Applied methods for seismic assessment of scoured bridges: a review with case studies

Flooding induced scour has been long recognized as a major hazard to river-crossing bridges. Many studies in recent years have attempted to evaluate the effects of scour on the seismic performance of bridges, and probabilistic frameworks are usually adopted. However, direct and straightforward insight about how foundation scour affects bridges as a type of soil-foundation-structure system is usually understated. In this paper, we provide a comprehensive review of applied methods centering around seismic assessment of scoured bridges considering soil-foundation-structure interaction. When introducing these applied analysis and modeling methods, a simple bridge model is provided to demonstrate the use of these methods as a case study. Particularly, we propose the use of nonlinear modal pushover analysis as a rapid technique to model scoured bridge systems, and numerical validation and application of this procedure are given using the simple bridge model. All methods reviewed in this paper can serve as baseline components for performing probabilistic vulnerability or risk assessment for any river-crossing bridge system subject to flood-induced scour and earthquakes.