Comparative Study of The Seismic Performance Between Simply Supported PSC Box Girder Bridge Equipped with Shear Panel Damper and Lead Rubber Bearing

Abstract

Several bridges in Indonesia are designed using elastomeric bearing (ERB) with a low capability of reducing seismic responses. This results in a significant demand for larger pier cross-sectional dimensions and a greater number of reinforcements, necessitating the consideration of seismic isolation devices to optimize the pier configuration. Lead rubber bearing (LRB) has been widely used as a seismic isolation device due to the natural period shifting and sufficient energy dissipation, but it costs a lot. A shear panel damper equipped with a gap (SPDG) was proposed regarding its capability to provide high damping at low cost as an alternative device to LRB. This study compared the seismic performance of three structural systems of simply supported prestressed concrete (PSC) box girder bridges. Those were analyzed using Nonlinear Time History Analysis (NLTHA) with the OpenSees software. As a result, both SPDG and LRB increased the structural flexibility and generated similar relative pier responses to the conventional bridge with ERB. For example, SPDG generated the relative responses of the top pier displacement, base shear, and bending moment up to 64.76%, 83.55%, and 65.66%, while LRB was 64.92%, 83.39%, and 66.89%, respectively. Meanwhile, the bridge’s structural performance equipped with LRB and SPDG showed a fully operational and operational limit, while the one with ERB reached the life safety limit due to the longitudinal earthquake. The life safety limit due to the transverse earthquake was also observed in the three bridge models. In conclusion, SPDG is applicable in the seismic isolation system as it has a similar performance to the LRB.

Keywords

• elastomeric rubber bearing
• lead rubber bearing
• nonlinear time history analysis
• simply supported bridge
• shear panel damper plus gap