Analytical Seismic Fragility Curves for Typical Bridges in the Central and Southeastern United States

2007 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 615-633 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bryant G. Nielson ◽  
Reginald DesRoches

Seismic fragility curves for classes of highway bridges are essential for risk assessment of highway transportation networks exposed to seismic hazards. This study develops seismic fragility curves for nine classes of bridges (common three-span, zero-skew bridges with non-integral abutments) common to the central and southeastern United States. The methodology adopted uses 3-D analytical models and nonlinear time-history analyses. An important aspect of the selected methodology is that it considers the contribution of multiple bridge components. The results show that multispan steel girder bridges are the most vulnerable of the considered bridge classes while single-span bridges tend to be the least vulnerable. A comparison of the proposed fragility curves with those currently found in HAZUS-MH shows a strong agreement for the multispan simply supported steel girder bridge class. However, for other simply supported bridge classes (concrete girder, slab), the proposed fragility curves suggest a lower vulnerability level than presented in HAZUS-MH.

2016 ◽  
Vol 28 (12) ◽  
pp. 1533-1552 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hadi Aryan ◽  
Mehdi Ghassemieh

Vertical component of seismic excitations tremendously affects the performance of bridges during the earthquakes. Several conducted studies identified the lack of engineering attention to the vertical seismic excitation as the main reason of various considerable bridge damages during the past earthquakes. Thus, in this article, an innovative system with superelastic properties is proposed for retrofitting and also new design of the bridges which can simultaneously mitigate the effects of vertical and horizontal seismic excitations. In order to investigate the efficiency of the new system, an evaluation is performed through many nonlinear time history analyses on a three-dimensional model of a detailed multi-span simply supported bridge using a suite of representative ground motions of the bridge region. The analyses are conducted separately on the pertinent issues that affect the performance of the new proposed system. As a part of the study, to identify the sensitivity of the new system and evaluate the overall seismic performance, several assessment parameters are utilized. The results show that the proposed system is efficient for reducing bridge responses as well as improving nonlinear performance of the columns during vertical and horizontal seismic excitations.


2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 ◽  
pp. 1-13
Author(s):  
Zhuo Zhao ◽  
Xiaowei Lu ◽  
Yu Guo ◽  
Xiaofeng Zhao

Steel water storage tanks (WSTs) are among the important components of water treatment industry facilities that are expected to remain functional and applicable after strong earthquakes. In this study, the seismic vulnerability of base-isolated steel WST is investigated. A three-dimensional finite element stick model of the targeted tank is created using OpenSees. This model is capable of reproducing convective, impulsive, and rigid responses of fluid-tank systems. Time-history responses of convective displacement, bearing displacement, and base shear force for base-isolated tank subjected to a typical ground motion are compared. Furthermore, time-history analysis based on a suite of 80 ground motions is conducted. The seismic demand models for various responses are established and the most efficient intensity measure (IM) is determined based on the dispersion and coefficient of determination. Seismic fragility curves for different responses are derived for all three damage states using cloud analysis. The results from this study reveal that (i) the convective displacement is significantly greater than bearing displacement; (ii) peak ground displacement (PGD) is the most efficient and sufficient IM for the targeted tank; and (iii) the characteristic of isolation bearing significantly influences the seismic fragilities of convective displacement and bearing displacement and has a little impact on base shear force, which makes the selection of the proper characteristic parameters for isolation bearing very essential. The analysis technique and procedure mentioned above as well as derived insights are of significance to general liquid storage tank system configuration.


2013 ◽  
Vol 739 ◽  
pp. 309-313 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pei Ju Chang

This study focus on derivation of such fragility curves using classic mid-story isolation and reduction structures (MIRS) in China metropolis. This study focus on derivation of such fragility curves using conventional industrial frames with masonry infill wall. A set of stochastic earthquake waves compatible with the response spectrum of China seismic code selected to represent the variability in ground motion. Dynamic inelastic time history analysis was used to analyze the random sample of structures. MIRS seismic capability of longitudinal and transversal orientation is different. Stochastic damage scatter diagrams based different seismic intensity index are obtained. Seismic fragility of longitudinal axis (Y axis) is larger than transversal axis (X axis) of frames under major earthquake obviously.


