Efficient Longitudinal Seismic Fragility Assessment of a Multispan Continuous Steel Bridge on Liquefiable Soils
Publication: Journal of Bridge Engineering
Volume 16, Issue 1
Abstract
The increased failure potential of aging U.S. highway bridges and their susceptibility to damage during extreme events necessitates the development of efficient reliability assessment tools to prioritize maintenance and rehabilitation interventions. Reliability communication tools become even more important when considering complex phenomena such as soil liquefaction under seismic hazards. Currently, two approaches are widely used for bridge reliability estimation under soil failure conditions via fragility curves: liquefaction multipliers and full-scale two- or three-dimensional bridge-soil-foundation models. This paper offers a computationally economical yet adequate approach that links nonlinear finite-element models of a three-dimensional bridge system with a two-dimensional soil domain and a one-dimensional set of springs into a coupled bridge-soil-foundation (CBSF) system. A multispan continuous steel girder bridge typical of the central and eastern United States along with heterogeneous liquefiable soil profiles is used within a statistical sampling scheme to illustrate the effects of soil failure and uncertainty propagation on the fragility of CBSF system components. In general, the fragility of rocker bearings, piles, embankment soil, and the probability of unseating increases with liquefaction, while that of commonly monitored components, such as columns, depends on the type of soil overlying the liquefiable sands. This component response dependence on soil failure supports the use of reliability assessment frameworks that are efficient for regional applications by relying on simplified but accepted geotechnical methods to capture complex soil liquefaction effects.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Acknowledgments
The writers gratefully acknowledge the support of this research by the National Science Foundation through Grant No. NSFCMMI-0728040 and the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Rice University. The writers also wish to thank the following researchers for their valuable contributions during the completion of this study: Bryant Nielson, Matt Bowers, Ahmed Elgamal, Hyung-Suk Shin, Ronald Andrus, Scott Brandenberg, Christian Ledezma, Güney Olgun, Varun Varun, Oh-Sung Kwon, Chuang-Sheng Yang, Kevin Mackie, and Terje Haukaas. The continuing help from Frank McKenna and Silvia Mazzoni in the OpenSees Forum is also appreciated. Lastly, the writers wish to express their appreciation to the South Carolina Department of Transportation for sharing detailed bridge-foundation inventory data.
References
Adachi, T., and Ellingwood, B. (2008). “Serviceability of earthquake-damaged water systems: Effects of electrical power availability and power backup systems on system vulnerability.” Reliab. Eng. Syst. Saf., 93(1), 78–88.
Adalier, K., and Elgamal, A. -W. (2002). “Seismic response of adjacent dense and loose saturated sand columns.” Soil Dyn. Earthquake Eng., 22(2), 115–127.
American Petroleum Institute (API). (1993). Recommended practice for planning, designing and constructing fixed offshore platforms—Working stress design, 20th Ed., Washington, D.C.
Andrus, R. D., et al. (2006). “Shear-wave velocity and seismic response of near-surface sediments in Charleston, South Carolina.” Bull. Seismol. Soc. Am., 96(5), 1897–1914.
Ashford, S. A., Juirnarongrit, T., Sugano, T., and Hamada, M. (2006). “Soil-pile response to blast-induced lateral spreading. I: Field test.” J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng., 132(2), 152–162.
Aygun, B. (2009). “Efficient seismic fragility assessment of highway bridges on liquefiable soils.” MS thesis, Rice Univ., Houston.
Boore, D. M. (2000). SMSIM Fortran program for simulating ground motions from earthquakes, version 2.0—A revision of OFR 96-80A, OF 00-509, USGS, Denver.
Boulanger, R. W., Curras, C. J., Kutter, B. L., Wilson, D. W., and Abghari, A. (1999). “Seismic soil-pile-structure interaction experiments and analyses.” J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng., 125(9), 750–759.
Bowers, M. E. (2007). “Seismic fragility curves for a typical highway bridge in Charleston, SC considering soil-structure interaction and liquefaction effects.” MS thesis, Clemson Univ., Clemson, S.C.
Bradley, B. A., Cubrinovski, M., Dhakal, R. P., and MacRae, G. A. (2009). “Intensity measures for the seismic response of pile foundations.” Soil Dyn. Earthquake Eng., 29(6), 1046–1058.
Brandenberg, S. J., Boulanger, R. W., Kutter, B. L., and Chang, D. (2007). “Liquefaction induced softening of load transfer between pile groups and laterally spreading crusts.” J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng., 133(1), 91–103.
Brandenberg, S. J., Kashighandi, P., Zhang, J., Huo, Y., and Zhao, M. (2008). “Sensitivity study of an older-vintage bridge subjected to lateral spreading.” Proc., 4th Geotechnical Earthquake Engineering and Soil Dynamics Conf., American Society of Civil Engineers, Reston, Va.
