SMART Shear Keys for Tsunami/Storm Surge-Hazards Mitigation of Concrete Girder Bridges

In recent years, transportation infrastructures have been exposed to increasing hydraulic hazards, such as tsunamis and storm surges. In 2011, a devastating tsunami triggered by a Mw 9.0 earthquake struck Japan, 252 bridges were severely damaged. Most of the bridges worked normal after the earthquake load but failed after its associated tsunami loading due to the combination effect of buoyancy and overturning. Storm surges associated with the 2005 Hurricane Katrina floated and displaced many superstructures of bridges when end diaphragms and girders trapped air under water, dropping the bridge spans into water. The goal of this multi-phase proposal is not only to prevent the floated-and-displaced bridge superstructures but also to limit the damage of bridge substructures under tsunami/storm surge events by exploring and developing a novel concept of concrete-girder bridges with Sliding, Modular, Adaptive, Replaceable, and Two-dimensional (SMART) shear keys. Each key is composed of three precast concrete modules arranged in L-shape that are horizontally and vertically post-tensioned with replaceable unbonded steel bars to form two wedged sliding surfaces. When installed next to a girder and anchored into its capbeam support, the key provides controllable horizontal and vertical friction forces during natural hydraulic hazards and regulate corresponding displacements over time. This shear key will not only constrain the displacement of the bridge superstructure under floating and overturning loads, but also dissipate hysteresis energy to enhance the safety of the bridge substructure.

Language

• English

Project

• Status: Completed
• Funding: $407378
• Contract Numbers:

  69A3551747107

• Sponsor Organizations:

  Office of the Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology

  University Transportation Centers Program
  Department of Transportation
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Managing Organizations:

  Mid-America Transportation Center

  University of Nebraska-Lincoln
  2200 Vine Street, PO Box 830851
  Lincoln, NE  United States  68583-0851
• Project Managers:

  Stearns, Amy

• Performing Organizations:

  Missouri University of Science and Technology

  1201 N State St
  Rolla, MO  United States  65409
• Principal Investigators:

  Chen, Genda

• Start Date: 20220201
• Expected Completion Date: 20230630
• Actual Completion Date: 20201231
• USDOT Program: University Transportation Centers Program
• Source Data: RiP Project 91994-108

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Algorithms; Bridge construction; Diaphragms (Engineering); Earthquake resistant design; Girder bridges; Hurricanes; Optimization; Superstructures; Tsunamis
• Subject Areas: Bridges and other structures; Construction; Design; Highways; Maintenance and Preservation;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01844451
• Record Type: Research project
• Source Agency: Mid-America Transportation Center
• Contract Numbers: 69A3551747107
• Files: UTC, RIP
• Created Date: Apr 30 2022 11:47AM