Dynamic Response of Half-Through Steel Arch Bridge Using Fiber Model

Abstract

Since the Great Hanshin earthquake, research on seismic investigation has progressed further, as a result of which there has been a lot of improvement in seismic analysis methods along with analysis tools. Recently, a remarkable technique for seismic analysis based on a fiber model has been established. However, it seems that few results of the dynamic analysis using this technique are available because its application to the actual practice, where the dynamic analysis using a constant energy law is not so complicated, is limited. Therefore, a seismic investigation of a real half-through steel arch bridge using a seismic analysis program based on the fiber model has been conducted. In this investigation, material nonlinearity has been implemented and 2D bending along with a change in an axial force has also been considered. In the analysis, the same cyclic loading condition as that used in the testing of specimens has been adopted, and the results obtained from the analysis are verified by the experimental results. In this paper, an outline of the seismic analysis method based on the fiber model along with its verification by the experimental results is described first, then the results of its application to a real half-through steel arch bridge are presented.