Damage Analysis of Hanshin Expressway Viaducts during 1995 Kobe Earthquake. III: Three-Span Continuous Girder Bridges

Almost all the single reinforced concrete (RC) piers from P35 to P350 received consistently severe damage, considering the large residual inclination of piers included in earthquake-induced severe damage. However, some of the piers in the section from P35 to P350 remained lightly damaged, and this phenomenon is observed especially in many piers under fixed bearings in continuous girder bridges. In this study, using experimentally based models for metal bearings and installing them to an existing FEM code, a nonlinear dynamic response analysis of a continuous girder bridge system is conducted. It is shown that the results depend on the ground motion, but the fuse effect of the breaking of the bearings could have been a reason for the phenomenon.