Stochastic responses of isolated bridge with triple concave friction pendulum bearing under spatially varying ground motion

Abstract

This study aims to investigate the stochastic response of isolated and non-isolated highway bridges subjected to spatially varying earthquake ground motion model. This model includes wave passage, incoherence and site response effects. The wave passage effect is examined by using various wave velocities. The incoherency effect is investigated by considering the Harichandran and Vanmarcke coherency model. The site response effect is considered by selecting homogeneous firm, medium and soft soil types where the bridge supports are constructed. The ground motion is described by power spectral density function and applied to each support point. Triple concave friction pendulum (TCFP) bearing which is more effective than other seismic isolation systems is used for seismic isolation. To implement seismic isolation procedure, TCFP bearing devices are placed at each of the support points of the deck. In the analysis, the bridge selected is a five-span featuring cast-in-place concrete box girder superstructure supported on reinforced concrete columns. Foundation supported highway bridge is regarded as three regions and compared its different situation in the stochastic analysis. The stochastic analyses results show that spatially varying ground motion has important effects on the stochastic response of the isolated and non-isolated bridges as long span structures.