A displacement-based approach for the seismic design of continuous concrete bridges

A displacement-based design procedure for continuous concrete bridges is proposed which can be incorporated into a performance-based design philosophy. The procedure is applicable to multi-degree-of-freedom bridges with flexible or rigid superstructures, and for varying degrees of abutment restraint. The background and development of the design procedure is presented first, followed by a series of examples and validation studies using dynamic inelastic time-history analysis. The procedure is applied to the transverse response of bridge structures: however, it is equally well-suited for longitudinal response. The results indicate that the process is able to capture non-linear deformation patterns and thus reasonably control damage. Copyright (C) 2001 John Wiley Sons, Ltd.