Effectiveness of shock absorber device for damage mitigation of curved viaduct with steel bearing supports

•Shock absorber devices can reduce the pounding forces.•Residual curvature at the pier base determines a residual pier drift ratio.•Strain softening shock absorber device is more effective to reduce impact forces.•Serious damage at pier bases appears in tangential direction.

This paper presents a numerical evaluation of the effectiveness of shock absorber devices installed between roller bearing and stopper in reducing viaduct damage. The effectiveness of thickness and types of shock absorber devices on mitigating viaduct damage is investigated accordingly. The thickness of shock absorber devices is from 0 cm to 8 cm, with increment of 2 cm. The viaduct seismic performance is evaluated for five cases based on the thickness of shock absorber devices. In addition, three cases are studied based on the different design parameters of shock absorber devices. The three cases include viaducts with strain hardening, elastic, and strain softening shock absorber devices. Moreover, the pounding forces between roller bearing and stopper, pier damage, displacement of superstructures, relative displacement between two decks, and bending moment–curvature relationship at the pier base are evaluated. Results show that the application of thick shock absorber devices on viaducts can significantly mitigate viaduct damage. The strain softening shock absorber devices plays a more important role in reducing viaduct damage.