Bridges with flank-inspired architecture can withstand earthquakes and reduce repair costs

A bridge on a highway was damaged by an earthquake in Alaska in 1964. Using expert observations, researchers can now determine the benefits of new, more earthquake-resistant bridge designs.

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Structural damage to troubled bridges could mean billions of dollars in repairs. The new bridge designs promise more damage-resistant structures and lower repair costs. But if these designs are not implemented in the real world, the prediction of how they will be destroyed and the repair strategies to be implemented remain unresolved.

In a study published in the Journal of Structural Engineering, Texas A&M University and the University of Colorado, Boulder researchers conducted a comprehensive damage and repair assessment of a bridge design that had yet to be implemented using a team of experts from academia and industry. The researchers said the Expert Observations method provides a unique and powerful technique for assessing the viability of bridge designs that are still in the early stages of research and development.

“Bridges, especially those in high-earthquake areas, are prone to damage and will need repairs at some point. But the question now is what kind of repairs should be used for different types and levels of damage, what will the cost of these repairs and how long the repairs will take – these are all not They are known for their new bridge designs, ”said Petrus Sideris, assistant professor in the Zekry Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. “We have answered these questions to design a new bridge using an approach seldom used in structural engineering.”

Most bridges are monolithic systems made of concrete poured into shapes that give the bridges their shape. These bridges are strong enough to withstand their own weight and other loads, such as traffic. However, Sir said that if there was an unexpected event of seismic activity, these structures might crack, and treating the damage would be very costly.

The hybrid slide-off bridge pole was tested in large-scale pilot facilities of the Infrastructure Renovation Center.

Justin Petge / Texas A&M Engineering

To overcome these shortcomings, Sideris and his team developed a new design called a hybrid slide bridge. Instead of a monolithic design, these bridges consist of columns that have joints and sections inspired by the ends. Hence, in the event of an earthquake, the joints allow some of the energy from the earth’s motion to diffuse out as the parts move slightly, and slide over each other instead of bending or cracking. Despite the general appeal of the sliding hybrid bridge design, little is known about how bridges behave in real-world situations.

“To find the right repair strategy, we need to know what the damage looks like,” said Sidiris. “Our bridge design is relatively new and so there is little scientific literature to refer to. Thus, we took an unorthodox approach to filling our knowledge gap by appointing a panel of experts in bridge damage and repair.”

For their study, Sideris and Abbie Liel, a professor at the University of Colorado, Boulder, and the team recruited a panel of eight experts from industry and academia to identify damage cases in ly designed hybrid sliding poles. Based on their assessments of the observed damage, the team presented repair strategies and the estimated costs of repair. The researchers then used this information to repair the broken columns, retested the columns under the same initial damaging conditions and compared the behavior of the repaired shaft to that of the original column through computational investigations.

The painting found that columns built with its design suffered less damage overall compared to bridges built with traditional designs. In fact, the plumes showed very little damage even when subjected to motions reminiscent of a strong earthquake once in a few thousand years. Moreover, the damage can be repaired relatively quickly using plaster and carbon fibers, indicating that no special restoration strategy is required.

“Bridging the bridges is a slow process and costs a large sum of money, which indirectly affects the community,” Sideris said. “New bridge designs that may have a higher initial cost of construction could be more beneficial in the long run because they are more stable. The funds that were saved could then be used to help the community rather than repair the infrastructure.”

This work is funded by the National Science Foundation.

Other contributors include Jacob Vallegura, a former graduate student researcher from the University of Colorado, Boulder and Mohamed Salehi, a former graduate student in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Texas A&M University.

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