Comparison of the dynamic responses of gülburnu highway bridge using single and triple concave friction pendulums

The main object of this study is to determine and compare the structural behavior of base isolated long span highway bridge, Gülburnu Highway Bridge, using single concave friction pendulum (SCFP) and triple concave friction pendulum (TCFP). The bridge is seismically isolated in the design phase to increase the main period and reduce the horizontal forces with moments using SCFP bearings. In the content of the paper, firstly three dimensional finite element model (FEM) of the bridge is constituted using project drawings by SAP2000 software. The dynamic characteristics such as natural frequencies and periods, and the structural response such as displacements, axial forces, shear forces and torsional moments are attained from the modal and dynamic analyses. After, FEM of the bridge is updated using TCFP and the analyses are performed. At the end of the study, the dynamic characteristics and internal forces are compared with each other to extract the TCFP effect. To emphasize the base isolation effect, the non-isolated structural analysis results are added to graphics. The predominant frequencies of bridge non-isolated, isolated with SCFP and isolated with TCFP conditions decreased from 0.849Hz to 0.497Hz and 0.338Hz, respectively. The maximum vertical displacements are obtained as 57cm, 54cm and 44cm for non-isolated, isolated with SCFP and isolated with TCFP conditions, respectively. The maximum vertical displacement reduction between isolated with TCFP bearing and isolated with SCFP bearing bridge is %23. Maximum axial forces are obtained as 60619kN, 18728kN and 7382kN, maximum shear forces are obtained as 23408kN, 17913kN and 16249kN and maximum torsional moments are obtained as 24020kNm, 7619kNm and 3840kNm for non-isolated, isolated with SCFP and isolated with TCFP conditions, respectively.