A base isolation system for bridges subjected to seismic disturbances

The study reported in this paper investigates the feasibility of developing an active base isolation system for the protection of bridges subjected to earthquakes. The proposed system incorporates spherical supports, cams and springs which can be optimally designed to minimize the transmissibility of the seismic disturbances to the bridge. The considered example shows that the proposed design is implementable and can provide an order of magnitude reduction in the maximum stress resulting from seismic waves acting on the bridge in the transverse or longitudinal direction. Since the system performance is highly dependent on the rapid unlocking of the cams in the event of a seismic disturbance, careful consideration should be given to the design of a reliable cam release control. This can be achieved by spring loading each cam such that it would be normally unlocked. A hydraulic actuator would be used to force it to rotate to the locking position under fluid pressure which would be constantly maintained at the design level during normal conditions. The actuator would be equipped with a quick response release valve for rapidly releasing the pressure and consequently unlocking the cam as soon as an earthquake is detected. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Seismic performance of highway bridges with fusing bearing components for quasi‐isolation

Modern highway bridges in Illinois are often installed with economical elastomeric bearings that allow for thermal movement of the superstructure, and steel fixed bearings and transverse retainers that prevent excessive movement from service‐level loadings. In the event of an earthquake, the bearing system has the potential to provide a quasi‐isolated response where failure of sacrificial elements and sliding of the bearings can cause a period elongation and reduce or cap the force demands on the substructure. A computational model that has been calibrated for the expected nonlinear behaviors is used to carry out a parametric study to evaluate quasi‐isolated bridge behavior. The study investigates different superstructure types, substructure types, substructure heights, foundation types, and elastomeric bearing types. Overall, only a few bridge variants were noted to unseat for design‐level seismic input in the New Madrid Seismic Zone, indicating that most structures in Illinois would not experience severe damage during their typical design life. However, Type II bearing systems, which consist of an elastomeric bearing and a flat PTFE slider, would in some cases result in critical damage from unseating at moderate and high seismic input. The sequence of damage for many bridge cases indicates yielding of piers at low‐level seismic input. This is caused by the high strength of the fixed bearing element, which justifies further calibration of the quasi‐isolation design approach. Finally, the type of ground motion, pier height, and bearing type were noted to have significant influence on the global bridge response. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Seismic damage of highway bridges during the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake

Many highway bridges were severely damaged or completely collapsed during the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake.A field investigation was carried out in the strongly affected areas and over 320 bridges were examined. Damage to some representative highway bridges is briefly described and a preliminary analysis of the probable causes of the damage is presented in this paper. The most common damage included shear-flexural failure of the pier columns, expansion joint failure, shear key failure, and girder sliding in the transversal or longitudinal directions due to weak connections between girder and bearings. Lessons learned from this earthquake are described and recommendations related to the design of curved and skewed bridges, design of bearings and devices to prevent girder collapse, and ductility of bridge piers are presented.Suggestions for future seismic design and retrofitting techniques for bridges in moderate to severe earthquake areas are also proposed.     

Seismic performance of cable-sliding friction bearing system for isolated bridges

During past strong earthquakes, highway bridges have sustained severe damage or even collapse due to excessive displacements and/or very large lateral forces. For commonly used isolation bearings with a pure friction sliding surface, seismic forces may be reduced but displacements are often unconstrained. In this paper, an alternative seismic bearing system, called the cable-sliding friction bearing system, is developed by integrating seismic isolation devices with displacement restrainers consisting of cables attached to the upper and lower plates of the bearing. Restoring forces are provided to limit the displacements of the sliding component. Design parameters including the length and stiffness of the cables, friction coefficient, strength of the shear bolt in a fixed-type bearing, and movements under earthquake excitations are discussed. Laboratory testing of a prototype bearing subjected to vertical loads and quasi-static cyclic lateral loads, and corresponding numerical finite element simulation analysis, were carried out. It is shown that the numerical simulation shows good agreement with the experimental force-displacement hysteretic response, indicating the viability of the new bearing system. In addition, practical application of this bearing system to a multi-span bridge in China and its design advantages are discussed.     

