Seismic Safety of Existing Bridges – Cyclic Inelastic Behaviour of Bridge Piers (AGB2008/001)
Overview
Background & policy context:
The preview research project AGB 2003/014 was able to show that the deformation capacity of existing Swiss piers is of fundamental importance for their seismic safety. In the case of new bridges, modern design provisions ensure that the piers possess enough deformation capacity by preventing brittle failure mechanisms (e.g. shear failure). However, those provisions call for a specific design and detailing of the piers which are typically not fulfilled by existing piers. For this reason some of the current models available to predict the cyclic-inelastic behaviour of the piers can not be directly applied to existing bridges.
It should be pointed out that this follow-up project was already part of the original proposal for AGB 2003/014 as an important contribution to the optimal completion of the latter.
Objectives:
The objective of the project is the in-depth investigation of the cyclic-inelastic deformation behaviour of bridge piers featuring configurations and seismic deficiencies typical for existing Swiss bridges from the 1960s. The findings of the research project AGB 2003/014 shall be extended by means of additional investigations.
Core of the project is the testing of a series of bridge pier models whose characteristics are complementary to those tested in the framework of AGB 2003/014. The need for additional testing was identified by the ongoing project and it is intended to provide an adequate basis for the development of sound mechanical models capable of realistically describing the seismic behaviour of existing bridge piers
Methodology:
- literature review,
- parametric study,
- investigation of the deformation behavior of wall-like reinforced concrete bridge supports
- analytical and numerical models,
- quasi-static tests on large-scale models
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