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Stiffness of non‐skew monolithic bridge abutments for seismic analysis
Author(s) -
Wilson John C.
Publication year - 1988
Publication title -
earthquake engineering and structural dynamics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.218
H-Index - 127
eISSN - 1096-9845
pISSN - 0098-8847
DOI - 10.1002/eqe.4290160608
Subject(s) - structural engineering , abutment , skew , stiffness , engineering , bridge (graph theory) , finite element method , geotechnical engineering , pier , parametric statistics , superstructure , seismic analysis , soil structure interaction , transverse plane , mathematics , medicine , telecommunications , statistics
A simple analytic model is developed to describe the stiffness of non‐skew monolithic highway bridge abutments for purposes of seismic bridge analysis. The model permits an evaluation of six equivalent discrete spring stiffnesses for three translational and three rotational degrees‐of‐freedom of the abutment and includes effects of the abutment walls, pile foundations and soil. These springs can be incorporated as boundary elements in a more detailed finite element analysis of the dynamic response of the bridge superstructure. A parametric study examines a range of abutment stiffnesses for 2, 4 and 6 lane highway bridges. Application of the model to a single span bridge indicates the importance of including abutment stiffness in the determination of bridge frequencies and mode shapes in the transverse and vertical directions.