EVALUATION OF THE SEISMIC PERFORMANCE OF EXISTING BRIDGES IN EGYPT

Bridge piers are the main structural elements that carry earthquake loads. Certain reinforcement details have been traditionally used in Egypt for bridge piers. Many of the existing bridges are built using these details. Recent considerations of the seismic performance of piers require achieving sufficient levels of strength and ductility. This work presents an experimental program carried out to evaluate the performance of specific bridge pier reinforcement details under cyclic loading. Certain strength and ductility parameters are obtained from the experimental results and used later in a numerical study. Several bridge configurations, representing bridges that are in service, are used in non-linear dynamic analyses. The bridges are analyzed under the effect of different ground motion records, scaled according to the different seismic zones within Egypt and having a wide range of frequency content. Performance of traditional as well as enhanced reinforcement details are evaluated and compared based on maximum base shear, maximum drift, and total structural damage index.