Keeping the Nation's bridges durable and safe is the goal of the
Federal Highway Administration's (FHWA) Seismic "Virtual" Team (SVT).
Composed of the country's top seismic engineering experts, the team
provides guidance and recommendations to FHWA, State highway agencies,
and others on designing and constructing bridges to withstand earthquake-induced
forces, displacements, and ground liquefaction. The team also investigates
new technologies for building seismically safe bridges and retrofitting
existing bridges that were not designed to resist earthquakes.
The SVT includes representatives from FHWA, State highway agencies,
academia, and the private sector. Members' expertise includes teaching,
code and specification development, seismology, geotechnical earthquake
engineering, dynamic analysis, research, bridge design, and construction.
The team is providing information on best practices across five
focus areas: seismic hazards and ground motion, design issues, geotechnical
issues, retrofit issues, and research and analysis. Projects to
date have included studying ground motion characteristics, analyzing
bridge designs, looking at improved ways to design and detail bridge
foundations, and examining how to update older bridge structures.
"One of the team's functions is to ensure that the needs and viewpoints
of the State departments of transportation are addressed and met,
as well as to create a strong partnership to advance seismic engineering
into conventional practice," says SVT cochair Benjamin Tang of FHWA.
The team includes members from the California Department of Transportation
and the South Carolina Department of Transportation, both of which
have fully developed seismic bridge design and retrofit programs.
These team members aid in directing research and studies toward
projects that benefit the States.
The team has created a Web site (www.fhwa.dot.gov/bridge/seismic/)
that contains a range of technical information and research material,
including an overview of the process for the seismic design of bridges.
The site also features links to earthquake engineering research
centers across the country, including the Pacific Earthquake Engineering
Research Center, Mid-America Earthquake Center, Multidisciplinary
Center for Earthquake Engineering Research, and the University of
Nevada-Reno's Bridge Research and Information Center.
Team members meet 12 times a year, with follow-up conference calls
each quarter. One benefit of the team structure is that younger
members have the opportunity to learn from more experienced ones.
"Providing mentoring to and developing leadership skills in the
teams younger members is one of the program's key goals," says
W. Phillip Yen of FHWA and cochair of the SVT.
Team members recently served as members of the steering and technical
committees for the Fourth National Seismic Conference and Workshop
on Bridges and Highways, held in February 2004 in Memphis, Tennessee
(www.conferences.uiuc.edu/seismic).
Future team goals include publishing manuals on retrofit designs
and geotechnical technologies, as well as performing post-earthquake
damage evaluations and safety analyses as needed across the country.
For more information on seismic engineering or the assistance that
the SVT can provide, contact W. Phillip Yen at 202-493-3056 (email:
wen-huei.yen@fhwa.dot.gov),
Benjamin Tang at 202-366-4592 (email: benjamin.tang@fhwa.dot.gov),
or Glenn Smith at FHWA, 202-366-8795 (email: glenn.smith@fhwa.dot.gov).
FHWA's Office of Bridge Technology has created virtual teams to
provide technical assistance and act as a focal point for current
and forthcoming highway bridge and structure technology initiatives,
information, and technical materials. The teams extend FHWA's in-house
expertise with a wealth of science and engineering knowledge and
experience from State highway agencies, industry, academia, and
others.
Additional structural virtual teams that have been established
include teams on high-performance steel, high-performance concrete
(see September 2003 Focus),
road tunnels (see March 2004 Focus),
fiber-reinforced polymer composite structures, and segmental concrete
bridge technology (see December 2003
Focus). To learn more, visit the following Web sites.
Also in the works are teams for cable supported bridges (such as
suspension and cable-stayed bridges) and bridge performance and
health monitoring.
Fiber-Reinforced Polymer Compositeswww.fhwa.dot.gov/bridge/frp/index.cfm
High-Performance Steelwww.fhwa.dot.gov/bridge/hps.htm
High-Performance Concreteknowledge.fhwa.dot.gov/cops/hpcx.nsf/home
Segmental Concrete Bridge Technologywww.fhwa.dot.gov/bridge/segmental/
Road Tunnelswww.fhwa.dot.gov/bridge/tunnel/index.htm