Chapman, M. C., Martin, J. R., Olgun, C. G., and Beale, J. N. (2006). “Site response models for Charleston, South Carolina and vicinity developed from shallow geotechnical investigations.” Bull. Seismol. Soc. Am., 96(2), 467–489.
Choi, E. (2002). “Seismic analysis and retrofit of mid-America bridges.” Ph.D. dissertation, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta.
Choi, E., DesRoches, R., and Nielson, B. (2004). “Seismic fragility of typical bridges in moderate seismic zones.” Eng. Struct., 26, 187–199.
Ciampoli, M., and Pinto, P. E. (1995). “Effects of soil structure interaction on inelastic seismic response of bridge piers.” J. Struct. Eng., 121(5), 806–814.
Cornell, A. C., Jalayer, F., and Hamburger, R. O. (2002). “Probabilistic basis for 2000 SAC Federal Emergency Management Agency steel moment frame guidelines.” J. Struct. Eng., 128(4), 526–532.
Dueñas-Osorio, L., Craig, J. I., and Goodno, B. J. (2007). “Seismic response of critical interdependent networks.” Earthquake Eng. Struct. Dyn., 36(2), 285–306.
Dueñas-Osorio, L., and DesRoches, R. (2006). “Effect of liquefaction on the performance of multi-span simply supported bridges.” Proc., 1st European Conf. on Earthquake Engineering and Seismology (ECEES), European Association for Earthquake Engineering, Istanbul, Turkey.
Elgamal, A., Yan, L., Yang, Z., and Conte, J. P. (2008). “Three-dimensional seismic response of Humboldt Bay Bridge-foundation-ground system.” J. Struct. Eng., 134(7), 1165–1176.
Federal Highway Administration (FHWA). (2008). National bridge inventory data, U.S. DOT, Washington, D.C.
Kashighandi, P., Brandenberg, S. J., Zhang, J., Huo, Y., and Zhao, M. (2008). “Fragility of old-vintage continuous California bridges to liquefaction and lateral spreading.” Proc., 14th World Conf. on Earthquake Engineering, International Association for Earthquake Engineering, Japan.
Kwon, O. -S., and Elnashai, A. S. (2009). “Fragility analysis of a highway over-crossing bridge with consideration of soil-structure interactions.” Struct. Infrastruct. Eng., 6(1–2), 159–178.
Kwon, O. S., Sextos, A., and Elnashai, A. (2008). “Liquefaction-dependent fragility relationships of complex bridge-foundation-soil systems.” Proc., Int. Conf. on Earthquake Engineering and Disaster Mitigation, Institut Teknologi Bandung, Indonesia.
Ledezma, C. (2007). “Performance-based earthquake engineering design evaluation procedure for bridge foundations undergoing liquefaction-induced lateral spreading.” Ph.D. dissertation, Univ. of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, Calif.
Luco, J. E., and Hadjian, A. H. (1975). “Two-dimensional approximations to the three dimensional soil-structure interaction problem.” Nucl. Eng. Des., 31, 195–203.
Mackie, K., and Stojadinovic, B. (2004). “Improving probabilistic seismic demand models through refined intensity measures.” Proc., 13th World Conf. on Earthquake Engineering, International Association for Earthquake Engineering, Japan.
Mackie, K. R., and Stojadinovic, B. (2006). “Seismic vulnerability of typical multiple-span California highway bridges.” Proc., 5th National Seismic Conf. on Bridges and Highways, Multidisciplinary Center for Earthquake Engineering Research (MCEER), Buffalo, New York.
Matlock, H. (1970). “Correlations for design of laterally loaded piles in soft clay.” Offshore Technology Conf., Paper No. OTC 1204, Society of Petroleum Engineers, Richardson, Tex.
McKenna, F., and Fenves, G. L. (2001). OpenSees command language manual, Pacific Earthquake Engineering Research Center, Berkeley, Calif.
Mokwa, R. (1999). “Investigation of the resistance of pile caps to lateral loading.” Ph.D. thesis, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State Univ., Blacksburg, Va.
Mylonakis, G., and Gazetas, G. (2000). “Seismic soil-structure interaction: Beneficial or detrimental?” J. Earthquake Eng., 4(3), 277–301.
Nielson, B., and DesRoches, R. (2007a). “Analytical seismic fragility curves for typical highway bridge classes in the central and southeastern United States.” Earthquake Spectra, 23(3), 615–633.
Nielson, B., and DesRoches, R. (2007b). “Seismic fragility methodology for highway bridges using a component level approach.” Earthquake Eng. Struct. Dyn., 36(6), 823–839.
Nielson, B. G. (2005). “Analytical fragility curves for highway bridges in moderate seismic zones.” Ph.D. dissertation, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta.
Nilsson, E. (2008). “Seismic risk assessment of the transportation network in Charleston, SC.” MS thesis, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta.
O’Neill, M. W. (1983). “Group action in offshore piles.” Proc. of the Conference on Geotechnical Practice in Offshore Engineering, American Society of Civil Engineers, Reston, Va.
