A simple quantitative approach for post earthquake damage assessment of flexure dominant reinforced concrete bridges

Conventional methods for displacement based condition assessment of bridges solely rely on the maximum level of displacements experienced by the piers, and do not take into account the accumulated damage that result from cyclic loading. More advanced approaches take this into account by considering the structural damage as a linear combination of the normalized maximum displacements and hysteretic energy. Computation of the dissipated hysteretic energy requires monitoring of the lateral forces during the seismic events, which are not as practical as monitoring bridge pier deformations. This article reports on the development of a simple damage assessment method that considers the effect of cyclic loading on the state of damage and it is merely based on monitoring the bridge pier deformations. A fiber optic displacement serial array was designed for measuring the crack opening displacement reversals at the plastic hinge areas.

► A damage index based on measuring the bridge pier deformations is developed.
► This index is calibrated against visually observed damages in a model bridge.
► A fiber optic sensor to measure seismic deformations of the columns is developed.
► The results can be used in SHM programs for concrete bridges in seismic zones.