A Comparative Study on Seismic Design Specifications of Highway Bridges Between China and U.S.

The authors present a progress report on United States and Chinese seismic design specifications in which selected aspects (demand side issues) are compared, part of a comprehensive, cooperative highway bridge seismic behavior and design research project between the State University of New York, Buffalo, and Tongji University. In the United States, there are several highway bridge seismic design specifications, including SCDOT SDS, NCHRP 12-49, ATC-32, Caltrans SDC, and AASHTO LRFD. In the United States, Smith summarized these seismic design specifications in 2005. The authors selected AASHTO LRFD (2004 edition) for the representative specification. In China, the Ministry of Communications issues a national specification entitled the Specifications of Earthquake Resistant Design for Highway Engineering (SERDHE), and the Ministry of Construction initiated the first Specifications of Seismic Design of Urban Bridges (SSDUB), which has the end of 2006 as a target publication date and has already been released for comments. For this comparative study, the main specification is the current SERDHE (issued in 1989, effective since 1990), while, in regard to some aspects of design procedures, analysis methods, design loadings, design objectives, performance criteria, and design philosophy, the new edition and SSDUB (both in draft form) also are referred to.