Impact of Duration and Intensity of Seismic Records on the Soil-Steel Bridge Behavior

Abstract

The design bridge standards only determine the maximum acceleration of the seismic excitation during the analysis of their influence on the soil-steel structure. It is well known that in seismic analysis the duration and intensity are very important, not just the ground acceleration caused by the seismic excitation. In addition, these aspects have a significant impact on the load capacity of the structure, so their response under seismic excitations. Therefore, this problem was analyzed using a numerical program based on the finite element method. The real soil-steel bridge located in Trzebaw (Poland) was analyzed. The bridge span is over 17 m. In this study, three seismic records (Taft, El Centro and San Fernando) were investigated. Moreover, during the numerical analysis, the aspect of intensity and duration of seismic records was taken into account. Displacements, velocities, and accelerations in the soil-steel bridge are analyzed in detail in the non-linear response range. Research with the use of the computational numerical model can find application in engineering practice, especially in the design of this type of bridges located in seismic areas. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.