Overstrength factors of RC bridges supported on single and multi-column RC piers in Mexico

• Type: Article in International Scientific Journal
• Date: 2021-11

Authors

Alma R. Sánchez (Author) Other; António Arêde (Author) FEUP; Jose M. Jara (Author) Other; Pedro Delgado (Author) FEUP

Journal

Title: Earthquake Engineering and Structural Dynamics

Vol. 50 No. 14

Pages: 3695-3712

ISSN: 0098-8847

Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell

Indexing

ISI Web of Science

Scopus - 4 Citations

Scientific classification

CORDIS: Technological sciences > Engineering > Civil engineering > Structural engineering

FOS: Engineering and technology > Civil engineering

Other information

Authenticus ID: P-00Y-HMK

DOI: 10.1002/eqe.3528

Abstract (EN): Mexico highway network has more than 14,000 bridges. Most of them are reinforced concrete (RC) structures. The bridges design process incorporates the use of an overstrength factor that is not justified and has received little attention in published works. Mexican regulations allow using an overstrength factor for buildings in the range of 2¿3, to reduce the design spectra as a function of the selected seismic behavior factor. However, for bridges, a single factor of 1.5 is proposed independent of any design parameter. The bridges in Mexico are mostly simply supported structures with maximum span lengths of 50 m. A relevant and distinctive aspect of the bridges designed in Mexico is the large load amplitudes of the trucks used to define the live load and the high seismic activity in the country. This study determines overstrength factors of a family of medium-length RC bridges composed of simply supported superstructures and substructure made up of single and multi-column RC piers. Non-linear dynamic analyzes using a set of 80 accelerograms were carried out. The results show that the height of the bridges and their seismic location are relevant parameters in the overstrength of the structures. Finally, analytical expressions are proposed to assess the overstrength factors of a very common bridge typology in Mexico and the world.

Language: English

Type (Professor's evaluation): Scientific

No. of pages: 17