SIMPLIFIED MODEL FOR THE SEISMIC DAMAGE EVALUATION IN REINFORCED CONCRETE BRIDGES

C. GÓMEZ SOBERÓN; S. OLLER; A. BARBAT

Conferencia; First International Conference on Bridge Maintenance, Safety and Management IABMAS 2002; 2002

The evaluation of the expected seismic damage in existing bridges and of the consequent reduction on their resistance are aspects which have shown growing interest by many  researches and companies in the last decade, with the aim of reducing not only the casualties but also the enormous economic losses. For these structures, evaluation tools that could be applied in the estimation of their future seismic behaviour are necessary. The evaluation of the seismic vulnerability of an existing RC highway bridge, built thirty years ago by applying design requirements which are nowadays obsolete was performed for two seismic scenarios. The seismic vulnerability of the bridge was evaluated by means of Monte Carlo simulation, in which the uncertainties of both the parameters of the seismic hazard and of the structural model were considered. For such a simulation simplified nonlinear analysis models are necessary and in this paper a methodology of analysis based on a simplified dynamic model and on the determination of the maximum damaged inertia of the cross section of the bridge piers is proposed. For the two seismic scenarios fragility curves were developed. The conclusion was that the proposed simplified methodology can be applied as a decision-making tool to the possible rehabilitation of damaged structures.