Chapter 10: Analysis of foundations for major bridges

This chapter

From the point of view of foundations, bridge failures can be classified into the following types

Table 10.1 lists some of the failed major bridges in liquefiable soils during seismic events. Figures 10.1–10.10 presents the aerial/schematic views of the failed bridges. It may be noted from Table 10.1 and Figures (10.1–10.9) that the central part (midspan) of the bridges collapsed.

The 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake occurred at 2:46 pm on 11 March 2011 with a moment magnitude (M_w) of 9.0. Many highway bridges were damaged due to both the large ground motion and tsunami effects. Very similar damage to that to the Showa Bridge in the 1964 Niigata earthquake (Japan) occurred to the Rokko Bridge in Ibaraki Prefecture (Chen and Duan, 2003). The soil around the bridge liquefied, and the two central piers collapsed, resulting in the loss of the three central spans of the bridge (Figure 10.1).