Seismic vulnerability assessment of RC deck-stiffened arch bridges

Due to the recent damage and collapse of several bridges in Italy, reliable quantification of their vulnerability is paramount for planning various risk mitigation and resilience-enhancing strategies. This paper specifically focuses on the seismic vulnerability and loss assessment of existing reinforced concrete (RC) deck-stiffened arch bridges. The study considers a bridge typology known as the “Maillart–type” arch bridge, a common structural typology in the 1950s and characterised by a particularly stiff deck and a slender vault, i.e., a high deck-to-arch flexural stiffness ratio. Such bridges were typically designed considering only gravity loads and usually without ductile structural detailing and consideration of capacity-design principles. Historical documents and original design blueprints are used to simulate the design of an archetype bridge representative of the Italian “Maillart-type” arch bridge population. Then, nonlinear cloud-based time-history analysis is performed to investigate the seismic response of the considered archetype under varying ground-motion intensities and derive fragility and vulnerability relationships. Specifically, three different models are considered: one that adopts a conservative approach where damage is determined by the shear failure of the shortest pillar, another that provides a more detailed representation of structural damage progression, and a third that assumes retrofitting of the shortest pillar. The vulnerability relationships are combined with site-specific seismic hazard curves for case-study locations to estimate expected annual losses. The results represent a first step in assessing the seismic vulnerability of “Maillart–type” arch bridges to plan seismic risk mitigation interventions for such a bridge typology.