Seismic resilience of road bridges: lessons learned from the 14 November 2016 Kaikoura Earthquake

ABSTRACT: The 14th of November 2016 Kaikōura Earthquake sequence has highly affected the transport infrastructure in New Zealand. From the perspective of life-safety, the overall bridge performance was satisfactory; however, based on the observed undesirable sub-system performance of the damaged bridges, further investigation into possible improvements of the current design philosophy was warranted. This paper describes the structural performance of the most severely damaged bridges during the Kaikōura Earthquake. The study is based on observations made during site inspections, on subsequent computational analyses performed and on a functionality database collected during the period following the event. The paper also introduces resilience indicators as a tool to predict the lifecycle performance and functionality of bridges. Finally, conclusions on the resilience and functionality of the bridges in the aftermath of the earthquake are raised, highlighting the main performance issues and suggesting strategies and technologies to enhance their seismic resilience during future events.