SEISMIC: Evaluation and Improvement of Design Methods and Details for Shear Keys and Stem Walls in Bridge Abutments

Failure of abutment shear keys during an earthquake causes major damage to the abutment stem wall. Isolated shear keys have been proposed and accepted for bridges with skew less than 20 degrees. However, a large number of Caltrans bridges contain skews greater than 20 degrees. Adequate design guidelines need to be developed for bridges where the skew angle exceeds 20 degrees.

Language

• English

Project

• Status: Active
• Sponsor Organizations:

  California Department of Transportation

  1227 O Street
  Sacramento, CA  United States  95843
• Project Managers:

  Sikorsky, Charles

• Performing Organizations:

  Regents of the University of California, San Diego

  San Diego, CA  United States 
• Principal Investigators:

  Shing, P

• Start Date: 20101001
• Expected Completion Date: 0
• Actual Completion Date: 20141130
• Source Data: RiP Project 28763

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Bridge abutments; Bridge design; Earthquake resistant design; Guidelines; Seismicity; Skew bridges
• Uncontrolled Terms: Shear keys; Skew angles
• Geographic Terms: California
• Subject Areas: Bridges and other structures; Highways;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01465965
• Record Type: Research project
• Source Agency: California Department of Transportation
• Files: RIP, STATEDOT
• Created Date: Jan 3 2013 3:08PM