The effects of Soil Structure Interaction on a reinforced concrete bridge

Stéphane Grange (1) , Luca Botrugno , Panagiotis Kotronis (2) , Claudio Tamagnini (3)

1 3S - Laboratoire Sols, Solides, Structures
2 GeM - Institut de Recherche en Génie Civil et Mécanique
3 UNIPG - Università degli Studi di Perugia = University of Perugia

This paper presents a numerical strategy to simulate the behaviour of a three-piles viaduct made of prestressed concrete. The viaduct was tested pseudodynamically in ELSA laboratory (JRC Ispra, Italy). During the experimental program, only the three piles where tested, whereas the behaviour of the deck was simulated using the finite element method. The first part of the paper presents a numerical model of the viaduct based on Timoshenko multifiber beam elements and non linear constitutive laws. Comparisons with the experimental results show the good performance of the approach. In the second part, a parametric study is carried out showing the influence of Soil-Structure Interaction (SSI). Various types of soils are considered using a recently developed macro-element representing a rigid shallow foundation. The macro-element is suitable for dynamic (seismic) loadings and it takes into account the plasticity of the soil, the uplift of the foundation, $P − θ$ effects and the radiative damping. Finally, the numerical results are compared with the ones coming from a classical engineering approach using linear elastic springs at the base of the piles.

Domaines: Mécanique [physics.med-ph]; Matériaux

Stéphane Grange, Luca Botrugno, Panagiotis Kotronis, Claudio Tamagnini. The effects of Soil Structure Interaction on a reinforced concrete bridge. COMGEO I, 1st International Symposium on Computational Geomechanics, Apr 2009, Juan-les-Pins, France. pp.877-886. ⟨hal-01009015⟩