A probabilistic strategy for seismic assessment and FRP retrofitting of existing bridges

• Published in: Bulletin of earthquake engineering Vol. 13; no. 8; pp. 2411 - 2428
• Main Authors: Morbin, R., Zanini, M. A., Pellegrino, C., Zhang, H., Modena, C.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Springer Netherlands 01.08.2015; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Assessments; Bridges; Civil Engineering; Decision making; Earth and Environmental Science; Earth Sciences; Earthquakes; Environmental Engineering/Biotechnology; Fiber reinforced plastics; Geophysics/Geodesy; Geotechnical Engineering & Applied Earth Sciences; Hydrogeology; Original Research Paper; Polymers; Probabilistic methods; Probability theory; Reinforced concrete; Retrofitting; Roads; Seismic activity; Seismic engineering; Seismic phenomena; Structural Geology; Visual inspection; Probabilistic framework; Seismic assessment; Decision making; FRP; Bridge management
• ISSN: 1570-761X; 1573-1456
• DOI: 10.1007/s10518-015-9725-2

This study proposes a holistic probabilistic framework to evaluate existing road and railway bridges after an earthquake by means of analytical fragility curves and visual inspections. Although visual inspections are affected by uncertainties, they are usually considered in a deterministic way, while in this work they are taken into account in a probabilistic point manner. Moreover, extra focus is given on retrofitting interventions by means of Fiber Reinforced Polymer materials and their costs. A probabilistic methodology is formed to evaluate possible standardized interventions on existing bridges after a seismic event. The proposed framework, consists of six basic steps and it is applied on a reinforced concrete bridge case study, which is a common structural typology in Italian roadway infrastructural networks. The main aim is to provide useful information to public authorities in order to decide whether or not they should allow traffic over the bridge and whether to repair immediately earthquake-damaged bridges. The outcomes of this framework can be used to improve procedures used for the seismic assessment of the whole road and railway networks to better plan emergency, post-emergency actions and define a general priority for an optimal budget allocation.