Force-displacement response of bridge abutments under passive push

Abstract

Many bridge abutments have suffered failures due to pounding of bridge superstructure elements during earthquakes. Due to pounding of the bridge deck, the bridge abutment undergoes translation and rotation. The lateral translation of the bridge deck towards the abutment is resisted by the abutments through mobilisation of passive earth pressure. The passive earth pressure plays an important role in many geotechnical problems. In the conventional design practices, usage of lesser magnitude of passive pressures is considered to be conservative. However, it is not so under all circumstances. In this paper, various analytical ways of obtaining the force–displacement response of bridge abutments from different seismic design guidelines are reviewed. From the literature review, it has been observed that the guidelines for obtaining the force–displacement response of the GRS abutments resting on Pile foundations are yet to be developed.