Simulation of collapse process of elevated expressway bridges due to the 1995 Kobe earthquake

ABSTRACT

At 546 a.m. (local time) on january 17, 1995, the Great Hanshin (Hyogo-Ken Nambu or Kobe) earthquake hit the Hanshin-Awaji area Japan. The damage due to this earthquake was the worst earthquake disaster in Japan since the 1923 Great Kanto earthquake. Over 100,000 houses and buildings collanssed and many modern civil infrastructures such as elevated bridges of highways and railways, and port facilities, etc. werre more than 6,300 including deaths due to various problems following the earthquake.In this study, using the Extended Distinct Element Method (EDEM), which is applicable to both a composite and continuous medium and perfect discrete one, the collapse mechanism of structures during the 1995 Great Hanshin earthquake is studied. Although the phenomena treated in this study were difficult to be simulated by the conventional methods such as the finite element method, the numerical results obtained agree well with the actual earthquake damage. (AU)