Seismic Ground-Motion Design Criteria for Highway Bridges from the Perspective of Design Engineers

Abstract

This paper presents the history and development of criteria for both the design response-spectrum method for ordinary, common bridges analyzed by the modal-superposition method, and the ground-motion time-history analysis method and inputs for designing major, important long-span bridges. This paper addresses various challenges encountered by the designers related to implementation of ground-motion design criteria.

Keywords

infrastructure design seismic design structures seismicity

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Mualchin

Jones

A. L.

Peak Acceleration from Maximum Credible Earthquakes in California Rock and Stiff Soil Sites. Open-File Report 92-1. California Department Conservation, Division Mines and Geologist, Californa Department of Transportation, 1992.

Housner

G. W.

Thiel

C. C.

Jr.

The Continuing Challenge: Report on the Performance of State Bridges in the Northridge Earthquake. Earthquake Spectra, Vol. 11, No. 4, 1995, pp. 607–636. https://doi.org/10.1193/1.1585829.

Geomatrix. Adjustments to Rock Response Spectra for Caltrans Toll Bridges in Northern California. Project Report. Report prepared for California Department of Transportation, Division of Structures, 1995.

Somerville

P. G.

Smith

N. F.

Graves

R. W.

Abrahamson

N. A.

Modification of Empirical Strong Ground Motion Attenuation Relations to Include the Amplitude and Duration Effects of Rupture Directivity. Seismological Research Letters, Vol. 68, No. 1, 1997, pp. 199–222. https://doi.org/10.1785/gssrl.68.1.199.

Caltrans Seismic Advisory Board. The Race to Seismic Safety: Protecting California’s Transportation System. Submitted to Director California Department of Transportation, California Department of Transportation, December 2003.

Abrahamson

N. A.

Silva

W. J.

Empirical Response Spectral Attenuation Relations for Shallow Crustal Earthquakes. Seismological Research Letters, Vol. 68, No. 1, 1997, pp. 94–127. https://doi.org/10.1785/gssrl.68.1.94.

Fugro–EMI. Ground Motion Report. San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge East Span Seismic Safety Project. Project Report. Prepared for California Department of Transportation, 2001.

PEER. Final Report of the NGA–West 2 Directivity Working Group ( Spudich

, ed.). USGS, Menlo Park, CA, 2013.

Baker

J. W.

Quantitative Classification of Near-Fault Ground Motions Using Wavelet Analysis. Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, Vol. 97, No. 5, 2007, pp. 1486–1501. https://doi.org/10.1785/0120060255.

10.

Earth Mechanics, Inc. Corridor Ground Motion Study Report, San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge. Project Report. Prepared for California Department of Transportation, March 2009.

11.

Earth Mechanics, Inc. Ground Motion Study Report, Antioch Bridge Seismic Retrofit Project. Project Report. Prepared for Bay Area Toll Authority and California Department of Transportation, December 2009.

12.

Earth Mechanics, Inc. Ground Motion Study Report, Dumbarton Bridge Seismic Retrofit Project. Project Report. Prepared for Bay Area Toll Authority and California Department of Transportation, March 2009.

13.

Earth Mechanics Inc. Seismic Ground Motion Report for Gerald Desmond Bridge Replacement Project, Long Beach, California. Project Report. Prepared for Parsons/HNTB Joint Venture, June 2011.

14.

Lam

I. P.

Law

Soil-Structure Interaction of Bridges for Seismic Analysis. Technical Report MCEER-00-0008. MCEER, University at Buffalo, the State University of New York, 2000.

15.

Baker

J. W.

Jayaram

Correlation of Spectral Acceleration Values from NGA Ground Motion Models. Earthquake Spectra, Vol. 24, No. 1, 2008, pp. 299–317. https://doi.org/10.1193/1.2857544.

16.

Elgamal

A. W.

Zeghal

Tang

H. T.

Stepp

J. C.

Lotung Downhole Array. I: Evaluation of Site Dynamic Properties. Journal of Geotechnical Engineering, Vol. 121, No. 4, 1995, pp. 350–362. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)0733-9410(1995)121:4(350).

17.

Geomatrix. Seismic Response Study for Proposed Carquinez Bridge. Contract No. 59K167. Project Report. Prepared for California Department of Transportation, Division of Structures, 1993.

18.

Housner

G. W.

Competing against Time: Report to Governor George Deukmejian from the Governor’s Board of Inquiry on the 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake. California Department of Transportation, May 1990.