Influence of Transient and Partial Footing Separation on the Seismic Response of Skewed Bridges with Soil Support

Abstract

Previous research has shown that the transient and partial footing separation is one of the effective methods to reduce the impact of earthquakes on bridge structures. The separation will not only temporarily stop the transfer of seismic load to structures, but also activate rigid-like body motions of the bridge piers. Most of current investigations involving footing uplift only focused on straight bridges. The influence of skew angle is rarely considered. Even though skewed bridges are common and more vulnerable to seismic load. This work reveals the simultaneous influence of skew angle and footing uplift on soil on seismic response of bridges. A bridge with a 30∘ or 45∘ skew angle, in addition to a straight bridge, was excited using a large-scale shake table. The ground excitations were stochastically simulated based on design spectrum of New Zealand standard. The result revealed that with increasing skew angle bridges will have frequent footing uplifts. In the case of a straight bridge, although allowing footing uplift is beneficial in reducing the bending moment at the pier support, it increases the longitudinal girder displacement. In contrast, in the case of 30∘ and 45∘ skewed bridges, uplifts increase the bending moments of piers and the displacements of the girder, especially in the transverse direction.