International Journal of Earth Sciences and Engineering

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The seismic response of bridges is significantly affected by its abutment behaviour. Short bridges with relatively stiff superstructure, which are most common in highway overpasses, are highly sensitive to its abutment response. Codes such as Seismic Design Criteria (CalTrans, 2013) give guidelines for abutment modelling. This paper investigates the sensitivity of bridge seismic response with respect to both Seat-type Abutments (SA) and Integral Abutments (IA). Both the abutment types will be studied for bridges with varied span length and pier slenderness in assessing the importance of proper abutment modelling. Simplified spring model which contains discrete representations of backfill, shear key and back wall behaviour is used in modelling the abutments. The study uses response spectrum analysis for assessing the global seismic response of the three dimensional finite element bridge models with SAP2000. A detailed description of the resisting mechanism of the spring abutment model and the accurate estimation of their stiffness is presented. Recommendations for the selection of proper structural system based on the geometrical variations considered are discussed.

Keywords

Abutment Modelling, Bearing Pads, Back Wall, Shear Key, Seismic Response, Response Spectrum Analysis.
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