Pacific Earthquake Engineering Research Center (PEER). (2006). “PEER geotechnical group meeting.” ⟨http://geotechnical.ce.washington.edu/opensees/PEER/PEER-bridge/UW-Material/PEERBridgeMeeting081806b.pdf⟩ (March 12, 2009).
Padgett, J. E. (2007). “Seismic vulnerability assessment of retrofitted bridges using probabilistic methods.” Ph.D. dissertation, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta.
Padgett, J. E., and DesRoches, R. (2007). “Bridge functionality relationships for improved seismic risk assessment of transportation networks.” Earthquake Spectra, 23(1), 115–130.
Padgett, J. E., Nielson, B. G., and DesRoches, R. (2008). “Selection of optimal intensity measures in probabilistic seismic demand models of highway bridge portfolios.” Earthquake Eng. Struct. Dyn., 37(5), 711–725.
Reese, L. C., and Van Impe, W. F. (2001). Single piles and pile groups under lateral loading, Balkema, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
Saadeghvaziri, M. A., Yazdani-Motlagh, A. R., and Rashidi, S. (2000). “Effects of soil-structure interaction on longitudinal seismic response of MSSS bridges.” Soil. Dyn. Earthquake Eng., 20(1–4), 231–242.
Sextos, A., and Taskari, O. (2008). “Comparative assessment of advanced computational tools for embankment-abutment-bridge superstructure interaction.” Proc., 14th World Conf. on Earthquake Engineering, International Association for Earthquake Engineering, Japan.
Shin, H., Arduino, P., and Kramer, S. L. (2007). “Performance-based evaluation of bridges on liquefiable soils.” Proc. of the Research Frontiers Session of the 2007 Structures Congress, American Society of Civil Engineers, Reston, Va.
Shin, H., Mahadevan, I., Arduino, P., Kutter, B. L., and Kramer, S. L. (2006). “Experimental and numerical analysis of seismic soil-pile-structure interaction of a two-span bridge.” Proc., 8th U.S. National Conf. on Earthquake Engineering, Earthquake Engineering Research Institute, Oakland, Calif.
Song, J., and Ellingwood, B. R. (1999). “Seismic reliability of special moment steel frames with welded connections: II.” J. Struct. Eng., 125(4), 372.
USGS. (2002). “Earthquake hazard in the heart of the homeland.” Fact Sheet FS-131-02, U.S. Dept. of Interior, Reston, Va.
Vlassis, A. G., and Spyrakos, C. C. (2001). “Seismically isolated bridge piers on shallow soil stratum with soil-structure interaction.” Comput. Struc., 79(32), 2847–2861.
Wang, S., Kutter, B. L., Chacko, J. M., Wilson, D. W., Boulanger, R. W., and Abghari, A. (1998). “Nonlinear seismic soil-pile-structure interaction.” Earthquake Spectra, 14(2), 377–396.
Wen, Y. K., and Wu, C. L. (2001). “Uniform hazard ground motions for mid-America cities.” Earthquake Spectra, 17(2), 359–384.
Yang, Z., Elgamal, A., and Parra, E. (2003). “Computational model for cyclic mobility and associated shear deformation.” J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng., 129(12), 1119–1127.
Yang, Z., Lu, J., and Elgamal, A. (2004). “A Web-based platform for live internet computation of seismic ground response.” Adv. Eng. Software, 35, 249–259.
Yang, Z., Lu, J., and Elgamal, A. (2008). OpenSees soil models and solid-fluid fully coupled elements user manual, Univ. of California, San Diego, San Diego, Calif., ⟨http://cyclic.ucsd.edu/opensees/⟩ (Jan. 12, 2009).
Zhang, J., Huo, Y., Brandenberg, S. J., and Kashighandi, P. (2008a). “Effects of structural characterizations on fragility functions of bridges subject to seismic shaking and lateral spreading.” Earthquake Eng. Eng. Vib., 7(4), 369–382.
Zhang, Y. (2006). “Probabilistic structural seismic performance assessment methodology and application to an actual bridge-foundation-ground system.” Ph.D. dissertation, Univ. of California, San Diego, San Diego.
Zhang, Y., Acero, G., Conte, J. P., Yang, Z., and Elgamal, A. (2004). “Seismic reliability assessment of a bridge ground system.” Proc., 13th World Conf. on Earthquake Engineering, International Association for Earthquake Engineering, Japan.
Zhang, Y., Conte, J. P., Yang, Z., Elgamal, A., Bielak, J., and Acero, G. (2008b). “Two-dimensional nonlinear earthquake response analysis of a bridge-foundation-ground system.” Earthquake Spectra, 24(2), 343–386.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Bridge Engineering
Volume 16 • Issue 1 • January 2011
Pages: 93 - 107
Copyright
© 2011 ASCE.
History
Received: May 8, 2009
Accepted: Apr 30, 2010
Published online: May 7, 2010
Published in print: Jan 2011
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.