The Earthquake Engineering Online Archive

The effects of seismic disturbances on the Golden Gate Bridge

Baron, Frank; Arikan, Metin; Hamati, Raymond E.

UCB/EERC-76/31, Earthquake Engineering Research Center, University of California, Berkeley, 1976-11, 172 pages (630/B3/1976)

This report deals with the effects of seismic disturbances on the Golden Gate Bridge and is a supplement to the studies made during the design phase of the bridge. The results obtained in this study are based on the tangent-stiffness properties of a bridge at its dead load state. Studies are made of the response of the Golden Gate Bridge to uniform ground motion and to ground motion propagating along the longitudinal axis of the bridge. To determine the severities of the maximum forces and moments caused by various excitations, the maximum values of stresses are calculated for selected elements of the bridge. The studies show that the effects of a moderate earthquake on the Golden Gate Bridge are essentially negligible; and that a strong earthquake of Richter magnitude 8+ can produce large values of stresses in certain elements of the bridge. Studies of other suspension bridges located in areas of high seismicity need to take into account the influences of earthquake excitations in the transverse directions as well as in the longitudinal directions of the structures.

Available online: http://nisee.berkeley.edu/documents/EERC/EERC-76-31.pdf (51 MB)