Performance of Reinforced Concrete Bridges during Earthquake-A Review

Earthquake are naturally occurring vibratory ground motions. There are number of causes for earthquake, which include tectonic ground motion, volcanism, landslides, rock bursts, and manmade explosions. Most important of which are caused by fracture and sliding of rock along tectonic faults within the earth crust. Earthquake damage to a bridge have severe consequences. Collapse of bridge places people on or below the bridges at risk and it must be replaced after the earthquake unless alternative transportation paths are identified. The purpose of this paper is to identify and classify of damages to bridges that earthquake commonly induce and where possible, to identify the causes of damages. Damage usually results from a complex and interacting set of contributing variables. Even when cause of a particular collapse is well understood, it is difficult to find the cause of bridge damage.