Seismic interactions between adjacent and crossing bridges on deep foundations in nonlinear soil

ABSTRACT

This study analyses the effect of structure-soil-structure interaction (SSSI) on the seismic behaviour of two bridges supported by groups of piles in nonlinear clay. Special attention was given to the influence of the inter-bridge spacing and the plan positioning of the two bridges and their alignment with respect to the Epicentral loading. A series of numerical analyses were performed by FLAC 3D three-dimensional finite difference code. The results showed the important effect of (SSSI), with a significant drop of acceleration by about (53–61%) accompanied by a reduction of the internal forces of the piles by (12–21.6%), while we have noticed a small influence of the inter-bridge spacing on the acceleration (16–20%) and on the internal forces by (6–17%). In contrast, there was a substantial change in the seismic behaviour of the bridges according to their geometrical position with respect to the seismic loading direction, which came into view in a huge reduction of the pile’s internal forces and mass acceleration of about (80–88%) in the perpendicular bridge.

KEYWORDS:

• SSSI
• geometrical position
• inter-bridge spacing
• seismic
• nonlinear
• three-dimensional

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.