Techno Press
Techno Press

Earthquakes and Structures
  Volume 10, Number 4, April 2016 , pages 789-810
DOI: https://doi.org/10.12989/eas.2016.10.4.789
 


Seismic fragility performance of skewed and curved bridges in low-to-moderate seismic region
Luke Chen and Suren Chen

 
Abstract
    Reinforced concrete (RC) bridges with both skew and curvature are pretty common in areas with complex terrains. Existing studies have shown skewed and/or curved bridges exhibit more complicated seismic performance than straight bridges, and yet related seismic risk studies are still rare. These bridges deserve more studies in low-to-moderate seismic regions than those in seismic-prone areas. This is because for bridges with irregular and complex geometric designs, comprehensive seismic analysis is not always required and little knowledge about actual seismic risks for these bridges in low-to-moderate regions is available. To provide more insightful understanding of the seismic risks and the impact from the geometric configurations, analytical fragility studies are carried out on four typical bridge designs with different geometric configurations (i.e., straight, curved, skewed, skewed and curved) in the mountain west region of the United States. The results show the curved and skewed geometries can considerably affect the bridge seismic fragility in a complex manner, underscoring the importance of conducting detailed seismic risk assessment of skewed and curved bridges in low-to-moderate seismic regions.
 
Key Words
    seismic; curved and skewed bridge; fragility; risk; FEM analysis
 
Address
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523, USA
 

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