Nonlinear Performance of Single Wall-Type and Multi-Wall-Type Pier Bridges Considering Soil-Structure Interaction

Nowadays, the use of bridges with wall-piers is common in urban highways and freeways. The limitations of space, particularly in urban constructions, and the landscape architectural aspects are the main reasons that this system is being interesting. These bridges are structurally designed in various types of single-wall and multi-wall piers. Nonlinear performance of piers was investigated using pier by pier method as well as the pushover analysis by SAP2000 software. Considering one length of wall required for seismic design, four cases including pier with four, three, two, and one-wall were studied in this analysis. The effects of foundation and soil-foundation interaction were considered in all the analyses. The results demonstrated that efficiency of pier is being reduced to about 33% by reducing the number of walls from four to one-wall in the pier, regardless of the constant strength. Thus, it is recommended to apply multi-wall pier system rather than single-wall pier in bridges.