Who: Dr. Qusai Alomari
What: “Structural Performance of Reinforced Concrete Bridges and Piers”
When: Friday, September 13th, 9:30AM
Where: KH A510 (Lincoln) and PKI 160 (Omaha) or Via Zoom: 937 3450 0302
Abstract: Given their close proximity to traffic and, often, improper
employment of protective systems, bridges and bridge piers are
vulnerable to multi-hazard events triggered by vehicle collisions
coupled with correlated and cascading events such as explosions
and fires. Dr. Alomari employed LS-DYNA to simulate the behavior of
prototype isolated, round, reinforced concrete columns and multi
column piers, and existing bridge in Sidney, NE, under a coupled
vehicle collision and air blast before or after fire. A unique and
advanced multi-step modeling approach that incorporates uncoupled
implicit heat transfer analyses and explicit structural analyses was
developed and validated against published test results. The study
also examined the feasibility of various in-situ retrofitting and
protection techniques, including fiber-reinforced polymers and soil
infills, to improve bridge resiliency under combinations of vehicle
collision, air blast, and fire. Furthermore, an empirically based,
simplified, equivalent static force predictive equation that can be
used to conservatively represent substructure impact forces and
used for analysis and design, and a companion assessment
framework were proposed.