SITE CHARACTERIZATION AND SLOPE STABILITY EVALUATION FOR THE SAN FRANCISCO-OAKLAND BAY BRIDGE

The Bay Bridge connects the cities of Oakland and San Francisco by spanning San Francisco Bay. The western abutment of the east span of the bridge is founded on Yerba Buena Island. This paper discusses the site characterization and slope stability evaluation of the western abutment, conducted as part of the retrofit study. The bedrock in the Bay area is Jurassic to Cretaceous age rock of the Franciscan assemblage. The two main structural features in this area are the San Andreas fault to the west and the Hayward fault to the east. There have been a number of large historic earthquakes on both the San Andreas and Hayward faults. The laboratory testing for this investigation concentrated on the rock since its shear strength controls slope stability on the island. Shear strength parameters were estimated with point load tests, unconfined compression tests, direct shear tests, and density tests performed on representative rock samples. The soil shear strength parameters were obtained from extensive testing performed for the foundation investigation for the retrofit. Kinematic analyses were performed to determine what types of failures are possible in this area. Limit equilibrium analyses were also conducted to analyze potential slip surfaces under pseudostatic earthquake loads.

• Corporate Authors:

  Highway Geology Symposium

  North Carolina DOT, Geotechnical Unit, P.O. Box 3279
  Asheville, NC  United States  28802
• Authors:
  • Beck, T J
  • Kane, W F
• Conference:
  • 49th Highway Geology Symposium
  • Location: Prescott, Arizona
  • Date: 1998-9-10 to 1998-9-14
• Publication Date: 1998

Language

• English

Media Info

• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: p. 52-64

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Bedrock; Bridge foundations; Earthquake engineering; Equilibrium (Mechanics); Failure analysis; Geological surveying; Kinematics; Rock mechanics; Slope stability; Stability analysis; Static structural analysis
• Subject Areas: Geotechnology; Highways; I43: Rock Mechanics;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00760774
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Mar 9 1999 12:00AM