5 research outputs found
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Performance-Based Seismic Design and Assessment of Bridges
Current trends in the seismic design and assessment of bridges are discussed, with emphasis on two procedures that merit some particular attention, displacement-based procedures and deformation-based procedures. The available performance-based methods for bridges are critically reviewed and a number of critical issues are identified, which arise in all procedures. Then two recently proposed methods are presented in some detail, one based on the direct displacement-based design approach, using equivalent elastic analysis and properly reduced displacement spectra, and one based on the deformation-based approach, which involves a type of partially inelastic response-history analysis for a set of ground motions and wherein pier ductility is included as a design parameter, along with displacement criteria. The current trends in seismic assessment of bridges are then summarised and the more rigorous assessment procedure, i.e. nonlinear dynamic response-history analysis, is used to assess the performance of bridges designed to the previously described procedures. Finally some comments are offered on the feasibility of including such methods in the new generation of bridge codes
Displacement limits and performance displacement profiles in support of direct displacement-based seismic assessment of bridges
Displacement limits and performance displacement profiles (PDPs) for the direct displacement-based assessment of existing bridges are proposed. The PDPs are defined as the bridge inelastic deformed shapes associated with the attainment of selected damage states in some critical elements of the bridge. In the paper, displacement limits are provided for piers, abutments, joints, bearing devices and shear keys. Moreover, different approaches for the definition of the PDP are examined, including adaptive pushover analysis, effective modal analysis, and rational analysis of simplified bridge models. In the paper, the key aspects and modeling assumptions of the proposed direct displacement-based assessment procedure are presented first. This is followed by some examples of application to typical Italian highway bridge configurations, differing in pier layout, deck type, and pier-deck connections