Abstract
Skewed bridge piers are suspected to be susceptible to seismic torsion during an earthquake because the inplane rotation of skewed bridge deck, due to the collision with the abutments or the adjacent spans, possibly causes the torsional rotations in the piers. An analytical study is carried out in order to investigate the seismic torsion response of skewed bridge piers. A 4 span continuous skewed bridge is analyzed by using the finite element method. Various conditions; skewed angle, pounding gap and the locking of steel bearing after failure, are taken into consideration. The analytical results indicate that the locking of bearing movement can cause sharp peak seismic torsion in skewed bridge pier.
