IABMAS 2012

6th International Conference on Bridge Maintenance, Safety and Management

Stresa, Lake Maggiore, Italy 6-8 July, 2012

Vulnerability
of bridges to fire
and explosions

CHAIRPERSONS
Luisa Giuliani Christos Georgakis
lugi@byg.dtu.dk cg@byg.dtu.dk
Civil Engineering Department,
Technical University of Denmark

SS05: WeA-4
Orchidea Room, 14:00-16:00
Session outline - List of contributions
1. Vulnerability of bridges to fire - Giuliani L., Crosti C., Gentili F.
F 2. Evaluation of structural risk for bridges under fire - Gentili F., Petrini F.
I
3. Adapting OpenSees to simulate brisdge structures in fire - Usmani A., Jiang Y., Jiang J.,
R
E JiangL L., Welch S.
4. Evacuation of mixed population from trains on bridges - Kindler C., Soerensen J.G.,
Dederichs A.S.
B
S 5. Experimental testing of blast resistance FRC and RC bridges - Foglar M., Kovar M.,
L
T
A Kohoutkova A.
6. The real-time alarming technique of ship-collision to long span bridges based on the
I A
M C displacement data of expansion joint - Zhang Y.F., Zhu S.C., Zhang L.T.
P T 7. Repair and dynamic-based condition assessment of impact damage to a freeway overpass
F bridge near Mossel Bay, South Africa - Newmark A.A., Moyo P., Kruger E.J.
U
A 8. Consequence-based robustness assessment of bridge structures - Brando F., Cao L.,
R
I
E Olmati P., Gkoumas K.
L
 IABMAS 2012
6th International Conference on
Bridge Maintenance, Safety and Management
Stresa, Lake Maggiore, Italy 6-8 July, 2012

Vulnerability of bridges to fire

Luisa Giuliani, Ph.D., P.E.

Civil Engineering Department
Technical University of Denmark
lugi@byg.dtu.dk
 Conclusive Fire- induced Occurrence and

4
considerations bridge damages consequences
The slackline case

Vulnerability of bridges to fire

L Giuliani
Occurrence and
The slackline case
consequences

CONSEQUENCES
MATTER!
bridge damages
Fire- induced
considerations
Conclusive

5 Vulnerability of bridges to fire

L Giuliani
Occurrence and
Classification of actions
consequences
OCCURRENCE OF THE ACTION

PERMANENT VARIABLE EXCEPTIONAL

occupancy
bridge damages

fire
Fire- induced

self-weight
snow explosions
prestressing
temperature impacts
superstructure
wind local failures
considerations

PERMANENT ACCIDENTAL
Conclusive

DESIGN SITUATION (EN1991)

6 Vulnerability of bridges to fire

L Giuliani
Occurrence and
Classification of actions
consequences
OCCURRENCE OF THE ACTION

PERMANENT VARIABLE EXCEPTIONAL

bridge damages
Fire- induced

AVOID
AVOID FAILURE AND DISPROPORTIONATE
MANTAIN SERVICEABILITY RESPONSE
considerations

PERMANENT ACCIDENTAL
Conclusive

DESIGN SITUATION (EN1991)

7 Vulnerability of bridges to fire

L Giuliani
Occurrence and
Classification of actions
consequences
OCCURRENCE OF THE ACTION

PERMANENT VARIABLE EXCEPTIONAL

bridge damages

RESISTANCE (ULS) STRUCTURAL

Fire- induced

INTEGRITY
STIFFNESS (SLS) (ALS)

PREVENT FAILURE – ELEMENT LEVEL PRESUME FAILURE – SYSTEM LEVEL

considerations

PERMANENT ACCIDENTAL
Conclusive

DESIGN SITUATION (EN1991)

8 Vulnerability of bridges to fire

L Giuliani
Occurrence and
Definitions and general framework
critical exceptional structural
consequences
event action failure

PC susceptibility

Y
Consequences
bridge damages

failures
Fire- induced

Vunerability
propagate?
Y N

damage
Exposure Robustness
triggers?
Y

Safety walls
N
structure is
considerations

Structural Integrity
Conclusive

hit?

