Innovative Technologies and Their Applications to Enhance the Seismic Performance of Highway Bridges: Precast, Segmental Bridges for Accelerated Bridge Construction in Seismic Regions (Project 020)
In recent years, accelerated bridge construction (ABC) has demonstrated significant time savings and other benefits. It has become a key component of the Federal Highway Administration’s vision for the nation's transportation system. However, there are no design procedures or guidelines for ABC in seismically active states. Thus, MCEER's research work focuses principally on the development of seismic design guidelines for prefabricated reinforced concrete and segmentally constructed highway bridges of short to medium span length. Analytical and experimental work is being carried out to formulate design guidelines for practical applications so that all states can benefit from the use of ABC. This project also continues the Federal Highway Administration's (FHWA) ongoing efforts to develop and apply innovative technologies to enhance the seismic performance of bridges including segmental bridges. These efforts include the evaluation of existing bearings for their long term performance under various environmental conditions, the deployment of a new generation of bridge bearing developed under a previous FHWA research contract, and exploring the concept of using a structural fuse to protect bridges from extensive damage in the event of an earthquake. This research project also includes a strong center-to-center cooperative effort between MCEER and the National Center for Research on Earthquake Engineering (NCREE) in Taiwan, where large scale segmental columns have been tested and funded by the National Science Council and other organizations in Taiwan.
This MCEER research project funded by FHWA is a group effort carried out by a number of investigators in the Department of Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering at the University at Buffalo (Amjad Aref, Michel Bruneau, Stuart Chen, Michael Constantinou, Andre Filiatrault, George Lee, Zach Liang and Andrew Whittaker), coordinated by George Lee.
Accelerated Bridge Construction Flyer
Accelerated Bridge Construction Tasks
Innovative Seismic Technology Tasks
- Design and Application for Roller Bearing Systems
- LRFD-based Unified Analysis and Design Guidelines for Bridge Bearings and Seismic Isolators for Use in Service and Seismic Applications
- Bridge Information Modeling for Seismic Aspects of Accelerated Bridge Engineering
- Innovative Multi-Hazard Resistant Bridge Concepts
- Down-Scaled Testing for Evaluation of Seismic Performance of Bridge Piers
Technology Transfer Tasks
