CCEER-96-1: Programs to Computer Translational Stiffness of Seat-Type Bridge Abutment

Abstract

There are altogether four "stand alone" programs that are described subsequently to evaluate the translational (longitudinal, vertical, and transverse) stiffness of seat-type abutment resting on spread footings. The first step in the stiffness evaluation is one should run the SCHM program to establish the applied vertical load versus settlement relationship at the bottom of the abutment. These results are subsequently needed to be input into the programs that compute translational stiffnesses.

The programs LSTIFF, VSTIFF, and TSTIFF can compute longitudinal, vertical, and transverse stiffnesses of an abutment. It may be noted that the input soil parameters that are required to run the programs are routinely used in standard dynamic soil response studies. For more description on the methodology and the application of the proposed procedures, see Siddharthan et al. (1995) (Program Description by authors).