Collapse Safety

9 Vulnerability of bridges to fire

L Giuliani
Occurrence and
Bridge response to fire
consequences
SOCIETAL COSTS CONSTRUCTION COSTS

Downtime Demolition
Evacuation and rebuilt
and repair
bridge damages
Fire- induced

PC susceptibility

Vunerability

Exposure
considerations
Conclusive

Element Low Horizontal

slenderness redundancy propagation
 Conclusive Fire- induced Occurrence and
considerations bridge damages consequences
PC susceptibility
 Conclusive Fire- induced Occurrence and
considerations bridge damages consequences
PC susceptibility
 PC susceptibility
Tension [10^3 Ton] LH RH Tension [10^3 Ton]
Occurrence and
consequences 2 2

1 1

0 0

2 2

1 1

0 0

2 2

1 1
bridge damages

0 0
Fire- induced

2 2

1 1

0 0

2 2

1 1

0 0

2 2
considerations

1 1
Conclusive

0 0

2 2

1 1

0 0
9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Time [s]
Chain ruptures propagate  Time [s]

Occurrence and
Low PC susceptibility - suspension
Hanger fire and failure in Rio Antirio Bridge
consequences

Gulf of Corinth - 28 January 2005

bridge damages
Fire- induced

one of the 368 hangers caught fire on the M1 pylon and collapsed, damaging the
adjacent cable and crushing onto the deck

the fire could be due to by lightning strike or sparked by wires rubbing which run
considerations
Conclusive

along the suspension cables

damage did not propagate: just one cable and no abrupt failure

the bridge remained closed for 4 days and was not fully functional for over a month

14 Vulnerability of bridges to fire

L Giuliani
Occurrence and
Low PC susceptibility - deck
consequences Multiple failure of bridge sections at the McArthur Maze interchange
Oakland, CA – 29 April 2007
bridge damages
Fire- induced

Failure of the connections and

collapse of a whole overpass section
Driver injured, no casualties

High temperatures (exposure)
Fast repair and limited downtime
considerations

Short time resistance (vulnerability)
High costs ($90 mil) for repair and
Conclusive

Collapse confined between two piers; rebuilt, loss in toll revenue, and free
no propagation below (robustness) public transp. after the accident).
(photo by Tj Morales, 29 Apr 2007, licensed under Creative Common Attribution)

15 Vulnerability of bridges to fire

L Giuliani
Occurrence and
Low (?) vulnerability
consequences
Truck fire on the eastbound 60 Freeway under the Paramount Boulevard bridge
Montebello, Los Angeles, CA - 14 December 2011

No injuries

Concrete bursting several hours after the fire

Permanent damage of concrete (test on samples)

bridge damages

Complex demolition (tel. lines nestled in asbestos)

Fire- induced

Long downtime and repercussion on the traffic

considerations
Conclusive

(credit: Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

16 Vulnerability of bridges to fire

L Giuliani
Occurrence and
Low exposure
consequences
Truck fire on the eastbound 60 Freeway under the Paramount Boulevard bridge
Montebello, Los Angeles, CA - 14 December 2011
bridge damages
Fire- induced

Truck fell down from the viaduct

High fire temperatures but low temperatures in the elements (exposure)

Prompt temporary repairs

Full rehabilitation of the bridge two years later (€7.2 mil )

considerations
Conclusive

(credit: Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

17 Vulnerability of bridges to fire

L Giuliani
Occurrence and
Characterization of the action
consequences

STATISTICAL (occurrence)
More than 20 bridge fires have been reported since 1995, which
corresponds to a frequency of more than one occurrence per year
in the past 17 years.
bridge damages
Fire- induced

Are bridge fires very rare events indeed?

PRAGMATICAL (realistic scenario)

The majority of the fires were caused by a fuel tanker truck accident
travelling under a viaduct or falling from it.
considerations
Conclusive

A truck fire scenario could be easily considered!

(or hydrocarbon curve)

18 Vulnerability of bridges to fire

L Giuliani
Occurrence and
Structural integrity
consequences

VULNERABILITY
In the majority of cases, bridge structures were severely damaged and
high repair costs had to be sustained.
Structural fire design of single elements against fire is advisable
bridge damages
Fire- induced

ROBUSTENSS
The majority of the bridges damaged by fires did not collapses and only
in few cases in few cases major structural collapse occurred or the
bridge had to be demolished.
considerations
Conclusive

Possibility of fire-induced PC has not been much studied so far

19 Vulnerability of bridges to fire

L Giuliani
Occurrence and
Sustainability
consequences
SERVICE
Bridge are critical infrastructure and the closure of a bridge may
cause congestion on the traffic of the whole area and have
repercussion on the activity of the urban area.
Resilence of the urban area is affected
bridge damages
Fire- induced

COSTS
Even when limited structural damages had occurred, high costs
deriving from repair and temporary closure (loss of income and of
considerations

the bridge have to be sustained.

Conclusive

Are such costs sustainable?

 SEMC 2013
5th International Conference on Structural Engineering, Mechanics and Computation
University of Cape Town, South Africa - 2-4 September 2013

SEMC 2013 - SPECIAL SESSION

The role of collapse safety
in the design of sustainable structures

Vulnerability of bridges to fire

21 L Giuliani