Seismic isolation of cable‐stayed bridges for near‐field ground motions

This study examines the efficacy of using seismic isolation to favorably influence the seismic response of cable‐stayed bridges subjected to near‐field earthquake ground motions. In near‐field earthquake ground motions, large amplitude spectral accelerations can occur at long periods where many cable‐stayed bridges have significant structural response modes. This combination of factors can result in large tower accelerations and base shears. In this study, lead–rubber bearing seismic isolators were modeled for three cable‐stayed bridges, and three cases of isolation were examined for each bridge. The nine isolated bridge configurations, plus three non‐isolated configurations as references, were subjected to near‐field earthquake ground motions using three‐dimensional time‐history analyses. Introduction of a small amount of isolation is shown to be very beneficial in reducing seismic accelerations and forces while at the same time producing only a modest increase in the structural displacements. There is a low marginal benefit to continue to increase the amount of isolation by further lengthening the period of the structure because structural forces and accelerations reduce at a diminishing rate whereas structural displacements increase substantially. In virtually all cases the base shears in the isolated bridges were reduced by at least 50several instances by up to 80individual near‐field records showed large variability from one record to the next, with coefficients of variation about the mean as large as 50assessing the characteristics of near‐field ground motion for use in isolation design of cable‐stayed bridges. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Effect of variation of normal force on seismic performance of resilient sliding isolation systems in highway bridges

In this study, a series of shaking table tests are carried out on scaled models of two seismically isolated highway bridges to investigate the effect of rocking motion and vertical acceleration on seismic performance of resilient sliding isolators. In addition, performance of RSI is compared with system having solely natural rubber bearings. Test results show that variation of normal force on sliders due to rocking effect and vertical acceleration makes no significant difference in response of RSI systems. In addition, analytical response of prototype isolated bridge and the model used in experiments is obtained analytically by using non‐linear model for isolation systems. It is observed that for seismically isolated bridges, dynamic response of full‐scale complex structures can be predicted with acceptable accuracy by experiments using a simple model of the structure. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Study of the seismic performance of expansion double spherical seismic isolation bearings for continuous girder bridges

The development of an expansion double spherical seismic isolation (DSSI) bearing by modifying the fixed DSSI bearing is described in this paper.The expansion DSSI bearing is characterized by its good ...     

海洋平台结构SMA阻尼隔振振动台试验与分析

本文针对渤海JZ20-2MUQ导管架式海洋平台进行比例为1∶10的模型结构的形状记忆合金阻尼隔振振动台试验研究。首先,根据原结构的基本参数,确定试验模型的几何参数,推导出相似比关系,并对形状记忆合金阻尼器和黏滞阻尼器进行性能试验,确定其基本力学性能;其次,对模型结构进行振动台试验研究,分别考察4种地震作用下无控结构、纯隔振结构、SMA隔振结构和SMA阻尼隔振结构的反应;最后,对模型结构进行数值计算分析。结果表明,各种隔振结构方案对平台结构导管架端帽位移和平台甲板加速度均有很好的控制效果。数值分析结果与试验结果吻合较好。     

汶川8.0级地震绵竹市桥梁震害分析

汶川8.0级地震中桥梁破坏严重,根据现场调查资料对绵竹市公路桥梁的震害进行了分析。首先介绍了绵竹市地质地貌、烈度分布与桥梁的概况,然后对绵竹市桥梁震害进行统计和分析,介绍了几个典型的桥梁震害,最后给出结论和建议。     

铁路桥梁抗震规范与新版公路桥梁抗震规范的比较

2020年6月交通运输部发布了新版《公路桥梁抗震设计规范》（JTG/T 2231-01-2020）（简称"《公规》"）。本文比较了现行《铁路工程抗震设计规范》（GB 50111-2006）（2009年版）（以下简称"《铁规》"）与《公规》的抗震设计相关内容,并分别采用两本规范对25m墩高（D类）、35m墩高（C类）和40m墩高（B类）简支梁进行抗震设计,比较二者地震力和配筋设计结果差异。结果表明:《公规》和《铁规》的抗震设计框架和内容基本一致,在具体规定上如E2或罕遇地震设计最大加速度响应值以及桥墩强度和延性验算方法等方面不同;D类桥梁《铁规》地震力明显大于《公规》,C类和B类桥梁《铁规》和《公规》地震力相当;地震力相同时,《铁规》配筋率计算值大于《公规》,因《铁规》配筋设计基于容许应力法,而《公规》基于极限状态法。     

Improved numerical analysis for ultimate behavior of elastomeric seismic isolation bearings

