Lessons Learned from Past Earthquakes for Horizontally Curved Bridges

Transportation has an important and wide impact on the economy, social and cultural structure of countries. Highways and railways are part of the transportation system network where bridges and viaducts are the most critical structures of this system. Therefore, bridge damages not only result in direct losses, but also have social and economic impacts. The temporary loss of the function of the bridge is defined as direct loss, while the closure of traffic lanes after the damages in bridges and viaducts due to earthquake ground motion, the reduction of traffic volume, or the complete closure of the bridge are indirect losses. If the bridge is severely damaged, this road can be completely closed and if the process is long, it can have significant effects on the regional economy. The major damage types that cause bridge closure are; unseating of the superstructure, column shear collapse, foundation collapse, bearing collapse and insufficient column bending capacity. Seismic behaviour of bridges in curved alignment plane contain additional potential damages due to their complex geometries, although similar damages were observed for curved and straight bridges as examined in past earthquakes. In this study, the damages observed in horizontally curved bridges in the past earthquakes will be investigated and the lessons to be learned according to the results obtained from past earthquakes on the curved bridges will be examined.