Seismic resilience of isolated bridge configurations with soil–structure interaction

Abstract

Assessment of failure probabilities is one of the key points to define the seismic resilience (SR) of systems. Evaluation of the most proper countermeasure—such as retrofitting, recovery, or reconstruction—to return to the original functionality is a crucial issue, which has to deal with economic limitations. In this regard, bridges are fundamental for the network serviceability and communities’ functionality during earthquakes, and in case of emergencies, their accessibility must be guaranteed. In this background, the paper aims at evaluating SR of a benchmark bridge improving its performance by means of isolation technique. It is based on the application of a performance-based earthquake engineering methodology, by the Pacific Earthquake Engineering Research center. Isolation technique contribution is assessed in terms of costs and time quantities with peak ground velocity levels. These outcomes have been applied to estimate the SR of the bridge and thus proposing an attempt of application to a real case study. Recovery costs and time have been implemented inside the traditional definition of resilience and its calculation has been used to assess different scenarios. The paper can be considered as a reference to evaluate recovery procedures by assessing economic performances. Such approach is fundamental for decision makers, stakeholders, professional engineers, and consultants as well.