Seismic Fragility of Railway Bridge Classes: Methods, Models, and Comparison with the State of the Art
Publication: Journal of Bridge Engineering
Volume 24, Issue 12
Abstract
This study proposes an approach for developing seismic fragility models based on elastic net regularized logistic regression and applies it to two railway bridge classes typical to the central and southeastern United States (CSUS). Railway bridge class fragilities are not available in the literature despite recorded evidence of earthquake damage to railway bridges. The introduction of elastic net regularization helps in selecting the best set of predictor variables for fragility modeling even if they are mutually correlated. The proposed fragility models are compared to their corresponding highway bridge counterparts, given that current practice in regional risk assessment recommends adopting these as proxies for railway bridge fragility. The analysis reveals that multispan simply supported steel girder railway bridges, the most common bridge class, show lower fragility than their corresponding highway bridge counterparts. However, multispan simply supported steel through plate girder railway bridges, the other common bridge class, show comparatively higher seismic fragility. The proposed fragility models serve as key inputs in a broader framework of quantifying seismic resilience of railway networks, as well as providing a practical baseline for seismic loss assessment and retrofit prioritization.
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Acknowledgments
This study is based on research supported by the Center for Risk-Based Community Resilience Planning and its financial support is gratefully acknowledged. The Center for Risk-Based Community Resilience Planning is a NIST-funded Center of Excellence; the center is funded through a cooperative agreement between NIST and Colorado State University (NIST Financial Assistance Award No. 70NANB15H044). The views expressed are those of the authors and may not represent the official position of the National Institute of Standards and Technology or the US Department of Commerce.
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Published In
Journal of Bridge Engineering
Volume 24 • Issue 12 • December 2019
Copyright
© 2019 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Sep 28, 2018
Accepted: May 20, 2019
Published online: Sep 24, 2019
Published in print: Dec 1, 2019
Discussion open until: Feb 24, 2020
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