DAMAGE ANALYSIS OF SIMULATED I-880 STRUCTURES UNDER THE LOMA-PRIETA EARTHQUAKE

This paper analyzes the collapse of the Cypress portion of the Nimitz freeway in Oakland, California, during the Loma Prieta Earthquake of 1 7 October 1989. The most important bent configuration is chosen to car ry out a nonlinear dynamic analysis and damage evaluation using the pr ogram SARCF-III. The acceleration history recorded at a nearby locatio n with similar soil properties is used as the input ground motion. In order to cover the uncertainty about the structural properties and rei nforcing details six different structures models are utilized. The max imum dynamic internal forces are compared to the structural capacity. It is investigated whether the collapse can be explained using a simpl ified structural model and one of the available computer codes.