Application of Direct Displacement-Based Design to Multi-Span Simply Supported Deck Bridges with Seismic Isolation: A Case Study

Abstract eng:
The Direct Displacement-Based Design (DDBD) is a modern method for the seismic design of structures. The fundamental goal of DDBD is to obtain a structure which respond according to a given target displacement profile, when subjected to earthquakes consistent with a given reference response spectrum. The DDBD method has been recently developed for different structural types, including: frame/wall buildings, masonry buildings, continuous bridges and structures with seismic Isolation Systems (IS’s). In this paper, the DDBD procedure developed by the authors of this paper for bridges with seismic isolation is applied to a case study, represented by a 10-spans simply supported deck bridge of the Italian A16 Highway. The key aspect of the proposed design procedure is the target displacement profile of the bridge. It is specified by assigning a predetermined displacement pattern and a target displacement amplitude to the deck. The target displacement amplitude is assigned by the designer to comply with a given performance level, expressed through a limit value of the maximum displacements of IS’s, piers and joints. In the paper, the background and implementation of the proposed design procedure is presented first. This is followed by some design examples and validation studies through nonlinear time-history analyses.

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