Earthquakes have been considered one of the most destructive and violent forces of nature, causing great tragedies and significant economic losses. The main of this study objective is to evaluate the overall behavior and site of three pedestrian bridges, prefabricated, during seismic regulatory action. Through these analyzes, we intend to evaluate the risk of collapse of structures by “descalçamento” the board and, if necessary, propose solutions to avoid this phenomenon and improve the seismic performance of bridges. In the field of bridges, the “descalçamento of support” is a type of failure that can occur in structures with spans simply supported, where problems usually arise in the board-column connection interface, which may lead to the overthrow of the former. This type of connection usually consists of a set of steel bars – bars, bolted vertically to the helm and crossing the pillar neoprene plates being installed negative in the beams. The sealing of the rods is usually performed with high-strength mortar. The problems that arise in this type of connection are linked, most often, to the lack of retention and delivery tray insufficient length in the region of the support apparatus. The simulation of the behavior of the structure during various stages of construction and application of loads to the total collapse involves the use of a suitable tool. The numerical modeling was performed using the non-linear calculation program of Extreme Loading for Structures structures, based on the method of Applied Elements. The method considers the effects of physical and geometric nonlinearity, allowing to analyze the behavior of structures during elastic and inelastic phase, through the disposal of armor, opening and crack propagation to the separation of the elements. Based on this work, we observed significant changes in the seismic response of the structure, in particular due to possible degradation of locks.
Bernardo, Vasco Miguel Serrano. “Nonlinear analysis of the dynamic behavior of prefabricated pedestrian walkways.” FCT: DEC – Dissertações de Mestrado (Nov-2014).