Skew Adjustment Factors for Fragilities of California Box-Girder Bridges Subjected to Near-Fault and Far-Field Ground Motions

TL;DR

This paper develops new fragility adjustment factors to better assess the seismic vulnerability of skewed California box-girder bridges near active faults, considering ground motion types and structural uncertainties.

Contribution

It introduces a novel set of fragility adjustment factors that incorporate skewness and fault proximity effects, improving seismic risk assessment accuracy.

Findings

Skewness and fault proximity increase bridge vulnerability.

Existing HAZUS factors do not adequately capture fragility variations.

New adjustment factors improve seismic risk evaluation.

Abstract

Past reconnaissance studies revealed that bridges close to active faults are more susceptible to damage and more than 60% of the bridges in California are skewed. To assess the combined effect of near-fault ground motions and skewness, this paper evaluates the seismic vulnerability of skewed concrete box-girder bridges in California subjected to near-fault and far-field ground motions. The relative risk of skewness and fault-location on the bridges is evaluated by developing fragility curves of bridge components and system accounting for the material, geometric, and structural uncertainties. It is noted that the skewness and bridge site close to active faults make bridges more vulnerable, and the existing modification factor in HAZUS cannot capture the variation in the median value of the fragilities appropriately. A new set of fragility adjustment factors for skewness coupled with the effect of fault location is suggested in this paper.