Influence of soil conditions on the seismic behaviour of two cable-stayed bridges

Abstract

The results of a case study of the internal forces caused by earthquake in two examples of cable-stayed bridges are presented. A comparison is made between the behaviour of a model in which the structure is idealized without the foundation system and a model in which both the structure and the supporting foundation are idealized. The effects of varying the soil conditions on the seismic response are assessed. Also, the effects of out-of-phase support movements, caused by the lapse of time required for the seismic waves to travel from one support to the other, are considered. It is concluded that the effects of these parameters are significant and should not be ignored in the seismic analysis of cable-stayed bridges. Key words: bridges, cable-stayed, dynamic, earthquake, internal forces, seismic, soil–structure interaction.