Evaluation of Existing Mexican Highway Bridges under Mainshock-Aftershock Seismic Sequences

Abstract eng:
This paper presents the results of an analytical investigation aimed at evaluating the inelastic response of typical Mexican reinforced concrete highway bridges under main shock-aftershock seismic sequences. For that purpose, a suite of 28 mainshock-aftershock seismic sequences compiled from recording stations located near the subduction zone of the Mexican Pacific coast were considered in this study. A family of 9 two-dimensional bridge model taken into account typical configuration of low-height highway bridges in Mexico was modeled and subjected to the selected seismic sequences. The results indicate that the Mexican highway bridges considered in this investigation do not experience significant lateral peak and residual drift demands under asrecorded mainshocks due to their high inherent structural overstrength and their relatively small low-tomedium earthquake intensity. However, the studied bridges might increase their lateral drift demands when aftershocks are considered. Furthermore, when seismic sequences are scaled to represent stronger ground motion intensities, the level of peak and residual drift demands tends to increase as a consequence of aftershocks. The level of increment of peak and residual drift demands depends on the type of hysteretic behavior considered in the columns and the level of ground motion intensity.

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