Title : REHABILITATION AND SEISMIC RETROFIT OF BRIDGES SUBJECTED TO REINFORCEMENT CORROSION
Authors : M.A. Zanini, Carlo Pellegrino and Claudio Modena
Publication : 13th – 16th February 2013
Volume :
Pages : 10-Jan
Price : 250
Abstract : This paper investigates the problem of rehabilitation and seismic retrofit of typical bridges located in seismic zones, in relation to the actual state of degradation of their most vulnerable elements. The study shows the calculation of the seismic vulnerability of an Italian highway steel bridge through the construction of fragility curves, calculated taking into account the corrosion of the reinforcing steel as the main cause of environmental deterioration. Fragility curves are one of the most useful tools proposed in literature to define the exceeding probability of certain damage levels versus the value of an intensity measure of the seismic action by means of a number of non-linear numerical analyses. In previous works fragility curves were constructed without considering degradation; in this work bridge vulnerability is calculated taking into account reinforcing steel bars corrosion. Finally, three possible retrofit interventions with traditional recovery techniques have been proposed in order to quantify their positive effects in terms of seismic vulnerability reduction.