IJISET - International Journal of Innovative Science, Engineering & Technology, Vol. 2 Issue 11, November 2015.

www.ijiset.com
ISSN 2348 – 7968

Study of Seismic Behaviour of RC Bridges and Control

Measures for Seismic Pounding
Femeena M K1, Teena Joy2
1M.Tech student, Department of Civil Engineering, Indira Gandhi Institute of Engineering and Technology for women, Kerala, India
2Assistant Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, Indira Gandhi Institute of Engineering and Technology for women, Kerala, India

Abstract bridge decouple the bridge deck from the bridge

Bridges lack structural redundancy and hence suffer severe substructure and hence reduce seismic forces transmitted to
damage which leads to failure during earthquakes. Pounding has abutments and piers.
been identified as one of the main causes of the initiation of Generally, structures are subjected to two types of load:
Damage and may change the seismic response of the entire bridge. static and dynamic. However, the majority of civil
Pounding occurs when the closing girder movement at an
expansion joint exceeds the expansion joint gap. In this study, two
engineering structures are designed with the assumption
span simply supported RC highway bridges is considered. The that all applied loads are static. This feature of neglecting
bridge is modelled and analyzed to investigate the effect of use of the dynamic forces may sometimes become the cause of
magneto rheological (MR) dampers in reducing the pounding disaster, particularly in the case of earthquake. In present
effect using the structural analysis and design software Etabs. scenario where earthquakes are occurring frequently,
Using IRC Class A loading bridge responses such as Bending dynamic force cannot be neglected. Because, it provides
Moment and deflection are obtained to assess the serviceability. an accurate measure of expected structural response for
Further, with the help of Etabs software dynamic analysis is a given earthquake or any kind vibrations. One of the
done by Nonlinear Time History Analysis. The results includes aspects to be considered while assessing the dynamic
dynamic parameters such as displacement and acceleration with
and without Magneto Rheological (MR) dampers.
response of bridges subjected to live loads is the problem of
Keywords: Seismic pounding, RC Bridges, Non-Linear Time vibration. The passage of any load over a bridge causes the
History Analysis, Magneto Rheological (MR) damper, ETABS. span to deflect from the equilibrium position, causing a
series of oscillations. This phenomenon continues till either
the structure comes back to its equilibrium position or is
1. Introduction again activated by the passage of another load. Therefore,
“dynamic behaviour of bridge deck” needs to be studied.
Bridges are considered one of the most critical components Using IRC Class A loading bridge responses such as
of highway transportation networks, as closure of a bridge Bending Moment (BM) and deflection are obtained to
due to partial damage or collapse can disrupt the total assess the serviceability. Further, with the help of
transportation system. Past earthquake studies shows that etabs software dynamic analysis is done by Time
the major bridge failures are due to pounding effect. This is History Analysis to obtain dynamic parameters such as
because the gap between adjacent girders or between a displacement and acceleration with and without Magneto
girder and an abutment is usually only a few centimetres to Rheological (MR) dampers.
ensure a smooth traffic flow, which is not big enough to
accommodate the closing relative displacement between the
adjacent components. 2. Structural Modelling
Pounding is a result of relative movement of adjacent bridge
superstructures. Sometimes the pounding force become The software etabs is adopted to create a finite element
more compared to the force for which the bridge was model of a two span simply supported bridge. The bridge
designed, which may lead to major bridge local failures. used is a 2 lane reinforced concrete bridge with overall
Pounding is a very complicated phenomenon, involves length 60m and of width 7.56m and its each spans of length
plastic deformations in the materials at the location of 30m. IRC Class A loading is used as live load. The piers of
pounding, energy dissipation during contact etc. the bridge are columns of size 1.75m×4.2m with 12m height
In general, bridges lack structural redundancy and hence and M40 concrete and Fe500 steel is adopted. Concrete box
suffer severe damage which leads to failure during girder of width 7.56m and height 2.1m is used and deck slab
earthquakes. A more robust bridge design is not considered thickness is selected as 0.18m. Figure below shows typical
economical or even effective, unless earthquake induced plan and 3D view of two span simply supported bridge.
forces in the structure are reduced by means of seismic
isolation. Seismic isolation devices generally used in the

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 IJISET - International Journal of Innovative Science, Engineering & Technology, Vol. 2 Issue 11, November 2015.
www.ijiset.com
ISSN 2348 – 7968

Fig. 1: Typical plan of bridge

Fig. 2: Cross section of bridge

4. Analysis of structures
IRC Class A loading is used. Load case is selected as
moving loads. Then nonlinear time history case is defined.

