Seismic Assessment of Existing Concrete Bridges with Wall Type Piers,A Case Study

Many bridges in our country have been constructed with multiple circular column bents as seismic resistance system in last decades. But due to urban renewal in recent years the need for design of aesthetically pleasing wall type piers has increased. Wall type piers have adequate stiffness and shear strength in strong direction and act as column in weak direction in forced based method of seismic design codes. Many deficiencies in existing wall type piers behaviour may be present as shear failure, weakness in confinement, poor detailing, foundation uplift and etc. The current paper focuses on seismic assessment of a case study existing wall type Pier Bridge in two different performance objectives. Pier by pier method is employed for seismic evaluation of the bridge. A 3D finite element model incorporating linear elastic multi-modal spectrum analysis method is used for demand displacement and push-over capacity curve is used for deformation capacities. The results showed that shear failure in wall type piers, foundation failure, and elastomeric bearing replacement defines rehabilitation objectives.