Abstract
Pounding may occur between the main girders under the action of strong earthquakes, so as between main girders and abutments. This causes excessive longitudinal displacement of the main girder and unseating damage to bridges. Because long bridges in mountainous areas with high intensity are easy to unseat, the authors studied the influence of restrainer piers, expansion joint spacings (EJSs), and the span on the seismic performance of long bridges. The ABAQUS finite element software was used to simulate a bridge dynamic analysis model considering the elastoplasticity of the pounding effect of the pier and the beam. By inputting El-Centro, Northbridge, and Taft seismic waves, the time-history analysis of the seismic response of long bridges was carried out. The results indicated that a reasonable number of restrainer piers, an appropriate EJS, and a span could effectively reduce the maximum relative displacement of pier-beams. This behavior will improve the seismic performance of bridge structures. Moreover, for a 24-span equal-height beam bridge, the optimum seismic effect was obtained when 3 restrainer piers, an EJS of 70 mm, and a 50 m span were used.
Highlights
From a global perspective, China is in a seismically active zone and faces serious earthquake threats [1,2]
After inputting some seismic waves, the influence of a varying number of restrainer piers, expansion joint spacings (EJSs), and spans on the dynamic response and seismic performance of long bridges with equal-height piers was scrutinized. e main conclusions of this study can be summarized as follows: (1) e influence of the number of restrainer piers on the dynamic response showed that the internal force at the bottom of the pier increased for each additional restrainer pier
(2) e influence of the EJS on the dynamic response showed that the pounding had little impact on the internal force of the pier bottom when one or two restrainer piers were set up
Summary
China is in a seismically active zone and faces serious earthquake threats [1,2]. Pounding between bridge decks with insufficient separation distances may result in significant structural damage or even beam unseating, which has been identified as one of the primary causes of bridge damage in many major earthquakes. Xia and Chen [34] proposed a simulation method of restrainer devices and improved the analysis model of high-pier seismic isolation. To reduce the negative effect of pounding and to decrease the relative displacement of pier-beams, different EJSs (30, 50, 70, and 90 mm) and different spans (20, 30, 40, and 50 m) were investigated. E results indicated that the relative displacement of pier-beams could be reduced by increasing the structural stiffness, and the pounding between the pier and beam could likely be avoided. Restrainer piers were designed and simulated to increase the structural stiffness and to lessen the relative displacement of the pier-beam under seismic action. It was concluded that the relative displacement of pierbeams could be significantly decreased when there were three restrainer piers, which could be a falling-off prevention measure
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