Fig. 3: 3D view of model

3. Determination of Earthquake Ground

Motion
For numerical study of seismic pounding effect on simply
supported bridges different types of earthquake ground
motions can be considered. Here El Centro wave is selected
for the analysis. The main characteristics of the earthquake
motion is described in the table below.
Fig. 4: Time History definition
Table 1: Main characteristics of the selected earthquake ground motion
5. Results and Discussions
Earthquake Predominant
Direction Amplitude 5.1 Pounding Force
motion periods (sec)
E-W 216.5 0.507 The peak pounding forces at pier are obtained as
El Centro shown in table. When comparing the result the pounding
wave N-S 344.4 0.560
force is decreased when damper is provided. The peak
V 209.3 0.110

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 IJISET - International Journal of Innovative Science, Engineering & Technology, Vol. 2 Issue 11, November 2015.
www.ijiset.com
ISSN 2348 – 7968
pounding forces are obtained at short time and then it
decreased considerably. 5.3 Deflection With and Without Damper
Table 2: Peak pounding forces
Table.3: Displacement of deck with and without damper

Location EI Centro Displacement of deck (mm)

Joint
Pounding force (×107) N Without
Time (s) With damper
Without With damper damper
damper
1 0.04643 0.04626 981 25.3 13.62
Interior
Pier 2 0.2116 0.1858 1109 32.44 8.3

3 0.3792 0.1937 1253 22.62 9.31

1239 38.27 12.44
4 0.01204 0.01092
5 0.02113 0.02039
6. Conclusions
5.2 Displacement and Acceleration Responses
1. Pounding between superstructure segments is
Fig. 5 shows the response of the bridge when no damper is considered one of the main reasons for damage and
provided. It is found that when pounding occurs, collapse of multi-span RC highway bridges.
acceleration of the deck will increase. The large increase of 2. Analysis of a two-segment bridge shows that
acceleration can result in damage of deck ends and supports. pounding can generate significant force which
The values from acceleration and displacement responses may cause damage at the point of collision.
are quite large due to seismic pounding. Pounding results in 3. The two span simply supported RCC Bridge is
a strong coupling of nonlinearity in piers. modelled using etabs.
To mitigate the pounding effect, supplemental damping can 4. Numerical study of pounding effect of RC bridge
be provided using Magneto Rheological damper. Fig.6 under different earthquake simulations was done
shows the response of the bridge when MR damper is 5. A simplified analytical model in conjunction with
provided. The values from acceleration and displacement MR dampers for pounding between adjacent
responses are decreased due to the effect of damper. superstructure segments has been developed
Comparing with the deck response when damper is 6. It has been observed that the seismic pounding
provided, it is found that the displacement and acceleration effect can be effectively reduced by MR dampers
values are reduced considerably than the case of no damper 7. The pounding force, displacement &acceleration
is provided. responses effectively reduced.
8. Acceleration of superstructure segment due to
pounding has been observed to be amplified by
several times.

Acknowledgments

I wish to express my sincere gratitude to Ms. Minu Anna

Johny, (Assistant Professor and Head of the Department of
Fig.5: Response of bridge without damper (a) acceleration (b) Civil Engineering, IIET) for her valuable encouragement to
displacement carry out this work. Also, I have been fortunate in having
Mrs. Teena Joy as my guide, whose timely guidance,
advices and inspiration helped me in the preparation and
presentation of this work in time. I express my sincere
gratitude for his invaluable guidance in spite of his almost
overpowering schedule. Her views on many matters have
inspired me a lot. I would like to extent my special thanks
to my parents and friends.
Fig.6: Response of bridge with MR damper (a) acceleration (b)
displacement

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 IJISET - International Journal of Innovative Science, Engineering & Technology, Vol. 2 Issue 11, November 2015.
www.ijiset.com
ISSN 2348 – 7968

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