Abstract
The bridge foundations are constructed mainly below ground or water level. The rehabilitation of a foundation is difficult, and the results of evaluation of structural conditions are usually inaccurate. Furthermore, there are many cases that after natural disasters such as earthquakes, typhoons and floods, it is required to rapidly evaluate bridge substructure conditions for a judging decision on being able to open the bridge to traffic or not. Impact vibration test method has been developed to deal with such problems. Impact vibration test method is a non-destructive dynamic test method which allows to evaluate structural conditions of bridge substructures promptly with a good soundness. In this study, firstly, impact vibration test method, which is one of the utilizable non-destructive tests on the scouring of bridge substructure, is presented. Then, application of the test method for substructure evaluation of a bridge in Vietnam is introduced. The soundness and effectiveness of test method is also discussed.
Highlights
A bridge substructure is designed to resist vertical settlement resulting from dead and live loads, and lateral movement and rotation caused by temperature change, friction, wind, water, and seismic loads
In case where the natural frequency of bridge pier was obtained by measurement immediately after bridge construction, this initial value can be taken as the standard value of natural frequency, and a quantitative evaluation of the foundation’s bearing capacity or the degree of deterioration in the pier can be accurately carried out by comparing the standard value with the frequency obtained at the time of evaluation
Measured value of natural frequency can be taken as standard value
Summary
A bridge substructure is designed to resist vertical settlement resulting from dead and live loads, and lateral movement and rotation caused by temperature change, friction, wind, water, and seismic loads. The bridge substructure and its connection to the footing must resist moments, shear, and compressive forces. The footing must resist lateral, vertical, and rotational movements. The bridge substructure condition rating is governed by the condition of its structure and the dimension and type of footing (shallow, deep, or combined). Deformation and damage of substructure and its foundation will greatly affect traffic service and safety. There are three (3) major phenomena of substructure foundation damage, namely, settlement, inclination and scour. Scour is considered as the most common cause of bridge substructure failure. Scour occurs progressively as supporting material under a footing is removed during flood events and is replaced with material that has little or no bearing capacity
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