2011 ◽  
Vol 90-93 ◽  
pp. 3141-3144
Author(s):  
Ling Jun Kong ◽  
Yan Bei Chen ◽  
Jun Liu ◽  
Qi Bin Jiang

To study the application of E shaped steel bearing on the simply supported beam bridge, the Xinhua bridge is analyzed by the nonlinear time-history method and the Midas/Civil software, considering the interaction between pile and soil. The related data are obtained through two computational models. And the data are compared in this paper. The results show that the bending moments and shear forces of the bottom of the fixed pier are reduced, due to using the E shaped steel bearing at the fixed pier. The E shaped steel bearing dissipates the earthquake energy and reduces the earthquake response of the bridge.


2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mehmet F. Yilmaz ◽  
Barlas Ö. Çağlayan

Abstract. It has been seen that bridges are vulnerable to earthquakes by the research studies after important earthquakes like the San Fernando earthquake (1971 USA), the Northridge earthquake (1994 USA), Great Hanshin earthquake (1995 Japan), and Chi-Chi earthquake (1999 Taiwan). These studies show that to do the seismic risk assessments for bridges, fragility curves are useful tools. There are the most used two ways to generate the fragility curves; empirically or analytically. If the damage reports from past earthquakes are available then empirical fragility curves may be developed but otherwise seismic response analysis of structures may be used to develop analytical fragility curves. In Turkey, earthquake damage data are very limited so to develop the fragility curves for the Alasehir bridge, the analytical method is used in this study. The bridge that is studied on is lying on the Manisa-Afyon railway line that is very important for both transportation and freightage. As the most of the country land covers the seismically active zones it is a necessity to find out the vulnerability of the Alasehir bridge. The Alasehir bridge is consists of six 30 m length truss system span with a total span length of 189.43 m supported by 2 abutments and 5 truss piers with height of 12.5 m, 19 m, 26 m, 33 m and 40 m. Sap2000 is used for computer model of the Alaşehir bridge and the model is refined by using field measurements. Then selected 60 different real earthquake data are used for the analysis by using the refined model. Both material nonlinearity and Δ-δ are considered during the analysis. With this study, seismic behavior of Alasehir steel railway bridge is determined. Truss piers reaction and displacements are used to determine the seismic performance of the Alasehir bridge. Different IMs are compared in terms of efficiency, practicality, and sufficiency. Component and system fragility curve are derived for most proper IMs.


2021 ◽  
Vol 48 (1) ◽  
pp. 39-51 ◽  
Author(s):  
A.H.M. Muntasir Billah ◽  
M. Shahria Alam

Fragility curve is an effective tool for identifying the potential seismic risk and consequences during and after an earthquake. Recent seismic events have shown that bridges are highly sensitive and vulnerable during earthquakes. There has been limited research to evaluate the seismic vulnerability of the existing bridges in British Columbia (BC), which could help in the decision-making process for seismic upgrade. This study focuses on developing seismic fragility curves for typical multi-span continuous concrete girder bridges in BC. Ground motions compatible with the seismic hazard were used as input excitations for vulnerability assessment. Uncertainties in material and geometric properties were considered to represent the bridges with similar structural characteristics and construction period. The fragility of the bridge is largely attributable to the fragilities of the columns, and to a lesser extent, the abutment and bearing components. The results of this study show that, although not very significant, the soil–structure interaction has some effect on the component fragility where this effect is not very significant at the bridge system level.


2015 ◽  
Vol 42 (11) ◽  
pp. 919-929 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lucía Valentina Díaz Gómez ◽  
Oh-Sung Kwon ◽  
Mohammad Reza Dabirvaziri

Typical steel moment-resisting frames (MRF) of six-storey buildings in Vancouver and Montreal were designed for three different provisions of the National Building Code of Canada (1960s, 1980s, and 2010). Numerical models were developed in OpenSees to understand the seismic performance of the structures. These models accounted for strength and stiffness degradation through appropriate representations of the beam–column connection behaviours, which were calibrated against experimental results available in the literature. The behaviour of the buildings was evaluated through pushover and nonlinear time history analyses. The pushover analysis results showed that the 1960s and 2010 steel MRFs of both cities exhibited strong-column-weak-beam failure mode. The 1980s steel MRFs of both cities showed soft-storey mechanism. Fragility curves were developed for the steel MRFs based on the seismic demands evaluated using nonlinear time history analyses, which can be used for regional seismic impact assessment studies in the future.


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