Bearing Simulation in Seismic Response Analysis of a Multi-Span Continuous Girder Bridge

The damage of bearing will change the boundary condition for whole bridge, if we do not take account of bearing failure, the error of structural analysis and the unreasonable in design will be made. In this paper, the effect of possible bearing damage to whole bridge during strong ground motion is studied through examining the seismic performance of a multi-span continuous girder bridge which is a real damaged bridge during the Wenchuan earthquake in 2008. Proper analytical restoring force models of bearings are proposed, which can simulate the seismic performance of the bridge before and after the bearing damage suitably.