A numerical study on impact damage assessment and dynamic behaviour of concrete bridges by pounding effect

The South Hyogo prefecture earthquake indicated that various kind of damage was incurred under severe ground motion. Some of the reported damage cases are caused by pounding between bridge girders and between a superstructure and an abutment. To establish the reasonable and safe seismic design for bridges, it is necessary to evaluate the damage level of bridge abutment under impact of bridge girder and to clarify dynamic behaviour of whole bridge under pounding. So the main objective of this study is to evaluate the damage level of an abutment by pounding. To achieve this, impact response analyses of pounding effect were conducted by using 3-dimensional FEM. Furthermore, to clarify dynamic behavior of whole bridge under pounding, frame analyses were conducted.