Rapid evaluation and damage assessment of instrumented highway bridges

This study focuses on the use of strong motion data recorded during earthquakes and aftershocks to provide a preliminary assessment of the structural integrity and possible damage in bridges. A system identification technique is used to determine dynamical characteristics and high‐fidelity first‐order linear models of a bridge from low level earthquake excitations. A finite element model is developed and updated using a genetic algorithm optimization scheme to match the frequencies identified and to simulate data from a damaging earthquake for the bridge. Here, two criteria are used to determine the state of the structure. The first criteria uses the error between the data recorded or simulated by the calibrated nonlinear finite element model and the data predicted by the linear model. The second criteria compares relative displacements of the structure with displacement thresholds identified using a pushover analysis. The use of this technique can provide an almost immediate, yet reliable, assessment of the structural health of an instrumented bridge after a seismic event. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Nonlinear FE model updating and reconstruction of the response of an instrumented seismic isolated bridge to the 2010 Maule Chile earthquake

Nonlinear finite element (FE) modeling has been widely used to investigate the effects of seismic isolation on the response of bridges to earthquakes. However, most FE models of seismic isolated bridges (SIB) have used seismic isolator models calibrated from component test data, while the prediction accuracy of nonlinear FE models of SIB is rarely addressed by using data recorded from instrumented bridges. In this paper, the accuracy of a state‐of‐the‐art FE model is studied through nonlinear FE model updating (FEMU) of an existing instrumented SIB, the Marga‐Marga Bridge located in Viña del Mar, Chile. The seismic isolator models are updated in 2 phases: component‐wise and system‐wise FEMU. The isolator model parameters obtained from 23 isolator component tests show large scatter, and poor goodness of fit of the FE‐predicted bridge response to the 2010 Mw 8.8 Maule, Chile Earthquake is obtained when most of those parameter sets are used for the isolator elements of the bridge model. In contrast, good agreement is obtained between the FE‐predicted and measured bridge response when the isolator model parameters are calibrated using the bridge response data recorded during the mega‐earthquake. Nonlinear FEMU is conducted by solving single‐ and multiobjective optimization problems using high‐throughput cloud computing. The updated FE model is then used to reconstruct response quantities not recorded during the earthquake, gaining more insight into the effects of seismic isolation on the response of the bridge during the strong earthquake.     

基于性能的地震工程研究的新进展及对结构非线性分析的要求

结合国际地震工程界提出的新一代基于性能的地震工程的框架方法,重点阐述了性能评估中涉及的主要问题。对性能评估使用的静力非线性分析、动力非线性分析方法进行了总结,在此基础上详细阐述了在基于概率的性能评估中有应用前景的增量动力分析方法的概念、相关问题及其应用,并简要介绍了基于增量动力分析思想提出的一些简化方法。最后提出了今后研究的建议,特别是结构非线性分析方面的研究重点。     

Ambient vibration based seismic evaluation of isolated Gülburnu highway bridge

This paper describes ambient vibration based seismic evaluation procedure of an isolated highway bridge. The procedure includes finite element modeling, ambient vibration testing, finite element model updating and time history analysis. Gülburnu Highway Bridge located on the Giresun–Espiye state highway is selected as a case study. Three dimensional finite element model of the bridge is created by SAP2000 software to determine the dynamic characteristics analytically. Since input force is not measured, Operational Modal Analysis is applied to identify dynamic characteristics. Enhanced Frequency Domain Decomposition and Stochastic Subspace Identification methods are used to obtain experimental dynamic characteristics. Analytical and experimental dynamic characteristic are compared with each other and finite element model of the bridge is updated by changing of material properties to reduce the differences between the results. Analytical model of the bridge after model updating is analyzed using 1992 Erzincan earthquake record to determine the seismic behavior. EW, NS and UP components of the ground motion are applied to the bridge at the longitudinal, transverse and vertical directions, respectively. It is demonstrated that the ambient vibration measurements are enough to identify the most significant modes of highway bridges. Maximum differences between the natural frequencies are reduced averagely from 9% to 2% by model updating. It is seen from the earthquake analyses that friction pendulum isolators are very effective in reducing the displacements and internal forces.     

