SEISMIC RESPONSE OF RC BRIDGES USING GENERALISED FORCE VECTORS

Abstract eng:
Nonlinear Static Procedures (NSP) are gaining wider use in performance based earthquake engineering practice due to their simplicity compared to rigorous Nonlinear Time History Analysis (NTHA), and being implemented in the new generation seismic design codes. In this study, a recently proposed NSP for the seismic performance assessment of building structures using the concept of Generalized Force Vectors (GFV), is further validated through application to reinforced concrete Bridges. This method, named Generalized Pushover Analysis (GPA), maximizes the response of a chosen parameter during the seismic response, through the use of the GFV, which are a combination of modal forces representing the instantaneous force acting on the system when such parameter reaches its maximum. In this study, the original GPA implemented in buildings is preliminary adapted to a straight bridge structure and four versions of the algorithm are tested and validated. The accuracy of the GPA algorithm is assessed by comparing the nonlinear static results with the “exact” prediction from NTHA. Several levels of seismic hazard, represented by different return periods of the target spectra, are considered to test the accuracy of the method for low and high seismic demands. Furthermore, the GPA results are also compared with a commonly employed NSP, the Capacity Spectrum Method (CSM). The results obtained for the case study suggest that GPA algorithm for bridges is suitable as a NSP approach for the seismic assessment of bridge structures, demonstrating a good fit with NTHA results and superiority with respect to the predictions of the selected traditional NSP.

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