Seismic Design of Elevated Traffic Systems

For the seismic design of elevated bridge structures the arrangement of plastic hinges, their design and construction, as well as their ductility requirements in case of an earthquake is of great importance. In this paper the deformation behaviour of plastic hinges will be investigated, using different design and calculation approaches for the deformation behaviour of the confined concrete as well as for the bonding behaviour of the reinforcement steel. The plastic rotation and ductility capacity is determined numerically and compared with the ductility requirements of different international codes. Finally, the investigation results are tested and proved on practical construction examples, such as the Taiwan High Speed Rail Project, where this concept was applied in full, in order to secure a save operation during the intended life time of the system.