On a Novel Seismic Design Approach for Integral Abutment Bridges Based on Nonlinear Static Analysis

Abstract

This paper focuses on the seismic performance and design of a single-span integral abutment bridge (IAB), as a structural system characterised by a monolithic connection between deck and abutments. Although this is becoming a popular design solution due to its low maintenance requirements, there is still the need of developing robust design criteria for such structures under seismic conditions, mainly because of the complex soil-abutment-deck interaction. This study proposes an application of a novel design method for IABs to a reference case study inspired by a real integral bridge recently built in Italy. In the proposed method, the seismic capacity of the bridge is obtained through a nonlinear static analysis of the entire soil-structure system, in which the soil domain is perturbed by a distribution of equivalent forces aimed at reproducing the effects associated with the significant modes of the bridge. This approach is validated against the results of several dynamic analyses carried out on an advanced, full soil-structure model of the reference bridge implemented in OpenSees. Several seismic scenarios are taken into account, as well as the possibility to use an average response spectrum prescribed by technical provisions. This study demonstrates that the proposed design approach is able to reproduce quite satisfactorily the performance of the structure, in terms of maximum internal forces and displacements, with a very low computational demand.