Applicability of a Simplified SDOF Method in Longitudinal Deck-Pier Poundings of Simply Supported Girder Bridges

The pounding issue between decks in the earthquake has been a great concern of many researchers, but the research on the deck-pier pounding issue was inadequate. In this paper, a simplified SDOF method was proposed to study the issue for simply supported girder bridges. Theoretical analysis, shaking table test, and finite element analysis were conducted to study the applicability of the simplified SDOF method in longitudinal deck-pier poundings. A whole structural model and a SDOF model for the longitudinal pounding issue were also established to study influences of the pier stiffness and the pier mass on longitudinal pounding responses. It is shown that the simplified SDOF method can estimate the pounding force and deck displacement fairly accurately for almost all cases. The pier mass has little effect on pounding responses except for bridges with very rigid piers, but the pier stiffness has a great influence. The larger the pier stiffness is, the higher the peak pounding force is.