Incremental dynamic analysis for estimating seismic performance sensitivity and uncertainty

Incremental dynamic analysis (IDA) is presented as a powerful tool to evaluate the variability in the seismic demand and capacity of non‐deterministic structural models, building upon existing methodologies of Monte Carlo simulation and approximate moment‐estimation. A nine‐story steel moment‐resisting frame is used as a testbed, employing parameterized moment‐rotation relationships with non‐deterministic quadrilinear backbones for the beam plastic‐hinges. The uncertain properties of the backbones include the yield moment, the post‐yield hardening ratio, the end‐of‐hardening rotation, the slope of the descending branch, the residual moment capacity and the ultimate rotation reached. IDA is employed to accurately assess the seismic performance of the model for any combination of the parameters by performing multiple nonlinear timehistory analyses for a suite of ground motion records. Sensitivity analyses on both the IDA and the static pushover level reveal the yield moment and the two rotational‐ductility parameters to be the most influential for the frame behavior. To propagate the parametric uncertainty to the actual seismic performance we employ (a) Monte Carlo simulation with latin hypercube sampling, (b) point‐estimate and (c) first‐order second‐moment techniques, thus offering competing methods that represent different compromises between speed and accuracy. The final results provide firm ground for challenging current assumptions in seismic guidelines on using a median‐parameter model to estimate the median seismic performance and employing the well‐known square‐root‐sum‐of‐squares rule to combine aleatory randomness and epistemic uncertainty. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Seismic damage accumulation in multiple mainshock–aftershock sequences

Earthquakes are generally clustered, both in time and space. Conventionally, each cluster is made of foreshocks, the mainshock, and aftershocks. Seismic damage can possibly accumulate because of the effects of multiple earthquakes in one cluster and/or because the structure is unrepaired between different clusters. Typically, the performance-based earthquake engineering (PBEE) framework neglects seismic damage accumulation. This is because (i) probabilistic seismic hazard analysis (PSHA) only refers to mainshocks and (ii) classical fragility curves represent the failure probability in one event, of given intensity, only. However, for life cycle assessment, it can be necessary to account for the build-up of seismic losses because of damage in multiple events. It has been already demonstrated that a Markovian model (i.e., a Markov chain), accounting for damage accumulation in multiple mainshocks, can be calibrated by maintaining PSHA from the classical PBEE framework and replacing structural fragility with a set of state-dependent fragility curves. In fact, the Markov chain also works when damage accumulates in multiple aftershocks from a single mainshock of known magnitude and location, if aftershock PSHA replaces classical PSHA. Herein, this model is extended further, developing a Markovian model that accounts, at the same time, for damage accumulation: (i) within any mainshock–aftershock seismic sequence and (ii) among multiple sequences. The model is illustrated through applications to a series of six-story reinforced concrete moment-resisting frame buildings designed for three sites with different seismic hazard levels in Italy. The time-variant reliability assessment results are compared with the classical PBEE approach and the accumulation model that only considers mainshocks, so as to address the relevance of aftershocks for life cycle assessment.     

Direct estimation of the seismic demand and capacity of oscillators with multi‐linear static pushovers through IDA

SPO2IDA is introduced, a software tool that is capable of recreating the seismic behaviour of oscillators with complex quadrilinear backbones. It provides a direct connection between the static pushover (SPO) curve and the results of incremental dynamic analysis (IDA), a computer‐intensive procedure that offers thorough demand and capacity prediction capability by using a series of nonlinear dynamic analyses under a suitably scaled suite of ground motion records. To achieve this, the seismic behaviour of numerous single‐degree‐of‐freedom (SDOF) systems is investigated through IDA. The oscillators have a wide range of periods and feature pinching hysteresis with backbones ranging from simple bilinear to complex quadrilinear with an elastic, a hardening and a negative‐stiffness segment plus a final residual plateau that terminates with a drop to zero strength. An efficient method is introduced to treat the backbone shape by summarizing the analysis results into the 16, 50 and 84% fractile IDA curves, reducing them to a few shape parameters and finding simpler backbones that reproduce the IDA curves of complex ones. Thus, vast economies are realized while important intuition is gained on the role of the backbone shape to the seismic performance. The final product is SPO2IDA, an accurate, spreadsheet‐level tool for performance‐based earthquake engineering that can rapidly estimate demands and limit‐state capacities, strength reduction R‐factors and inelastic displacement ratios for any SDOF system with such a quadrilinear SPO curve. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Analytical study of performance evaluation for seismic retrofitting of reinforced concrete building using 3D dynamic nonlinear finite element analysis

