Innovative Foundation Alternative for High Speed Rail Application [ABC-UTC-2016-C1-UNR01]

States such as Oklahoma, Texas, Kansas and Arkansas have historically experienced only one or two tectonic earthquakes annually, but these states are now experiencing earthquakes at an increased rate due to induced seismicity. Consequently, State Departments of Transportation (DOTs) are concerned about how their bridges that were originally designed for low seismic design loads will handle this increased seismic demand. While a bridge collapse is unlikely for an induced earthquake, cumulative effects of large number of small induced earthquakes compounded with an occasional moderate earthquake may lead to damages negatively impacting the safety of the traveling public and the flow of the transportation network. This research addresses the knowledge gap on the effects of low-level frequent earthquakes on the bridges and proposes a framework to assess the cumulative damage on bridges using rainflow counting based on ASTM standard practice for cycle counting in fatigue. In addition, a quantitative measure – Fatigue Damage Index (FDI) – is developed using Miner’s Rule to identify the accumulated damage in the bridge, from which the remaining service life can be estimated. The FDI can also be used to predict when accelerated repairs may be required and to evaluate accelerated retrofit solutions. Further, a “typical” Oklahoma is modeled in a finite element program (OpenSees), and the proposed framework is applied to capture the structural deterioration of the bridge. Final Presentation: https://abc-utc.fiu.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/52/2020/10/HSR-5-minute-video.mp4