Seismic design assessment of bridge piers location effect on the structural capacity of supports under earthquake action

Abstract

The objective of this study was to assess the seismic performance of two types of bridges structures under effect of earthquake by using different locations and numbers of piers. The results of D/C ratio showed that simply supported I girder bridge appeared higher structural capacity than continuous box girder bridge which was resisted the seismic demand. Continuous box girder bridge had higher seismic demand and lower structural capacity comparing with simply supported I girder bridge. Commonly, the seismic design for two types of bridges models with increasing of piers numbers was suitable to resist the earthquake action for region type B. The results of non-linear static analysis (pushover method) showed that the increasing of piers numbers had significant effects on the seismic design of bridges structures to increase the displacement capacity, force capacity, and decreasing of seismic demand to reduce the effects of earthquake action on the bridges structural members. The bridge type simply supported I girder had higher capacity in longitudinal direction than continuous box girder bridge. Whereas, for continuous box girder bridge appeared higher capacity in transverse direction than simply supported I girder. The performance points which were based on displacement were decreased with increasing the piers numbers for bridges structures supports.