This paper presents three-dimensional fi nite element (FE) analyses of an all-frame model of a three-story reinforced concrete (RC) building damaged in the 1999 Taiwan Chi-Chi Earthquake. Non-structural brick walls of the building acted as a seismic resistant element although their contributions were neglected in the design. Hence, the entire structure of a typical frame was modeled and static and dynamic nonlinear analyses were conducted to evaluate the contributions of the brick walls. However, the results of the analyses were considerably overestimated due to coarse mesh discretizations, which were unavoidable due to limited computer resources. This study corrects the overestimations by modifying (1) the tensile strengths and (2) shear stiffness reduction factors of concrete and brick. The results indicate that brick walls improve frame strength although shear failures are caused in columns shortened by spandrel walls. Then, the effectiveness of three types of seismic retrofi ts is evaluated. The maximum drift of the firstoor is reduced by 89.3%, 94.8%, and 27.5% by Steel-confi ned, Full-RC, and Full-brick models, respectively. Finally, feasibility analyses of models with soils were conducted. The analyses indicated that the soils elongate the natural period of building models although no signifi cant differences were observed.     

Experimental multi‐level seismic performance assessment of 3D RC frame designed for damage avoidance

This paper experimentally investigates the application of damage avoidance design (DAD) philosophy to moment‐resisting frames with particular emphasis on detailing of rocking interfaces. An 80% scale three‐dimensional rocking beam–column joint sub‐assembly designed and detailed based on damage avoidance principles is constructed and tested. Incremental dynamic analysis is used for selecting ground motion records to be applied to the sub‐assembly for conducting a multi‐level seismic performance assessment (MSPA). Analyses are conducted to obtain displacement demands due to the selected near‐ and medium‐field ground motions that represent different levels of seismic hazard. Thus, predicted displacement time histories are applied to the sub‐assembly for conducting quasi‐earthquake displacement tests. The sub‐assembly performed well reaching drifts up to 4.7% with only minor spalling occurring at rocking beam interfaces and minor flexural cracks in beams. Yielding of post‐tensioning threaded bars occurred, but the sub‐assembly did not collapse. The externally attached energy dissipators provided large hysteretic dissipation during large drift cycles. The sub‐assembly satisfied all three seismic performance requirements, thereby verifying the superior performance of the DAD philosophy. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

An efficient method for estimating the collapse risk of structures in seismic regions

Assessing the probability of collapse is a computationally demanding component of performance‐based earthquake engineering. This paper examines various aspects involved in the computation of the mean annual frequency of collapse (λ_c) and proposes an efficient method for estimating the sidesway collapse risk of structures in seismic regions. By deaggregating the mean annual frequency of collapse, it is shown that the mean annual frequency of collapse is typically dominated by earthquake ground motion intensities corresponding to the lower half of the collapse fragility curve. Uncertainty in the collapse fragility curve and mean annual frequency of collapse as a function of the number of ground motions used in calculations is also quantified, and it is shown that using a small number of ground motions can lead to unreliable estimates of a structure's collapse risk. The proposed method is shown to significantly reduce the computational effort and uncertainty in the estimate. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A web‐based methodology for the prediction of approximate IDA curves

A web‐based methodology for the prediction of approximate IDA curves, which consists of two independent processes, is proposed. The result of the first process is a response database of the SDOF model, whereas the second process involves the prediction of approximate IDA curves from the response database by using n‐dimensional linear interpolation. Such an approach enables user‐friendly prediction of the seismic response parameters with high accuracy. In order to demonstrate the capabilities of the proposed methodology, a web application for the prediction of the approximate 16th, 50th and 84th fractile responses of an RC structure was developed. For the presented case study, the response database was computed for a set of 30 ground motion records and the discrete values of six structural parameters. Very good agreement between the computed and the approximated IDA curves of the four‐storey RC building was observed. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

