Bridge Seismic Retrofitting Practices in the Central and Southeastern United States
Publication: Journal of Bridge Engineering
Volume 16, Issue 1
Abstract
This paper conducts a detailed review of the seismic hazard, inventory, bridge vulnerability, and bridge retrofit practices in the Central and Southeastern United States (CSUS). Based on the analysis of the bridge inventory in the CSUS, it was found that over 12,927 bridges (12.6%) are exposed to 7% probability of exceedance (PE) in 75-year peak ground acceleration (PGA) of greater than 0.20 g, and nearly 3.5% of bridges in the CSUS have a 7% PE in 75-year PGA of greater than 0.50 g. Since many of the bridges in this region were not designed with explicit consideration of the seismic hazard, many of them are in need of seismic retrofitting to reduce their seismic vulnerability. While several of the states in the CSUS have retrofitted some of their bridges, systematic retrofit programs do not currently exist. The review of retrofit practices in the region indicates that the most common retrofit approaches in the CSUS include the use of restrainer cables, isolation bearings, column jacketing, shear keys, and seat extenders. The paper presents an overview of the common approaches and details used for the aforementioned retrofit measures. This paper serves as a useful tool for bridge engineers in the CSUS as they begin to perform systematic retrofit of vulnerable bridges in the region.
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Acknowledgments
This study has been partially supported by the Earthquake Engineering Research Center program of the National Science Foundation under Award No. NSFEEC-9701785 (Mid-America Earthquake Center) and the FHWA Pooled Funds Study Grant No. UNSPECIFIEDTPF5-155. The writers would like to thank all those that assisted in gathering the data for this paper. In particular, the writers would like to acknowledge the following individuals that provided them with valuable information, access to bridges, and contributed their time: Mr. Ralph Anderson, Mr. Daniel Tobias, Mr. Allen Thomas, Mr. Mark Capron, Mr. Robert Turner, Mr. Brad Ridgley, and Mr. Ed Wasserman.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Bridge Engineering
Volume 16 • Issue 1 • January 2011
Pages: 82 - 92
Copyright
© 2011 ASCE.
History
Received: Sep 24, 2009
Accepted: Apr 9, 2010
Published online: Apr 13, 2010
Published in print: Jan 2011
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