Development of a Seismic-Performance Assessment Method and Retrofitting Technology Against the Liquefaction of Existing Bridges

Abstract

In the past, earthquakes have caused critical damage to bridges built on liquefiable ground, resulting in their collapse or long-term closures. In particular, for existing bridges designed in an age when the liquefaction influence was not considered, appropriate measures should be taken as necessary. However, there are many existing stocks of bridges, which require expensive foundation reinforcement. Therefore, it is crucial to appropriately choose bridge foundations for which anti-seismic measures are a high priority and implement the measures efficiently and successively. The present study aims to develop a seismic-performance assessment method and retrofitting technology for coping with liquefiable ground. For this purpose, a large shaking-table experiment was conducted to determine the effects of the liquefiable ground on bridge-foundation behavior and verify the effect of the retrofitting technology. Based on disaster-case analyses and the results of the shaking-table experiment, a seismic-performance assessment method applicable to practical designing was proposed.