Empirical fragility functions for Nepali highway bridges affected by the 2015 Gorkha Earthquake

Abstract

The Gorkha Earthquake Sequence of 2015 affected hundreds of bridges in central, eastern, and part of western Nepal. This paper presents empirical fragility functions of highway bridges affected by the earthquake sequence. The fragility functions are based on the damage data collected during the assessment campaign conducted after the earthquakes. Fragility functions are presented for reinforced concrete and steel bridges based on data collected from 154 bridges. The results show that these highway bridges are very vulnerable to earthquake shaking and sustain damage even at low peak ground acceleration.