Elastomeric isolation bearings consist of multiple rubber layers with their top and bottom surfaces bonded to steel plates to restrict compressive deformation. Deformation constraints result in a variation of elastic modulus over the cross section of the rubber layers. In this paper, we describe a normalized compression modulus distribution on a circular rubber pad. The compressive and bending moduli of the rubber pad can be reproduced by applying the distribution to a series of axial springs. We also present a mechanical model for predicting the behavior of elastomeric seismic isolation bearings subject to large shear deformation and high compressive load. The mechanical model consists of a series of multiple shear springs at midheight and a series of axial springs at the top and bottom interfaces of the bearing. Simulation analyses of bearing tests were conducted to validate the proposed model. The analyses demonstrated that a model for circular lead-rubber bearings can successfully capture the influence of the axial load magnitude on the bearing shear behavior. The new model can simulate much more realistic behavior than prior models based on a uniform modulus assumption.     

A parametric study of seismic behavior of roller seismic isolation bearings for highway bridges

A roller seismic isolation bearing is proposed for use in highway bridges. The bearing utilizes a rolling mechanism to achieve seismic isolation and has a zero post‐elastic stiffness under horizontal ground motions, a self‐centering capability, and unique friction devices for supplemental energy dissipation. The objectives of this research are to investigate the seismic behavior of the proposed bearing using parametric studies (1) with nonlinear response history analysis and (2) with equivalent linear analysis according to the AASHTO guide specifications, and by comparing the results from both analysis methods (3) to evaluate the accuracy of the AASHTO equivalent linear method for predicting the peak displacement of the proposed bearing during an earthquake. Twenty‐eight ground motions are used in the studies. The parameters examined are the sloping angle of the intermediate plate of the bearing, the amount of friction force for supplemental energy dissipation, and the peak ground acceleration levels of the ground motions. The peak displacement and base shear of the bearing are calculated. Results of the studies show that a larger sloping angle does not reduce the peak displacement for most of the parametric combinations without friction devices. However, for parametric combinations with friction devices, it allows for the use of a higher friction force, which effectively reduces the peak displacement, while keeping a self‐centering capability. The AASHTO equivalent linear method may underestimate the peak displacement by as much as 40%. Vertical ground motions have little effect on the peak displacement, but significantly increase the peak base shear. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Damage investigation of girder bridges under the Wenchuan earthquake and corresponding seismic design recommendations

An investigation of girder bridges on National Highway 213 and the Doujiangyan-Wenchuan expressway after the Wenchuan earthquake showed that typical types of damage included： span collapses due to unseating at expansion joints; shear key failure; and damage of the expansion joint due to the slide-induced large relative displacement between the bottom of the girder and the top of the laminated-rubber bearing. This slide, however, can actually act as a form of isolation for the substructure, and as a result, the piers and foundation of most of the bridges on state route 213 suffered minor damage. The exception was the Baihua Bridge, which suffered severe damage. Corresponding seismic design recommendations are presented based on this investigation.     

电磁驱动AMD系统控制结构地震响应的振动台试验

本文在此前一系列有关新型电磁驱动AMD控制系统力学建模、性能试验和控制策略研究的基础上,进行了结构地震响应控制的小型振动台试验研究。首先,针对配置了电磁驱动AMD控制系统的Quanser标准两层剪切型框架结构模型,建立了无控计算模型,通过正弦扫频试验验证了模型参数,从而为结构振动主动控制试验研究提供了准确的被控对象模型;其次,设计了电磁驱动AMD控制系统基于极点配置控制算法的试验控制策略和状态观测器,通过数值分析验证了状态观测器估计结果的准确性;最后,在完成以上各项准备工作的基础上,分别对结构输入了典型Benchm ark标准地震动,进行振动台试验,试验结果表明电磁驱动AMD控制系统对结构的地震响应具有显著的控制效果,验证了该新型系统应用于结构振动控制的有效性和可行性。     

Seismic response predictions of multi‐span steel bridges through pushover analysis

In the new trend of seismic design methodology, the static pushover analysis is recommended for simple or regular structures whilst the time‐history analysis is recommended for complex structures. To this end, the applicable range of the pushover analysis has to be clarified. This study aims at investigating the applicability of pushover analysis to multi‐span continuous bridge systems with thin‐walled steel piers. The focus is concentrated on the response demand predictions in longitudinal or transverse directions. The pushover analysis procedure for such structures is firstly summarized and then parametric studies are carried out on bridges with different types of superstructure‐pier bearing connections. The considered parameters, such as piers' stiffness distribution and pier–0.5ptdeck stiffness ratio, are varied to cover both regular and irregular structures. Finally, the relation of the applicability of pushover analysis to different structural formats is demonstrated and a criterion based on the higher modal contribution is proposed to quantitatively specify the applicable range. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

