Abstract

A specimen consisting of two box girder reinforced concrete blocks representing the adjacent spans of a reference bridge at an in-span hinge was constructed and tested under incrementally increasing input excitation to investigate the impact between adjacent bridge spans at in-span hinges, to evaluate the efficacy of restrainers in reducing relative displacements across the hinges, and to examine the effects of restrainer stiffness and gap on the response of the hinge-restrainer system. Cable restrainers were used to connect the two blocks, the number and gap of which were varied during the experiments. The experimental results indicated that impacts between the adjacent frames produce acceleration levels significantly higher than what is typically assumed in design. In all the restrained system cases, restrainers were capable of reducing hinge relative displacements and preventing span unseating. However, restrainer yielding occurred under strong input motions, especially when the restrainer gap was set to zero.

References

1.
Jennings
,
P. C.
, Engineering Features of the San Fernando Earthquake of February 9, 1971, Report No. EERL-71-2,
Earthquake Engineering Research Laboratory, California Institute of Technology
, Pasadena, CA,
1971
.
2.
Yashinsky
,
M.
,
Hipley
,
P.
, and
Nguyen
,
Q.
,
The Performance of Bridge Seismic Retrofits During the Northridge Earthquake
,
Caltrans Office of Earthquake Engineering
,
1995
.
3.
Moehle
,
J. P.
, “
Northridge Earthquake of January 17, 1994: Reconnaissance Report, Volume 1, Highway Bridges and Traffic Management
,”
Earthquake Spectra
 8755-2930 https://doi.org/10.1193/1.1585851, Vol.
11
, No.
3
,
1995
, pp.
287
372
.
4.
Priestley
,
M. J. N.
,
Seible
,
F.
, and
MacRae
,
G.
,
Design Guidelines for Assessment Retrofit and Repair of Bridges for Seismic Performance
, Report No. SSRP-92-1,
Structural Systems Research Project, University of California
, San Diego, La Jolla, CA,
1992
, p. 266.
5.
AASHTO
,
Standard Specifications for Highway Bridges
,
American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials
, 16th ed.,
1996
.
6.
CALTRANS
,
Bridge Design Aids
,
California Department of Transportation
,
1989
.
7.
Saiidi
,
M.
,
Maragakis
,
E.
, and
Feng
,
S.
,
An Evaluation of the Current CALTRANS Seismic Restrainer Design Method
, Report No. CCEER-92-8,
Civil Engineering Department
, University of Nevada, Reno, NV,
1992
.
8.
Saiidi
,
M.
,
Maragakis
,
E.
,
Abdel-Ghaffar
,
S.
,
Feng
,
S.
, and
O'Connor
,
D. N.
,
Response of Bridge Hinge Restrainers During Earthquakes-Field Performance, Analysis, and Design
, Report No. CCEER-93-6,
Civil Engineering Department
, University of Nevada, Reno, NV,
1993
.
9.
Singh
,
S.
and
Fenves
,
G. L.
,
Earthquake Analysis and Response of Two – Level Viaducts
, Report No. UCB/EERC-94-11,
Earthquake Engineering Research Center, University of California
, Berkeley, CA,
1994
.
10.
Fenves
,
G.
and
Desroches
,
R.
,
Response of the Northwest Connector in the Landers and Big Bear Earthquakes
, Report No. UCB/EERC-94-12,
Earthquake Engineering Research Center, University of California
, Berkeley, CA,
1994
.
11.
Yang
,
Y. S.
,
Priestley
,
M. J. N.
, and
Ricles
,
J.
,
Longitudinal Seismic Response of Bridge Frames Connected By Restrainers
, Report No. UCSD/SSRP-94-9,
Structural Systems Research Project, University of California
, San Diego, La Jolla, CA,
1994
.
12.
Trochalakis
,
P.
,
Eberhard
,
M. O.
, and
Stanton
,
J. F.
,
Evaluation and Design of Seismic Restrainers for In-Span Hinges
, Report No. WA-RD 387.1,
Washington State Transportation Center
, Seattle, WA,
1995
.
13.
Fenves
,
G.
and
Desroches
,
R.
,
New Design and Analysis Procedures for Intermediate Hinges in Multiple Frame Bridges
, National Seismic Conference on Bridges and Highways,
Sacramento, CA
,
1996
, pp.
667
681
.
14.
Trochalakis
,
P.
,
Eberhard
,
M. O.
, and
Stanton
,
J. F.
,
Unseating of Simply Supported Spans During Earthquakes
, Report No. WA-RD 387.2,
Washington State Transportation Center
, Seattle, WA,
1996
.
15.
Hudgings
,
T.
,
Eberhard
,
M. O.
, and
Stanton
,
J. F.
,
Design of Seismic Bridge Restrainers Considering Spatial Variation of Ground Motions
, Report No. SGEM 97-2,
Civil Engineering Department, University of Washington
, Seattle, WA,
1997
.
16.
Randall
,
M. J.
,
Saiidi
,
M.
,
Maragakis
,
E.
, and
Isakovic
,
T.
,
Restrainer Design Procedures for Multi-Span Simply Supported Bridges
, Report No. NCEER-98-4,
Civil Engineering Department, University of Nevada
, Reno, NV,
1998
.
17.
Selna
,
L. G.
,
Malvar
,
L.
, and
Zelinski
,
R.
, “
Bridge Retrofit Testing: Hinge Cable Restrainers
,”
Journal of Structural Engineering, ASCE
 0733-9445, Vol.
115
, No.
4
,
1989
, pp.
920
933
.
18.
CALTRANS
,
Bridge Design Specifications
,
California Department of Transportation
,
1993
.
19.
CALTRANS
,
Memo to Designers
,
California Department of Transportation
,
1996
.
20.
Prakash
,
V.
,
Powell
,
G. H.
, and
Fillipou
,
F. C.
,
DRAIN 3DX: Base Program User Guide
,
Structural Engineering, Mechanics and Material, Department of Civil Engineering, University of California
,
Berkeley, CA
,
1993
.
21.
Maragakis
,
E.
,
A Model for Rigid Body Motions of Skewed Bridges
, Report No. EERL 85-2,
Earthquake Engineering Research Laboratory, California Institute of Technology
, Pasadena, CA,
1984
.
This content is only available via PDF.
You do not currently have access to this content.