Updated probabilistic seismic performance assessment framework for ordinary standard bridges in California

Abstract With the recent advent of performance‐based earthquake engineering (PBEE) in seismic design practice of buildings serving as an impetus for this work, initial steps toward a fully probabilistic performance‐based seismic design (PBSD) method for bridges, a less trodden area in terms of PBEE applications, are taken herein by assembling an updated probabilistic seismic performance assessment framework for ordinary standard bridges (OSBs) in California. The framework stems from the comprehensive PBEE methodology developed under the auspices of the Pacific Earthquake Engineering Research (PEER) Center. With performance measures defined as the risk associated with the exceedance of a set of damage/limit‐states ( LS s), improvements from the state‐of‐the‐art literature on the PEER PBEE methodology are incorporated, including (1) introduction of an improved intensity measure ‐ average spectral acceleration over a period range, (2) conditional mean spectrum‐based hazard‐consistent and site‐specific ground motion selection, (3) introduction of material strain‐based engineering demand parameters, (4) use of practical LS s pertinent to seismic damage evaluation of bridges, and (5) development of strain‐based normalized fragility functions for the considered LS s. The updated framework, assembled herein using a specific testbed California OSB as a case in point, is general within its scope and is applicable to the gamut of design situations representative of the population of OSBs in California. With the PEER PBEE framework implemented for OSBs in an updated and rigorous form, the groundwork for utilizing this framework in the context of PBSD of such bridges is laid.