System identification on the seismic behavior of an isolated bridge

Seismic isolation devices and technology have been developed in the last two decades and the first seismic‐isolated bridge, Bai‐Ho Bridge, in Taiwan was completed in 1999. This bridge was equipped with a seismic monitoring system under the Taiwan Strong Motion Instrumentation Program (TSMIP). On 22 October 1999, a moderate earthquake took place and struck the bridge. The seismic monitoring sensors were normally triggered and produced an intact time history for the health monitoring of the bridge system. The data set provided valuable records about the seismic response of the isolation bridge structure. This paper uses this data to explore the vibration mechanism of Bai‐Ho Bridge. The analysis includes (1) the global dynamic behavior identification and (2) the local component mechanism of the bridge such as the LRB and boundary condition between the deck and the abutments. Both the EMD+HHT method and the non‐linear parametric model were used to identify the model of the bridge structure. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

高墩大跨度刚构桥抗震加固有限元分析

大跨刚构桥结构桥跨较长和受力复杂。为提高抗震性能,需要对加固前后的桥梁进行抗震性能研究。以某双肢薄壁型高墩大跨度刚构桥为背景,采用ANSYS程序APDL语言,对结构进行合理的参数选取、网格划分和边界约束,结合抗震等级和桥梁规范等有关规定,研究整体结构在地震作用下的变化规律。通过沿墩高方向获取节点的方法,确定在地震作用下,各节点的最大位移从下到上逐渐增大。选取桥墩双肢相同部位各节点进行横向比较,总结得出双肢薄壁桥墩具有平分荷载和延长寿命的特点。为提高桥梁整体抗震性能,采取联结桥墩增大截面的方式进行加固,对比加固前后两模型在同一地震作用下的结构响应,得出该方法在提高结构整体刚度方面,效果显著。     

Cloud to IDA: Efficient fragility assessment with limited scaling

Incremental dynamic analysis (IDA) leads to curves expressed in terms of structural response versus intensity, commonly known as the IDA curves. It is known that implementation of IDA usually involves significant computational effort and most often significant scaling of the original records to various intensity levels. Employing as the performance variable the critical demand to capacity ratio (DCR) throughout the structure, which is equal to unity at the onset of the limit state, facilitates the identification of the intensity values at the onset of a desired limit state and hence the implementation of the IDA procedure. Employing the structural response to un‐scaled records and the corresponding regression‐based response predictions (a.k.a., the “Cloud Analysis”) helps in identifying the range of intensity values corresponding to demand to capacity ratio values in the vicinity of unity. The Cloud to IDA procedure for structural fragility assessment is proposed on the premise of exploiting the Cloud Analysis results to obtain the IDA curves both with minimum number of analyses and minimum amount of scaling. The transverse frame of a shear‐critical 7‐story older RC building in Van Nuys, CA, which is modeled in Opensees with fiber‐section considering the flexural‐shear‐axial interactions and the bar slip, is employed as a case study. It is demonstrated, by comparing the results to IDA and other state of the art non‐linear dynamic procedures based on no scaling or spectral‐shape‐compatible scaling, that the Cloud to IDA procedure leads to reliable results in terms of structural fragility and risk for the prescribed limit state.     

约束混凝土砌块结构抗震性态研究

性态抗震设计已成为结构抗震设计的发展趋势,本文以约束混凝土砌块结构为对象,在提出约束混凝土砌块墙承载力计算公式的基础上,建立了砌块墙片的恢复力模型。对3座不同层数的典型约束混凝土砌块结构,在代表不同场地类别、不同地震动强度的输入下分别进行了动力非线性时程分析和静力非线性分析。通过计算结果的对比,讨论了2种分析方法中场地类别、地震动强度、静力非线性分析中侧力分布模式等影响,所得结论可以为用静力非线性分析估计砌块结构的抗震性能提供有益的参考依据。     

高原大桥桥台地震破坏机理与抗震措施分析

通过现场震害调查和有限元分析,研究了汶川大地震高原大桥桥台的地震破坏机理和提高桥台抗主梁撞击能力的工程措施。研究表明,基于pushover静力分析技术可较好地模拟桥台在主梁撞击下的破坏形态。对不同的有限元模型假定,高原大桥虹口侧桥台可表现出"上弱下强"、"上下等强"和"下弱上强"等3种不同的破坏模式,且桥台胸墙、前墙、前墙与翼墙交界面是抗震薄弱点,在主梁撞击下易发生脆性开裂;而高原侧桥台的破坏则基本为自胸墙开始,沿45°夹角向斜下方扩展,最终导致桥台胸墙撞碎、后侧翼墙脱落倒塌。素混凝土桥台在主梁撞击下表现出明显的脆性,提高桥台混凝土强度可有效增大桥台抗撞击的强度,而在桥台混凝土中配置一定量的分布钢筋则可有效延缓桥台破坏过程。     

