ABSTRACT
The use of seismic isolation and passive energy dissipation hardware for bridge applications has gained widespread acceptance in all seismic regions in the United States. Much research and the development of guidelines has accompanied themarket upswing in isolation-related construction. This review paper presents information on the state of the art and state of practice of seismic protective systems for bridges in the United States. Current and recently completed research and studies on system and component behavior are summarized, and the impact of this work on the newly revived AASHTO Guide Specification for Seismic Isolation of Bridges is identified.(AU)
Subject(s)
Engineering , Security Measures , United States , Health StrategiesABSTRACT
A coordinated experimental and analytical research program sponsored by the California Department of Transportation is underway to improve knowledge about seismic isolation and supplemental damping for highway bridges. The first phhase of the study is to characterize the bidirectional response of elastomeric and sliding isolation bearings for static and dynamic excitation in a thorough static and dynamic testing program. Analytical models based on classical plasticity and smoothed plasticity (Bouc-Wen) are used for representing bearing behavior. Static biderectional load histories and eartrhquake response studies show the effect of bi-directional coupling in these models compared with independent uni-directional models.(AU)