Seismic Performance of Steel Bridges with Parameters

The seismic performance of typical multi-span simply supported and multi-span continuous steel bridge in the central and southeastern United States (CSUS) is evaluated with parameters of the bridge properties. The models of the bridges in detail including pounding between decks are developed in DRAIN-2DX and nonlinear time history analyses are conducted for a suite of ground motions having 2% probability of exceedance in 50 years in the CSUS. The results indicate that the effect of friction and deck mass is monotonously linear. However, the gap size at the expansion joints and the rotational stiffness of foundations show fully nonlinear behavior on the seismic responses. The gap size and the deck mass are estimated as the most affective parameter.