Reduction of pounding effects in elevated bridges during earthquakes

Pounding of adjacent superstructure segments in elevated bridges during sev ere earthquakes can result in significant structural damage. The aim of thi s paper is to analyse several methods of reduction of the negative effects of collisions induced by the seismic wave propagation effect. The analysis is conducted on a detailed three-dimensional structural component model of an isolated highway bridge. The results show that the influence of pounding on the structural response is significant in the longitudinal direction of the bridge and significantly depends on the gap size between superstructur e segments. The smallest response can be obtained for very small gap sizes and for gap sizes large enough to prevent pounding. Further analysis indica tes that the bridge behaviour can be effectively improved by placing hard r ubber bumpers between segments and by stiff linking the segments one with a nother. The experimental results show that, for the practical application o f such connectors, shock transmission units can be used. Copyright (C) 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.