Evaluation of the influence of vertical irregularities on the seismic performance of a nine‐storey steel frame

A methodology based on incremental dynamic analysis (IDA) is presented for the evaluation of structures with vertical irregularities. Four types of storey‐irregularities are considered: stiffness, strength, combined stiffness and strength, and mass irregularities. Using the well‐known nine‐storey LA9 steel frame as a base, the objective is to quantify the effect of irregularities, both for individual and for combinations of stories, on its response. In this context a rational methodology for comparing the seismic performance of different structural configurations is proposed by means of IDA. This entails performing non‐linear time history analyses for a suite of ground motion records scaled to several intensity levels and suitably interpolating the results to calculate capacities for a number of limit‐states, from elasticity to final global instability. By expressing all limit‐state capacities with a common intensity measure, the reference and each modified structure can be naturally compared without needing to have the same period or yield base shear. Using the bootstrap method to construct appropriate confidence intervals, it becomes possible to isolate the effect of irregularities from the record‐to‐record variability. Thus, the proposed methodology enables a full‐range performance evaluation using a highly accurate analysis method that pinpoints the effect of any source of irregularity for each limit‐state. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

双防线可恢复性能斜交网格结构耗能机制和抗震性能研究

为提高斜交网格结构的抗震性能,提出一种双防线可恢复性能斜交网格结构。双防线可恢复性能斜交网格结构采用剪切耗能段和特定梁端塑形铰进行集中耗能,使主体结构构件保持弹性。剪切耗能段不承受和传递重力荷载,易在震后修复或更换,使建筑可迅速恢复功能。为实现目标耗能机制,对等效能量塑形设计法进行改进以适用于可恢复性能斜交网格结构,并进行结构设计举例。采用OpenSees软件对所设计结构建立详细的有限元计算模型,进行非线性动力时程分析,以验证双防线耗能机制并评估抗震性能。分析结果表明:（1）小震、中震和大震下的结构顶部位移角分别为0.28%、0.8%和1.7%,与性能设计目标基本相同;（2）中震时剪切耗能段屈服,特定梁端未出现塑性铰;（3）大震时,特定梁端出现塑性铰以增加结构耗能能力,剪切耗能段屈服且处于延性范围内。因此新型可恢复性能斜交网格结构具有有效的双防线耗能机制,在中震后可迅速修复,在大震中可保持延性,实现"中震可修,大震不倒"的性能目标。     

Code‐based record selection methods for seismic performance assessment of buildings

The recent concerns regarding the seismic safety of the existing building stock have highlighted the need for an improvement of current seismic assessment procedures. Alongside with the development of more advanced commercial software tools and computational capacities, nonlinear dynamic analysis is progressively becoming a common and preferable procedure in the seismic assessment of buildings. Besides the complexity associated with the formulation of the mathematical model, major issues arise related with the definition of the seismic action, which can lead to different levels of uncertainty in terms of local and global building response. Aiming to address this issue, a comparative study of different code‐based record selection methods proposed by Eurocode 8, ASCE41‐13 and NZS1170.5:2004 is presented herein. The various methods are employed in the seismic assessment of four steel buildings, designed according to different criteria, and the obtained results are compared and discussed. Special attention is devoted to the influence of the number of real ground motion records selected on the estimation of the mean seismic response and, importantly, to the efficiency that is achieved when an additional selection criteria, based on the control of the spectral mismatch of each individual record with respect to the reference response spectrum, is adopted. The sufficiency of the methods with respect to the pairs of M–R of the selected group of records and the robustness of the scaling procedure are also examined. The paper closes with a study which demonstrates the suitability of a simplified probability‐based approach recently proposed for estimating mean seismic demands. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Earthquake simulation test of circular reinforced concrete bridge column under multidirectional seismic excitation

1 Introduction Since the 1971 San Fernando earthquake, a signi?cant amount of research has been conducted on the ductility capacity of reinforced concrete bridge columns, resulting in signi?cant advances in the seismic design of bridges. Since most tests have been done in static or quasistatic conditions and unidirectional loading conditions, however, no method that properly evaluates the effect of multidirectional dynamic loading has been developed, and design recommendations on this effect a…