Reliability-Based Framework for Structural Robustness Evaluation of Bridges
Publication: Journal of Bridge Engineering
Volume 29, Issue 6
Abstract
Long-span bridges, which are critical nodes of the nation’s infrastructure system, are frequently exposed to extreme hazards, such as flood, scour, hurricane, earthquake, blast, and impact. In spite of their importance, the structural robustness of long-span bridges is not well understood and has not been adequately quantified. Traditional design approaches are unable to provide explicit measures of residual safety of long-span bridges. Current evaluation approaches to ensure safety through redundancy in the event of any localized damage are mainly intended for short- to medium-span bridges. Therefore, a new robustness evaluation approach that is well suited for short-, medium- as well as long-span bridges is proposed. Applicability and versatility of this approach is demonstrated on a three-span I-girder bridge and three long-span cable-supported bridges and the results are compared with those from available approaches. A significant advantage of this approach is its ability to account for and estimate structural robustness corresponding to different user-specified initiating events and different user-specified limit states on a common and unified basis. Thus, unlike existing approaches, our approach can be used as a comprehensive tool to assess the safety of bridges in their intact and damaged conditions to facilitate critical decisions on design and retrofit needs.
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Data Availability Statement
All data, models, or code that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
Acknowledgments
This material is based upon work supported by Federal Highway Administration under contract number DTFH61-14-D-00010. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Federal Highway Administration. The authors also acknowledge the support of CUNY High Performance Center for support with installation and management of LS-DYNA software used in this project.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Bridge Engineering
Volume 29 • Issue 6 • June 2024
Copyright
© 2024 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Nov 24, 2022
Accepted: Jan 12, 2024
Published online: Apr 5, 2024
Published in print: Jun 1, 2024
Discussion open until: Sep 5, 2024
ASCE Technical Topics:
- Bridge design
- Bridge engineering
- Bridge tests
- Bridges
- Bridges (by type)
- Business management
- Cable stayed bridges
- Design (by type)
- Engineering fundamentals
- Field tests
- Girder bridges
- Practice and Profession
- Public administration
- Public health and safety
- Safety
- Span bridges
- Structural design
- Structural engineering
- Structural reliability
- Tests (by type)
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