Abstract:
This study aims to introduce a graphical user interface (BridgePBEE) to assess the seismic performance of coupled soil-structure systems under the Performance-Based Earthquake Engineering (PBEE) framework. A three-dimensional (3D) Finite-Element (FE) model for a typical simple bridge configuration is developed using BridgePBEE to conduct time history analysis of the bridge-ground system. The nonlinear dynamic response of the bridge during multiple suites of earthquake excitations is studied. Seismic loss in terms of repair cost for pre-defined performance groups is derived thereafter. This study shows that the local site soil profile affects the seismic response of the bridge considerably and should be considered in design procedures.