Assessment of seismic performance of skew reinforced concrete box girder bridges

The seismic vulnerability of highway bridges remains an important problem and has received increased attention as a consequence of unprecedented damage observed during several major earthquakes. A significant number of research studies have examined the performance of skew bridges under service and seismic loads. The results of these studies are particularly sensitive to modeling assumptions in view of the interacting parameters. In the present study, three-dimensional improved beam-stick models of two-span highway bridges with skew angles varying from 0° to 60° are developed to investigate the seismic response characteristics of skew box girder bridges. The relative accuracy of beam-stick models is verified against counterpart finite element models. The effect of various parameters and conditions on the overall seismic response was examined such as skew angle, ground motion intensity, soil condition, abutment support conditions, bridge aspect ratio, and foundation-base conditions. The study shows that the improved beam-stick models can be used to conduct accurate nonlinear time history analysis of skew bridges. Skew angle and interacting parameters were found to have significant effect on the behavior of skewed highway bridges. Furthermore, the performance of shear keys may have a predominant effect on the overall seismic response of the skew bridges.