In t his paper, the effectiveness of steel bellows as energy absorbing restrainers is investigated for steel continuous girders supported by rubber shoes. The steel girders are assumed as three span continuous beams sandwiched in between rigid abutments. Steel bellows are installed between both ends of girders and abutments in left and right sides as restrainers. The yield strength of bellows needs to be optimized so that deformations of bellows are within elastic region to middle earthquakes, and suitable plastic deformations of the bellows are produced for large earthquakes and their energy absorption reduces inertia forces and response displacements of girders. The design methods using equivalent linear method are utilized to determine dimensions of steel bellows based on response spectrum method. Nonlinear dynamic response analyses are carried out to examine the validity of the design method and the effectiveness of steel bellows are confirmed.
