Integral abutment bridges : investigation of seismic soil structure interaction effects by shaking table testing

Fiorentino, Gabriele (author), Isaković, Tatjana (author), Nuti, Camillo (author)

In recent years there has been renewed interest on integral abutment bridges (IABs), mainly due to their low construction and maintenance cost. Owing to the monolithic connection between deck and abutments, there is strong soil structure interaction between the bridge and the backfill under both thermal action and earthquake shaking. Although some of the regions where IABs are adopted qualify as highly seismic, there is limited knowledge as to their dynamic behaviour and vulnerability under strong ground shaking. To develop a better understanding on the seismic behaviour of IABs, an extensive experimental campaign involving over 75 shaking table tests and 4800 time histories of recorded data, was carried out at EQUALS Laboratory, University of Bristol, under the auspices of EU sponsored SERA project (Seismology and Earthquake Engineering Research Infrastructure Alliance for Europe). The tests were conducted on a 5 m long shear stack mounted on a 3 m 3 m 6 DOF earthquake simulator, focusing on interaction effects between a scaled bridge model, abutments, foundation piles and backfill soil. The study aims at (a) developing new scaling procedures for physical modelling of IABs, (b) investigating experimentally the potential benefits of adding compressible inclusions (CIs) between the abutment and the backfill and (c) exploring the influence of different types of connection between the abutment and the pile foundation. Results indicate that the CI reduces the accelerations on the bridge deck and the settlements in the backfill, while disconnecting piles from the cap decreases bending near the pile head.

• Language: English
• Keywords: earthquake engineering, structural engineering
• Work type: Scientific work
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: FGG - Faculty of Civil and Geodetic Engineering
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Author Accepted Manuscript
• Year: 2020
• Number of pages: Str. 1-22
• Numbering: Letn. XX, št. dec.
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-125098
• UDC: 624.042.7
• ISSN on article: 0098-8847
• DOI: 10.1002/eqe.3409
• COBISS.SI-ID: 43549699
• Publication date in RUL: 04.03.2021

FIORENTINO, Gabriele, ISAKOVIĆ, Tatjana and NUTI, Camillo, 2020, Integral abutment bridges : investigation of seismic soil structure interaction effects by shaking table testing. Earthquake engineering & structural dynamics [online]. 2020. Vol. XX, no. dec., p. 1–22. [Accessed 25 March 2025]. DOI 10.1002/eqe.3409. Retrieved from: https://doi.org/10.1002/eqe.3409

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Earthquake engineering & structural dynamics
• Shortened title: Earthquake eng. struct. dyn.
• Publisher: Wiley
• ISSN: 0098-8847
• COBISS.SI-ID: 25358592

Licences

• License: CC BY-NC-ND 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
• Description: The most restrictive Creative Commons license. This only allows people to download and share the work for no commercial gain and for no other purposes.
• Licensing start date: 04.03.2021

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Keywords: potresno inženirstvo, gradbene konstrukcije

Projects

• Funder: EC - European Commission
• Project number: EU H2020 SERA 730900
• Name: Seismic response of novel integrated abutment-bridges (SERENA) project
• Acronym: SERENA