The objective of this project is to establish a conduit which can translate and consolidate research results into a usable design tool for implementing the latest aseismic design methodologies for bridges into practice. For bridge structures located in seismic-prone areas, modern ductility or capacity design procedures require ultimate limit states under earthquake loading be identified and properly considered. To evaluate the earthquake ductility demand, effect of nonlinear foundation response, and other nonlinear effects in the bridge superstructure discontinuities, nonlinear transient analysis procedure are developed. The post-elastic interaction of axial force and biaxial bending of substructure columns are represented by a proper yield surface, e.g. Bresler's interaction criteria. Attention is also directed to recently developed energy absorbing devices so that their performance can be evaluated analytically to assist engineers in their decisions on new designs or retrofitting strategies. This research fills a gap between the advancement in Earthquake Engineering and Computational Structural Dynamics and the practical needs of bridge engineers and designers. This is the second and final phase of a continuing project.
