Numerical Analysis of Bridge Foundation in Dry and Saturated Soils with Effect of Halabjah Earthquake (Case Study)

Abstract

The importance of this study comes from the expected risks as the bridge foundations is exposed and their effects on the lives of users. So, the aim of this study is to investigate the influence of earthquakes loading on the bridge foundation subjected to combined loading as a case study for Al-Shareef Bridge/ Diyala province in Iraq. The numerical analysis highlights the foundation settlement firstly, in flat ground and secondly, in slope ground with applied different value of axial loads starts from the zero-working load (no loading) to maximum working load. All cases were investigated in dry and saturated soil under effect of Halabjah earthquake. Plaxis 3D is one of the finite element programs that had been used to simulate the soil foundation interaction by Mohr-Coulomb failure criteria for the soil model and linear elastic for concrete materials. The conclusions of this study showed that the settlement of pile group is increased in saturated soil about 5% more than the dry soil under the effect of static loads for both groups, but, the settlement in group (2) is increased about 10% more than the group (1) in dry and saturated condition. The settlement in saturated soil is increased to 12% more than the dry soil when Halabjah earthquake loads is applied.