of the towers.