Impact of Boundary Conditions on the Soil-Steel Arch Bridge Behaviour Under Seismic Excitation

The soil-steel arch bridges typically range from 3 to 25 m, and they can be applied as an effective alternative for bridges with short spans. They are able to meet the design and safety requirements as for traditional bridges more rapidly and at a lower cost. Seismic excitations are completely different in comparison to the static and dynamic loads. Therefore, during the design of soil-steel bridges on the seismic areas, the appropriate structural solutions should be found to avoid an increase of the internal forces acting in such bridges. The paper presents the results of the numerical study of the soil-steel arch bridge under seismic excitation applying four models (1–4). The soil-steel arch bridge with span of 17.67 m and height of 6.05 m was selected for the numerical analysis. Calculations were conducted using the DIANA program based on a finite element method. The non-linear models with seismic excitation of El Centro form 1940 and Time-History analysis were applied. The conclusions from the study can be useful in making a decision regarding the design of the steel-soil bridges located in seismic zones.