Seismic Isolation Design for Approach Spans of Suiwei Bridge in Wenchuan

The process and thought for the approach bridge of Suiwei bridge design using the method of isolation and energy dissipation were proposed in this paper. The concept of protecting a bridge from the damaging effects of an earthquake by introducing isolating bearings to isolate it from the moving ground is an attractive one. Firstly, the sizes of the laminated rubber bearings and the dia- meters of lead plugs are calculated with static analysis. Then the internal forces of the piers and the damping ratio of the isolated bridge needed to restrict the seismic deformation to 8cm during earth- quakes with seldom intensity were calculated using the Response Spectrum Method, and the result verified with dynamic time history method demonstrates that the Response Spectrum Design Method can restrict the girder displacement to 8cm during large earthquake and reach the goal of 25 percent shock reduction. The design process can be of reference to the bridge design with isolation and energy dissipation.