DEVELOPMENT OF RETROFIT GUIDELINES FOR HIGHWAY BRIDGES

Much recent attention has been given to the development of seismic design guidelines for highway bridges. Unfortunately most existing bridges in the United States have not been designed to resist potentially devastating earthquake induced ground motion. Those existing bridges desiged by then state-of-the-art seismic design methods have weaknesses which may require strengthening or retrofitting to reduce the susceptibility to seismically induced damage. Although limited retrofit information is available in the literature, a concerted effort is being made to develop general retrofit guidelines applicable for use in the United States. This paper highlights vulnerable details associated with existing bridges and presents general retrofit concepts developed to date. A summary of retrofit philosophies developed by several organizations is presented. finally, issues which must be resolved and will form the basis for the development of retrofit guidelines for existing highway bridges are discussed. (Author)

  • Supplemental Notes:
    • Seismic Research for Highway Bridges (US-Japan Program) is a collection of Papers Reprinted Directly from the United States-Japan Cooperative Program on Natural Resources (UJNR) Panel on Wind and Seismic Effects; and the Proceedings of the US-Japan Seminars on Repair and Retrofit of Structures, 1979 to 1984.
  • Corporate Authors:

    Pittsburgh University, Pittsburgh

    Department of Civil Engineering
    Pittsburgh, PA  United States  15261

    National Science Foundation

    1800 G Street, NW
    Washington, DC  United States  20550
  • Authors:
    • Cooper, J D
    • Nutt, R V
    • Mayes, R L
  • Publication Date: 1984-6

Media Info

Subject/Index Terms

Filing Info

  • Accession Number: 00394021
  • Record Type: Publication
  • Files: TRIS
  • Created Date: Jul 31 1985 12:00AM