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The MCEER Highway Project 094

"Seismic Vulnerability of the Highway System"
FHWA Contract DTFH61-98-C-00094

Research Plan for Research Year 2

Background

In the summer of 1998, the Multidisciplinary Center for Earthquake Engineering Research (MCEER) was awarded a 6-year, $10.8 million contract by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) of the U.S. Department of Transportation to conduct research on the seismic vulnerability of the U.S. national highway system. This contract, which  is known as MCEER Highway Project 094 and was authorized under the 1998 Transportation Efficiency Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21), is intended to draw upon and extend the work that was conducted under earlier FHWA-sponsored research at MCEER and elsewhere.

The earlier FHWA-sponsored contracts conducted by MCEER were focused primarily on the seismic design and retrofitting of typical highway bridges found throughout the United States. MCEER Highway Project 094 therefore focuses on several special issues not covered in those earlier studies, but which are considered critical to the future of the Nation's highway transportation infrastructure. MCEER Highway Project 094 research addresses:

• Development of formal loss estimation methodologies for highway systems. This research draws on and extends the work conducted under MCEER Highway Project 106 on the development of a seismic risk assessment methodology for highway systems.
• Development of a seismic design and retrofitting manual for "special" bridges. As noted above, MCEER Highway Project 106 research focused on typical highway bridges--primarily short-to-medium span bridges supported by single or multi-column piers or pier walls--and other typical highway structures like retaining walls, slopes, tunnels, and culverts. This project will therefore perform the research necessary to address longer-span structures and bridges with unusual super- and substructures, including truss, arch, and cable-supported bridges, and to develop the design and retrofitting manual for these bridge types.
• Development and improvement of seismic response modification devices (SRMDs, also known as earthquake protective systems), including "smart" or "intelligent" devices and systems. Among these are specialty bearings and dampers, materials (e.g., ER or MR fluids, shape-memory alloys) and other passive and hybrid semi-active systems.
• Geotechnical engineering studies related to foundation design and soil behavior and response, including large pile group behavior, long-period ground motions, and improvements in ground remediation technologies.

MCEER Highway Project 094 is also addressing  a series of special studies, including research to further develop and extend post-earthquake non-destructive assessment technologies for retrofitted bridge components; support for NCHRP Project 12-49, which is developing a new seismic design specification for highway bridges; and designing and instrumenting the Cape Girardeau cable-stayed bridge, which is currently under construction across the Mississippi River between Missouri and Illinois in the New Madrid seismic hazard zone, to record strong ground motion and bridge structural response.

Dr. George C. Lee, MCEER director, is the project principal investigator, and Dr. Ian G. Buckle,  is the project technical director. At the current time, project administration is being handled by Mr. Ian M. Friedland of the Applied Technology Council.

Research Plan for Research Year 2

Many of the studies initiated in the first year of MCEER Highway Project 094 were designed as multiyear tasks. However, funding for the program is allocated by the FHWA on an annual basis. Many Research Year 2 tasks are, therefore, continuations of Research Year 1 work.

Several new tasks were initiated in Research Year 2, including: Task B1-3 to develop fragility curves for seismically-retrofitted bridges, which are needed in the seismic risk analysis methodologies for highway systems and regional networks; Task C3-2 to improve understanding of the in-plane behavior and performance of bridges with flexible steel superstructures subjected to large transverse forces and displacements; Task D2-2 which is developing a new "intelligent" passive SRMD for bridges; and Task F3-2 to prepare a Guide Specification for bridge seismic design, on the basis of the load-and-resistance-factor (LRFD) based specification provisions developed under the AASHTO-sponsored NCHRP Project 12-49. Each of these tasks, along with all Research Year 1 continuation tasks, are detailed in the task statements contained in this report.

Project Schedule

The contract for MCEER Highway Project 094 was executed in late September 1998. Until June 1999, the focus of project activities was on empanelling the project advisory committee (the Highway Project Research Council-HSRC), and conducting administrative activities necessary to prepare and execute detailed task plans for Research Year 1 and the overall 6-year project.

Research Year 1 tasks were conducted between July 1, 1999 and June 30, 2000, but due to administrative problems in preparing and executing the task plan for Research Year 2, the Year 2 research program was not officially initiated until January 1, 2001, and some Year 2 tasks did not start until mid-2001. In subsequent years, tasks for each Research Year will be designed so as to coincide with annual calendar years; i.e., research on Research Year 3 will run from January 1 through December 31, 2002, and so forth.