Skewed Slab-on-Girder Steel Bridge Superstructures with Bidirectional-Ductile End Diaphragms

Specially designed ductile end diaphragms of steel bridge superstructures have previously proved, both theoretically and experimentally, to dissipate seismic input energy, protecting other substructure and superstructure members. Although ductile diaphragms have been introduced in the latest AASHTO guide specifications as a structural system that can be used to resist transverse earthquake effects, no guidance is provided on how to implement these ductile diaphragms in skewed bridges. To address this need and to resolve some shortcomings of the known end diaphragm systems (EDSs), two bidirectional end diaphragm configurations, namely, EDS-1 and EDS-2, with buckling restrained braces (BRBs) are proposed and numerically investigated. Bidirectional end diaphragm is a new concept, and can be implemented both in straight and skewed steel bridge superstructures to resist bidirectional earthquake effects. To assess the relative effectiveness of the proposed systems and to investigate how various parameters relate to seismic response, closed-form solutions are developed using nondimensional bridge geometric ratios. Numerical results indicate that skewness more severely affects end diaphragm behavior when phi >= 30 degrees. Also, comparisons reveal that although both end diaphragm systems can be used with confidence as ductile seismic fuses, each of the two systems considered have advantages that may favor its implementation, depending on project-specific constraints. DOI: 10.1061/(ASCE)BE.1943-5592.0000141. (C) 2011 American Society of Civil Engineers.