Seismic Risk Assessment of Four-Span Bridges in Montreal Designed Using the Canadian Bridge Design Code

Abstract

The seismic performance of 15 continuous four-span bridges with different arrangements of column heights and diameters and designed using the 2006 Canadian Highway Bridge Design Code provisions were studied using incremental dynamic analysis (IDA). The seismic risk associated with exceeding different damage states in the columns, including yielding, cover spalling, bar buckling, and structural collapse (i.e., dynamic instability) was predicted. Some simplified equations were derived for Montreal, Quebec, Canada, to estimate the mean annual probability of exceeding different damage states in the columns using the IDA results. The results indicated that the probabilities of exceeding different damage states were reasonably low.