Methodology and Application of Safety Evaluation of Reinforced Concrete Girder Bridges during Earthquakes

The actual earthquake resistance performance and the seismic damage state of bridges during future earthquakes are important issues that need to be resolved. Using an expressway reinforced concrete (RC) girder bridge in a high seismic intensity area of China as the research object, the damage correlation between different structural components of the bridge is analyzed, and the key components that determine the structural safety state of the bridge are determined. Then, the safety evaluation indexes of the bridge pier and bearing are researched, and a two-stage seismic safety evaluation methodology for RC girder bridges is proposed. The first stage is a rapid and general evaluation using empirical statistical methods, and the second stage is a precise evaluation obtained by calculating the damage index of the components. Subsequently, the seismic damage prediction matrix is presented. Considering the modification of the bridge span number, service life, and skew angle, a seismic safety evaluation from a typical single bridge to a group of bridges of the same type is implemented. Finally, an actual expressway bridge in China is presented as a numerical example to illustrate the application of the method. The research results show that damage to the key components, including bearings, piers, and abutments, is the deciding factor of the bridge damage state. The seismic damage states of piers and bearings can be conveniently assessed according to the pier top displacement angle and bearing shear deformation during earthquakes. According to the suggested standard of RC girder bridge seismic damage, the seismic safety evaluation of the whole bridge structure can be obtained using the seismic safety evaluation of individual key components of the bridge structure. According to the evaluation results of individual bridges and considering the modification of influencing factors, an earthquake performance evaluation of a group of bridges of the same type can be obtained. The two-stage seismic safety evaluation methodology proposed in this study is effective and efficient.