A Design Method on Temperature Girder Deformations and Estimation Method of Seismic Maximum Displacement of Steel Bellows as Energy Absorbing Seismic Control Devices

Abstract

This paper proposes a design method of steel bellows as seismic control devices for girder bridges on temperature girder deformations. Steel bellows are connected between girders and abutments in order to reduce the damage of superstructures and substructures. Local plastic strains of bellows are permitted due to temperature expansion and contraction of girders considering fatigue strength. This paper also proposes an estimation method of seismic maximum displacement of steel bellows using nonlinear response spectrum. The size of bellows can be designed based on the proposed methods and the maximum displacements are estimated using nonlinear response spectrum. The estimated values are compared with calculated values by FEM and the estimated values agree fairly well with those of the non-linear time history analyses.