The seismic damage mode of bridge in Wenchuan Earthquake

This paper reports some typical damage samples of the bridges in Wenchuan Earthquake, based on an inspection visit to the earthquake site. The causes and regular patterns of the earthquake damage are analyzed. The typical damage of girder bridge can be divided into the damage of main load-carrying member and the damage of link member. The typical damage of arch bridge included: span collapsed, abutment and arch springing cracked, spandrel arch damaged, damage in the joint member between deck and main arch, damage out of arch plane. At last, a set of seismic damage indices of bridge which comes from typical damage mode of the bridges in Wenchuan Earthquake is proposed.