Probabilistic estimation of seismic fragility parameters for deteriorated reinforced concrete bridges

Reinforced concrete (RC) bridges located in coastal areas are exposed to many deteriorating processes during their service life time. The performance of such bridges is highly dependent on the extent of change in properties of concrete and reinforcing bars. Therefore, it is necessary to employ reliable approaches to predict the capacity loss due to deterioration mechanisms. Towards this goal, the current paper studies the effects of chloride-induced corrosion on the capacity of RC bridges. A multi-hazard framework is developed to study the life-cycle performance of RC bridges under the seismic events while bridges are continuously exposed to the attack of chloride ions. The probabilistic estimations of seismic fragility parameters are obtained for various bridge cases with different damage states and their time-dependent probabilistic seismic risk is evaluated considering the characteristics of deteriorated bridges.