Assessment of Shear Forces on Bridge Abutments: Simplified Method
Publication: Journal of Bridge Engineering
Volume 8, Issue 1
Abstract
The conventional application of reduction factors to response spectrum analysis results is inappropriate for the abutment shear forces, which are based on elastic action. On the other hand, adopting the unreduced values from the elastic dynamic analysis does not achieve equilibrium among the abutment shear forces, deck inertia forces, and reduced pier forces. A simplified method is here proposed for the assessment of the shear on the abutments, documented by comparison with response spectrum and time history nonlinear analyses for several bridge configurations. For the analyzed configuration of the bridge with an internal movement joint, the response spectrum analysis underestimates the shear on the abutment for low values of the abutment flexibility and overestimates it when the stiffness of the abutments becomes higher than that of the piers. In all the case studies analyzed, the proposed method approximates the time history results better than the response spectrum.
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References
Limongelli, M. P., Benzoni, G., and Priestley, M. J. N. (1998). “A simplified method for determining bridge abutment seismic forces.” Rep. No. SSRP 98/14, Division of Structural Engineering, Univ. of California, San Diego.
Mander, J. B., Priestley, M. J. N., and Park, R., (1988). “Theoretical stress-strain model for confined concrete.” J. Struct. Eng., 114(8), 1804–1826.
Priestley, M. J. N., Seible, F., and Calvi, G. M. (1996). Seismic design and retrofit of bridges, Wiley, New York.
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Copyright © 2003 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Jul 2, 2001
Accepted: Jan 18, 2002
Published online: Dec 13, 2002
Published in print: Jan 2003
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