Reconnaissance Observation on Bridge Damage Caused by the 2008 Wenchuan (China) Earthquake

Abstract

Following the 2008 Wenchuan (China) earthquake, the civil engineers association from Taiwan immediately dispatched a team to the affected region to collect information about the structural and geotechnical damage, and to provide information for seismic assessment, retrofitting and reconstruction planning. This team reached the damaged areas close to the epicenter—including Chengdu, Dujiangyan, Pongzhou, Xiaoyudong, Mianzhu, Zhiulong, Wudu, Hanwang, Hsuanko, Yingxiu (epicenter), and Highway 213—to survey the affected schools, hospitals, residential buildings, landslides, and bridges. More than 5,000 photos were taken to document the damage that resulted from the catastrophic earthquake ( http://www.ncree.gov.tw/eng/index.htm ). It is hoped that the information obtained can help us to develop a disaster mitigation plan. This paper focuses on the damage to different types of bridges, including those with simple support, arch, and continuous elements. The information shared in this study can help us build a community that will be safer in the future.

Landscape Fragmentation and Spatial Autocorrelation of a Typical Watershed in the Wenchuan Earthquake-Affected Area—A Case Study in the Longxi River Basin

“…The Ms 8.0 Wenchuan earthquake caused frequent secondary disasters, including debris flows, landslides, collapses, and floods, as well as subsequent deterioration in the ecological environment of the Longxi River Basin [31]. The changes caused by secondary disasters in the geomorphology and river system induced a large area of vegetation destruction and reshaped land use patterns [32]. Our previous study showed that unutilized land induced by secondary disasters replaced grassland as the second dominant land type, accounting for 15.99% of the Longxi River Basin's area in 2009 [8].…”

A Mathematical Approach for Predicting Sufficient Separation Gap between Adjacent Buildings to Avoid Earthquake-Induced Pounding

“…Furthermore, Anagnostopoulos [9] has identified pounding damage in his work during the Northridge (1994) and Kobe (1995) quakes. Pounding criteria between adjacent building structures and resulting damage were also examined by other researchers, e.g., the Chi-Chi earthquake in 1999 [10] and the Wenchuan earthquake in 2008 [11].…”

Impact Stiffness of Linear Viscoelastic Model for Seismic Pounding Simulation: An Experimental Evaluation

“…Investigations of pounding damage between adjacent structures were conducted based on past and present earthquakes. Pounding damage was acknowledged in numerous extreme earthquakes, such as the 1999 Taiwan Chi-Chi earthquake [8], and the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake [9]. After the 2011 Christchurch earthquake, pounding incidents between neighbouring buildings as well as bridge structures were observed and reported [10,11].…”