Abstract
It was confirmed from the recent earthquakes that fracture of set bolts for side block was a typical damage pattern for bridge bearings. Fractured set bolts or the body of the side block which was loosened due to the fracture of set bolts may fall down below the viaduct and may cause third-party damage to passing vehicles or to pedestrians. In this study, a new type of side block named as damage-controlled side block (DCSB) was proposed for highway bridges with the purpose of preventing third-party damage in a severe earthquake due to the falling of the damaged side block parts. A DCSB was designed with high ductility without brittle damage such as fracture of the stopper or the set bolts. Load-carrying capacity and plastic behavior of the DCSB were examined by static tests and shake table dynamic tests on full-scale specimens. As a result, it was concluded that the performance of the DCSB satisfied the requirements considered in the development. Furthermore, dynamic behavior of the superstructure with the varying of the plastic condition of the DCSB was investigated basing on the results of the shake table dynamic tests.
