Abstract
During the Great Hanishin-Awaji Earthquake, many steel bridge structures experienced brittle fractures, following the large scale deformation of their members. Hence, in this work, various material tests are performed on specimens which are made out of damaged steel bridge structures. The plastic strain, induced during the earthquake, is estimated through the change in their material properties. And then, the embrittleness of the steel due to the induced plastic strain is discussed, in order to study the mechanism of the occurrence of the brittle fracture during the earthquake.
