SHAKING TABLE TESTS ON AN INTEGRAL ABUTMENT BRIDGE MODEL: PRELIMINARY RESULTS

• DOI: 10.7712/120119.7176.19103
• Publication Date: 2019-11-21T04:25:22Z
• Authors: Gabriele Fiorentino; Cihan Cengiz; Flavia De Luca; Georgia De Benedetti; Francesco Lolli; Matt Dietz; Luiza Dihoru; Davide Lavorato; Dimitris Karamitros; Bruno Briseghella; Tatjana Isakovic; Christos Vrettos; Antonio Topa Gomes; Anastasios Sextos; George Mylonakis; Camillo Nuti
• Keywords: 550; 02 engineering and technology; 620; 0201 civil engineering

Over the last decade, there was a renewed interest on Integral Abutment Bridges (IABs), which are characterized by the absence of bearing supports and expansion joints, leading to reduced construction and maintenance cost over ordinary bridges. Due to the monolithic connection between abutments and deck, complex Soil-Structure Interaction (SSI) phenomena tend to develop between the bridge and the backfill in the static and the dynamic conditions, due to thermal expansion and earthquake action, respectively. An experimental campaign was conducted using the 3x3 m 6 DOF shaking table and the 5 m long shear stack available at the University of Bristol, focusing on SSI effects between the Integral Bridge model and the backfill soil under earthquake loading. The study aimed at investigating the influence on the response of: (a) compressible inclusions placed between the abutment and the backfill soil; (b) the type of constraint between abutment and pile foundation.