Finite element reliability analysis for deriving flood fragility curve of deteriorated bridges considering scour

Abstract

Bridges are crucial infrastructure systems whose destruction severely affects society. Therefore, several studies have been conducted to assess the fragility of bridges against various hazards. However, few of these studies have focused on floods, which account for a large percentage of bridge failures. To conduct bridge flood risk assessment effectively, in this study, a Python-based interface for FERUM and ABAQUS (PIFA) is employed as a computational platform of finite element reliability analysis. Furthermore, a methodology to conduct an effective flood fragility analysis using PIFA is presented. In the methodology, the finite element model of a bridge is constructed to consider the effects of scour, debris accumulation, material nonlinearity, and deterioration. To test the proposed methodology, it is applied to a real bridge in Republic of Korea, and flood fragility curves of the bridge are successfully derived.