Analytical Modeling of Seismic Performance of Curved and Skewed Bridges

Due to the current limitations on seismic forecasting, there is a high chance that a considerable number of vehicles would remain on a bridge when an earthquake occurs. In traditional seismic analyses, traffic loads were often ignored. Existing mode-based bridge-traffic interaction analysis usually cannot consider nonlinearity effects of the bridge under earthquakes, which are critical to short- and medium-span bridges. Traditional nonlinear seismic analyses using commercial or open-source software cannot directly incorporate complex dynamic interactions between moving vehicles and bridges. So far there is no reported methodology that can be used for nonlinear seismic analyses of typical short- and medium-span bridges while rationally considering the coupling effects between the bridge, moving vehicles, and earthquake simultaneously. A hybrid simulation approach is proposed to conduct the nonlinear seismic analysis of the bridge/traffic/earthquake system by integrating the stochastic traffic flow simulation, the mode-based fully-coupled simulation technique of the bridge-traffic system, and the nonlinear seismic analysis platform that was developed based on OpenSees. A skewed and curved bridge, which is a common design to overcome complex intersections and terrain restrictions for short- and medium-span bridges, is studied as a demonstration; this is followed by the numerical investigation of the bridge seismic performance and the impact of incorporating traffic loads. The results suggest the proposed hybrid methodology can capture the complex dynamic interactions between the bridge and multiple vehicles, as well as the nonlinear seismic performance to provide rational prediction results.

• Record URL:
  https://www.ugpti.org/resources/reports/details.php?id=959
• Record URL:
  https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/62257
• Supplemental Notes:
  • This document was sponsored by the U.S. Department of Transportation, University Transportation Centers Program.
• Corporate Authors:

  Colorado State University, Fort Collins

  Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
  Fort Collins, CO  United States  80525

  Mountain-Plains Consortium

  North Dakota State University
  Fargo, ND  United States  58108

  Office of the Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology

  University Transportation Centers Program
  Department of Transportation
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Authors:
  • Chen, Suren
  • Chen, Luke
  • Zhou, Yufen
• Publication Date: 2019-8

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 35p

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Analysis; Curved bridges; Methodology; Seismicity; Simulation; Skew bridges; Traffic flow; Traffic loads; Vehicle dynamics
• Subject Areas: Bridges and other structures; Geotechnology; Highways; Planning and Forecasting; Vehicles and Equipment;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01716049
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: MPC 19-395
• Files: UTC, NTL, TRIS, ATRI, USDOT
• Created Date: Sep 13 2019 9:44AM