Shake Table Testing of Curved Bridge with Seismic Isolation

A 2/5 scale model of a 3-span, curved steel plate girder bridge was tested on multiple shake tables with an isolation system comprising 12 lead-rubber isolators. The purpose of this experiment was three-fold: (1) investigate the performance of columns in an isolated curved bridge, (2) study the effect of curvature on the seismic response of an isolated bridge, and (3) identify the limit states of an isolated bridge and, in particular, determine the nature and consequences of isolator instability during extreme input motions.