Seismic performance evaluation of steel continuous bridges with rigid superstructure-pier connections

Abstract

This study is aimed at seismic performance evaluation of steel continuous bridges with rigid superstructure-pier connections. For this purpose, two pushover analyses were carried out. The first analytical model was composed of beam elements. The second model was made up of beam elements and shell elements. Adopting this model, a few segments becoming ultimate state at an early stage consist of shell elements. As a result, the horizontal displacement corresponding to the maximum strength of the structure obtained by using this newer model is larger than conventional method. Therefore the proposed method can evaluate seismic performances of this structure more than previous method. Finally, out-of-plane deflections occuring at the corner are discussed.