The seismic damage mechanism of Huilan interchange
which was severely damaged during Wenchuan earthquake
was studied through numerical simulation and post-earthquake investigation.The simulation results show that the bearing at the top of the most shortest No.1 pier was firstly damaged due to sliding.Then
seismic action concentrated on the next shortest No.2 rigid frame pier which has a larger stiffness.No.2 pier firstly yielded in flexure
and as the lateral displacement increased
the No.2 pier was dominated by shear capacity
and eventually failed in flexure-shear modes.By field investigation
it was found that the short rigid frame piers with largest lateral stiffness suffered severely damage while other piers suffered slight-to-moderate damage
which including concrete cover spalling
concrete cracking and sliding damage of the rubber bearing on the top of piers.It is concluded that the simulation results agree well with post-earthquake investigations.
Damage investigation of girder bridges under the Wenchuan earthquake and corresponding seismic design recommendations [J]. Li Jianzhong,Peng Tianbo and Xu Yan1 State Key Lab for Disaster Reduction in Civil Engineering,Tongji University,Shanghai200092,China. Earthquake Engineering and Engineering Vibration . 2008(04)
Implications of Design Assumptions on Capacity Estimates and Demand Predictions of Multispan Curved Bridges [J] . Aman Mwafy,Amr Elnashai,W.-H. Yen. Journal of Bridge Engineering . 2007 (6)