Seismic evaluation of Bolu viaduct 1

Abstract

A thesis is presented on the seismic evaluation of a viaduct using non-linear analysistechniques. The Bolu viaduct is a 2-3 km long seismically isolated structure with two parallelbridges each with a span length of 39.2 m and pier height of maximum 49 m that was nearly complete when it was struck by the 1999 Duzce earthquake in Turkey. With the design basedon AASHTO standards, it suffered complete failure of the seismic isolation system andnarrowly avoided total collapse due to excessive superstructure moment. After investigationsthe retrofit of the viaduct had been decided due to the study carried out by Michele Calvi and J. Nigel Priestley. This thesis concentrates on the retrofitted structure of Viaduct 1 by non-linear time historyanalysis.