Dissertation
Excitation, model and analysis uncertainties in seismic assessment of bridges
Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Drexel University
Aug 2017
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17918/snte-2f30
Abstract
In seismic assessments, structural engineers must visualize the structure and its environment. As a matter of fact, the visualized system is obviously not the actual one, and, hence, the numerical simulation of structural systems possess some inherent uncertainties associated with the simplification/abstraction. The uncertainty sources affecting the seismic assessment of structures are often characterized as either aleatoric or epistemic in nature. Aleatoric uncertainty refers to randomness, i.e. stems from the unpredictable nature of events, and epistemic uncertainty refers to the lack of knowledge, i.e. stems from incomplete data, ignorance, or modeling assumptions. The main objective of this dissertation is to examine the current strategy in seismic design/assessment of bridges by considering the effect of various sources of uncertainty. This research effort investigates the impact of three main sources of uncertainty in seismic assessments, i.e. excitation scenario, system modeling strategy, and analysis methodology, on the reliability of the computational prediction of the seismic behavior of bridges. Analytical considerations and numerical results of the present study highlight the difficulties with the conventional procedures proposed by codes in the seismic design/assessment of bridges, and provide practice-oriented recommendations for: (1) increasing the reliability of the numerical results, and (2) decreasing the dispersion of the structural response.
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Details
- Title
- Excitation, model and analysis uncertainties in seismic assessment of bridges
- Creators
- Mohammad Reza Falamarz-Sheikhabadi - DU
- Contributors
- Aspasia Zerva (Advisor) - Drexel University (1970-)
- Awarding Institution
- Drexel University
- Degree Awarded
- Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
- Publisher
- Drexel University; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- Number of pages
- x, 308 pages
- Resource Type
- Dissertation
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- Civil/Architectural/Environmental Engineering (1970-2026); College of Engineering (1970-2026); Drexel University
- Other Identifier
- 11005; 991014632271604721