Published works

The present study deals with the drift and displacement capacities of reinforced concrete (RC) bridge abutments subjected to seismic excitations. Two dimensional (2D) finite element (FE) analyses have been conducted to investigate the behavior of the bridge abutment taking into account dynamic actions of the backfill in seismic conditions. The capability of scaled down bridge abutment models is also investigated in order to replicate the dynamic behavior of prototype bridge abutments. The analyses have taken into account interactions between the abutment and the backfill, which can significantly affect the seismically induced displacement behavior of the bridge abutments. It was observed that scaled down bridge abutment models could effectively replicate the seismic behavior of prototype bridge abutments. The stiffness of the bridge abutment degrades significantly with increasing intensity of ground motion. The location of the point of rotation of the bridge abutment is almost constant irrespective of the height of the stem wall. Drift and displacement behavior of the bridge abutment is highly controlled by the thickness of the stem wall.