Location

San Diego, California

Presentation Date

30 Mar 2001, 4:30 pm - 6:30 pm

Abstract

Large cellular reinforced concrete caissons exist as foundations of major long-span bridges across waterways in many parts of the country. This study was conducted to evaluate the important factors affecting the seismic response of large caissons. The paper presents the results of equivalent linear and non-linear analyses performed for a typical caisson idealized based on the cellular caisson at Pier W3 of the West San Francisco Bay Bridge subject to ground motion with a peak rock acceleration of 0.6 g. This caisson is 38.7 m (127 fi) long by 22.9 m (75 ft) wide submerged in about 32.6 m (107 ft) of water. It is embedded in 33.5 m (110 fi) of soil deposits and is founded on rock. Equivalent linear 3-D and 2-D analyses conducted in the direction of the short axis (longitudinal) were performed using a modified version of computer program SASSI. The results of these 3-D and 2-D analyses are similar. Non-linear analyses were performed for 2-D models using computer program FLAC. The results indicate that side gapping, base lifting, interface sliding, and soil yielding reduce the earth pressure, base bearing stress, caisson shear and bending moment, and caisson motions. However, the frequency characteristics of the responses appear to be relatively unaffected.

Department(s)

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering

Meeting Name

4th International Conference on Recent Advances in Geotechnical Earthquake Engineering and Soil Dynamics

Publisher

University of Missouri--Rolla

Document Version

Final Version

Rights

© 2001 University of Missouri--Rolla, All rights reserved.

Creative Commons Licensing

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.

Document Type

Article - Conference proceedings

File Type

text

Language

English

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Mar 26th, 12:00 AM Mar 31st, 12:00 AM

Dynamic Soil-Foundation-Structure Interaction Analyses of Large Caissons

San Diego, California

Large cellular reinforced concrete caissons exist as foundations of major long-span bridges across waterways in many parts of the country. This study was conducted to evaluate the important factors affecting the seismic response of large caissons. The paper presents the results of equivalent linear and non-linear analyses performed for a typical caisson idealized based on the cellular caisson at Pier W3 of the West San Francisco Bay Bridge subject to ground motion with a peak rock acceleration of 0.6 g. This caisson is 38.7 m (127 fi) long by 22.9 m (75 ft) wide submerged in about 32.6 m (107 ft) of water. It is embedded in 33.5 m (110 fi) of soil deposits and is founded on rock. Equivalent linear 3-D and 2-D analyses conducted in the direction of the short axis (longitudinal) were performed using a modified version of computer program SASSI. The results of these 3-D and 2-D analyses are similar. Non-linear analyses were performed for 2-D models using computer program FLAC. The results indicate that side gapping, base lifting, interface sliding, and soil yielding reduce the earth pressure, base bearing stress, caisson shear and bending moment, and caisson motions. However, the frequency characteristics of the responses appear to be relatively unaffected.