A Self-Centering Seismic Design for Bridge with Pile-Cap Foundation

Abstract

In this paper, an alternative aseismic system for bridge with pile-cap foundation called a separated pile-cap with proper material set in the gap layer was proposed. To simulate the system, a 3-dimensional finite element model for a continuous beam bridge was built. The seismic responses of the model, including behavior of the restrainer, moment at the bottom of the pier and pullout force of the piles with different restrainer lengths under 3 longitudinal artificial earthquake waves were analyzed. The results show that this system can reduce the seismic response significantly.

Shape memory alloy (SMA)-cable-controlled sliding bearings: development, testing, and system behavior

“…The proposed bearing may have the following extra benefits compared with some existing SMA wire-based or cablebased bearing solutions [20,21,42,[45][46][47]: 1) all the SMA cables can work simultaneously when the bearing plate moves in any horizontal direction, i.e. 360 degree effective; 2) the SMA cables can also control excessive vertical displacements of the bearing under vertical seismic excitations; and 3) the connections between the SMA cables and bearing plates are flexible so that no stress concentration occurs in the cables within the design displacement.…”

“…360 degree effective; 2) the SMA cables can also control excessive vertical displacements of the bearing under vertical seismic excitations; and 3) the connections between the SMA cables and bearing plates are flexible so that no stress concentration occurs in the cables within the design displacement. It is noted that directionchanging steel hooks [20,21] or U-shape cable configuration [42,[45][46][47] in the existing solutions could cause premature failure of the SMA wires/cables.…”