Damage to bridges due to the 27 February 2010 Chile earthquake1

This paper provides a summary of the damage to bridges in the Mw 8.8 Chile earthquake of 27 February 2010. Lessons from the different types of structural damage observed on concrete and steel bridges are discussed. The important roles played by soil liquefaction, settlement and embankment failures are highlighted. Aspects such as shear failure of steel piles, shear failure of concrete substructure elements, failures and severe buckling of steel braces, failures of shear keys and restrainers at supports, and damage to girders due to lack of diaphragms are described. Many examples of loss of superstructure support are presented. Skew supports and multi-span simply supported bridges were particularly susceptible to loss of support. Several aspects of the Chilean bridge design code are discussed and compared with North American codes (CSA S6 and AASHTO).