Seismic Damage to Bridges during the 27 February 2010 Magnitude 8.8 Chile Earthquake

The 27 February 2010 Chile earthquake is currently the fifth-strongest earthquake measured in the world. Despite this fact, the damage to the road infrastructure can be classified as moderate. Of the 6,000 state bridges in the affected region, only about 30 bridges had to be closed to traffic. This paper includes the most pertinent results of a field investigation of the seismic damage to 100 bridges. The majority of the bridges exhibited only minor damage such as concrete spalling, expansion joint damage, and settlement of the embankment. However, severe damage was reported in 19 bridges, including web rupture due to a missing end diaphragm, a span collapse due to insufficient anchorage and missing stoppers, a span collapse due to a small seat length, and cracking at the welding notch in the steel girders. The most important lessons learned are described and recommendations for future bridge designs are given.