地震作用下隔震简支梁桥碰撞反应的振动台试验

由地震引发的碰撞是影响桥梁地震反应以及造成桥梁破坏的重要因素。本文对地震作用下隔震简支梁桥的碰撞反应进行了振动台试验。设计制作1个两跨简支的隔震梁桥模型,试验研究了梁间隙、邻梁质量比、隔震支座类型等参数对桥梁碰撞反应的影响。试验结果表明邻梁间隙、邻梁质量比、隔震支座类型等参数对桥梁的碰撞反应有着显著的影响。邻梁间隙越大,碰撞次数越少;邻梁质量比越大,撞击力越大。铅芯橡胶支座比板式橡胶支座耗能能力更强,可以有效降低邻梁之间的撞击力甚至避免碰撞发生。从而为桥梁防碰撞设计提供了可靠的试验依据。     

Semi‐active neuro‐control for base‐isolation system using magnetorheological (MR) dampers

Vibration mitigation using smart, reliable and cost‐effective mechanisms that requires small activation power is the primary objective of this paper. A semi‐active controller‐based neural network for base‐isolation structure equipped with a magnetorheological (MR) damper is presented and evaluated. An inverse neural network model (INV‐MR) is constructed to replicate the inverse dynamics of the MR damper. Next, linear quadratic Gaussian (LQG) controller is designed to produce the optimal control force. Thereafter, the LQG controller and the INV‐MR models are linked to control the structure. The coupled LQG and INV‐MR system was used to train a semi‐active neuro‐controller, designated as SA‐NC, which produces the necessary control voltage that actuates the MR damper. To evaluate the proposed method, the SA‐NC is compared to passive lead–rubber bearing isolation systems (LRBs). Results revealed that the SA‐NC was quite effective in seismic response reduction for wide range of motions from moderate to severe seismic events compared to the passive systems. In addition, the semi‐active MR damper enjoys many desirable features, such as its inherent stability, practicality and small power requirements. The effectiveness of the SA‐NC is illustrated and verified using simulated response of a six‐degree‐of‐freedom model of a base‐isolated building excited by several historical earthquake records. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

超弹性-复摩擦摆隔震支座的性能试验与数值模拟

利用复摩擦支座（Double friction pendulum bearing,DFPB）和形状记忆合金（Shape Memory alloy,SMA）拉索,提出了一种超弹性-复摩擦支座（Superelastic-double friction pendulum bearing,SDFPB）。该新型滑动隔震支座在水平方向可适应多水准地震激励,且在竖向拥有抵抗拉拔的功能。阐述了SDFPB的构造特点和工作原理。通过性能试验考察了这一隔震装置的力学特性。建立了SDFPB的恢复力模型,利用其模拟了试验条件下的滞回响应。研究结果表明:SDFPB的耗能能力优良,且具有较好的多级抗震自适应能力;模拟值与试验值吻合较好,验证了上述力学模型的正确性。     

立式储液罐橡胶基底隔震体系的研究

本文针对弹性圆柱钢制储液容器地震响应问题,建立了基底加橡胶斩力学分析模型,建立了橡胶基底体系的分析方程,给出了求解基底剪力和倾覆力矩的分析方法。     

Development of steel dampers for bridges to allow large displacement through a vertical free mechanism

Isolation bearings and dampers are often installed between piers and superstructures to reduce the seismic responses of bridges under large earthquakes. This paper presents a novel steel damper for bridges. The damper employs steel plates as energy dissipation components, and adopts a vertical free mechanism to achieve a large deformation capacity. Quasi-static tests using displacement-controlled cyclic loading and numerical analyses using a finite element program called ABAQUS are conducted to investigate the behavior of the damper, and a design methodology is proposed based on the tests and numerical analyses. Major conclusions obtained from this study are as follows:(1) the new dampers have stable hysteresis behavior under large displacements;(2) finite element analyses are able to simulate the behavior of the damper with satisfactory accuracy; and(3) simplified design methodology of the damper is effective.