Seismic performance analysis and assessment of a precast bridge computational model

Abstract

A large-scale, two-span bridge model constructed by assembling precast elements was tested under a series of bi-axial ground motions simulated on a shake table at the Earthquake Engineering Laboratory at the University of Nevada, Reno. The response of the bridge was estimated before the tests using a three-dimensional computational model developed in OpenSees software. After the tests, key measured seismic responses were compared to those predicted by the computational model to assess the modeling assumptions. Relatively large errors for the displacements, base shears, and hysteretic response of the bridge were observed. The influence of the earthquake loading, materials, connectivity of the precast elements, and boundary conditions in the computational model on the errors are discussed in this paper. Future modeling directions are proposed to reduce these errors.

Keywords

• Precast bridge
• computational model
• OpenSees
• shake table tests