Bridge Seismic Performance Research Reports Published

Two new research reports are now published and available online through the Illinois Center for Transportation (http://ict.illinois.edu/research/publications/):

LaFave, J.M., Fahnestock, L.A. and Kozak, D.L. “Seismic Performance of Integral Abutment Highway Bridges in Illinois,” Research Report No. FHWA-ICT-18-012, August 2018.

LaFave, J.M., Fahnestock, L.A., Luo, J. and Kozak, D.L. “Seismic Performance of Seat-Type Abutment Highway Bridges in Illinois,” Research Report No. FHWA-ICT-18-013, August 2018.

These reports document the major findings of the research project “Calibration and Refinement of Illinois’ Earthquake Resisting System Bridge Design Methodology: Phase II,” which was sponsored by the Illinois Center for Transportation as ICT Project R27-133.

Ground Motions for Southern Illinois

A new paper and companion report document the development of ground motions for Central North America.  These ground motions are being used in ongoing research to conduct dynamic structural analysis of bridges in Southern Illinois.

  • Kozak, D.L., Luo, J., Olson, S.M., LaFave, J.M. and Fahnestock, L.A. “Modification of ground motions for use in Central North America,” Journal of Earthquake Engineering (accepted July 26, 2017). dx.doi.org/10.1080/13632469.2017.1387190
  • Kozak, D.L., Luo, J., Olson, S.M., LaFave, J.M., Fahnestock, L.A. “Modification of ground motions for use in Central North America: Southern Illinois surface ground motions for structural analysis,” Newmark Structural Engineering Report Series, No. 48, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, September 2017. http://hdl.handle.net/2142/98456

The ground motions can be downloaded from the Illinois Data Bank:

  • Kozak, Derek L.; Luo, Jie; Olson, Scott M.; LaFave, James M.; Fahnestock, Larry A. (2017): Data from Modification of ground motions for use in Central North America: Southern Illinois surface ground motions for structural analysis. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. https://doi.org/10.13012/B2IDB-9696589_V1

The work described in these documents is part of the project Calibration and Refinement of Illinois’ Earthquake Resisting System Bridge Design Methodology: Phase II, which is sponsored by the Illinois Center for Transportation.

Reports Published on IAB Thermal Response

Results from Illinois Center for Transportation Project R27-115 “Analysis of Superstructures of Integral Abutment Bridges” are available in two reports:

LaFave, J.M., Fahnestock, L.A., Wright, B.A., Riddle, J.K., Jarrett, M.W., Svatora, J.S., An, H. and Brambila, G. “Integral Abutment Bridges under Thermal Loading: Numerical Simulations and Parametric Study,” Research Report No. FHWA-ICT-16-014, June 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/2142/91028

LaFave, J.M., Fahnestock, L.A., Brambila, G., Riddle, J.K., Jarrett, M.W., Svatora, J.S., Wright, B.A. and An, H. “Integral Abutment Bridges under Thermal Loading: Field Monitoring and Analysis,” Research Report No. FHWA-ICT-17-017, August 2017. http://hdl.handle.net/2142/97897

Nepal Post-Earthquake Field Report Published

Following the April 25, 2015 Gorkha (Nepal) Earthquake (M7.8) and its related aftershocks, Youssef Hashash and Larry Fahnestock were sponsored by a CEE Rapid
Response Grant to conduct field reconnaissance related to geotechnical and structural response.  A new Newmark Structural Engineering Laboratory Report summarizes their observations and can be accessed online through IDEALS:

Fahnestock, L.A. and Hashash, Y.M.A. “Structural and Geotechnical Observations after the April 25, 2015 M7.8 Gorkha, Nepal Earthquake and its Aftershocks,” Newmark Structural Engineering Report Series, No. 46, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, December 2016. https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/handle/2142/95138

BRBF Technical Brief Published

NEHRP Seismic Design Technical Brief No. 11 – Seismic Design of Steel Buckling-Restrained Braced Frames: A Guide for Practicing Engineers is now available for free download:

http://www.nehrp.gov/pdf/nistgcr15-917-34.pdf

This Technical Brief was prepared for the U.S. Department of Commerce, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Engineering Laboratory by the Applied Technology Council in association with the Consortium of Universities for Research in Earthquake Engineering and authors Ryan A. Kersting, Larry A. Fahnestock and Walterio A. Lopez.

National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program (NEHRP) Technical Briefs are published by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) as aids to the efficient transfer of NEHRP and other research into practice, thereby helping to reduce the nation’s losses resulting from earthquakes.  Technical Briefs on other topics are also available:

http://www.nehrp.gov/library/techbriefs.htm

Report Published on Bridge Seismic Performance

Research Report No. FHWA-ICT-13-015 Seismic Performance of Quasi-isolated Highway Bridges in Illinois is now published and available online.  The report, which is authored by J. LaFave, L. Fahnestock, D. Foutch, J. Steelman, J. Revell, E. Filipov and J. Hajjar, describes an extensive numerical earthquake simulation study that was conducted as part of the project Calibration and Refinement of Illinois’ Earthquake Resisting System Bridge Design Methodology.

Bridge Bearing Report Published

Research Report No. FHWA-ICT-13-002 Experimental Investigation of the Seismic Response of Bridge Bearings is now published and available online.  The report, which is authored by J. LaFave, L. Fahnestock, D. Foutch, J. Steelman, J. Revell, E. Filipov and J. Hajjar, describes an extensive full-scale bearing testing program that was conducted as part of the project Calibration and Refinement of Illinois’ Earthquake Resisting System Bridge Design Methodology.

In addition, a subset of this bearing testing program is reported in the July 2013 issue of the ASCE Journal of Bridge Engineering:

  • Steelman, J.S., Fahnestock, L.A., Filipov, E.T., LaFave, J.M., Hajjar, J.F. and Foutch, D.A. “Shear and Friction Response of Non-Seismic Laminated Elastomeric Bridge Bearings Subject to Seismic Demands,” Journal of Bridge Engineering, ASCE, 18 (7): 612-623, (2013). dx.doi.org/doi:10.1061/(ASCE)BE.1943-5592.0000406