PRACTICAL APPLICATION OF COMPRESSION-TYPE STEEL DAMPING BRACES FOR RAILWAY VIADUCTS

Abstract

A new type steel damping brace method for the existing railway viaducts has been developed. The proposed compression type steel damping braces is effective in improving seismic performance of whole viaduct block even when adopted only for a few sections of the viaduct, while steel jacketing method, the standard retrofit for shear failure, can not be applied when the space under the viaduct is used as warehouses or shops.
This paper describes first the concept of the damping brace, the design and construction method based on the results of cyclic loading test, shaking table tests and construction test. Then, two practical applications are presented.