City Research Online

Abstract

Variation in the type of structural system (bent-to-deck connection) not only significantly impacts the seismic performance of regular bridges but also adds complexity when skewness irregularity is involved. Previous studies have separately evaluated the impact of either the type of structural system or skewness on the vulnerability assessment of bridges. The present study examines, for the first time, the combined effects of structural systems and skew angles on the seismic response of multi-span reinforced concrete I-girder bridges. For this purpose, two prevalent superstructure systems, namely, multi-span simply supported and multi-span continuous, are considered. For each system, the boundary condition at superstructure-substructure interface is modeled assuming elastomeric bearings with steel dowels. In the case of the multi-span continuous system, two more commonly applied types of bent-to-deck connection are considered, including pinned connectivity and elastomeric bearings without steel dowels. To account for the irregularity, five skew angles ranging from 0° to 60° are also considered. Probabilistic seismic demand models are developed for key components, such as columns and bearings, and subsequently, component- and system-level fragility curves are generated. It is observed that superstructure skewness may reduce the sensitivity of column response to variations in the structural bridge systems by up to six times compared to regular counterparts. The results also reveal that skew angle variation can influence the bridge system fragility by up to 40% across different structural systems.

Publication Type:	Article
Additional Information:	© 2025 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, and is not altered, transformed, or built upon in any way. The terms on which this article has been published allow the posting of the Accepted Manuscript in a repository by the author(s) or with their consent.
Publisher Keywords:	Concrete I-girder bridge; Skewness; Structural irregularity; Fragility curves; Seismic vulnerability assessment
Subjects:	T Technology > TG Bridge engineering T Technology > TH Building construction
Departments:	School of Science & Technology School of Science & Technology > Department of Engineering
SWORD Depositor:	Symplectic Administrator

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