Numerical simulation of dynamic response of geosynthetic-reinforced soil-integrated bridge system

Geosynthetic-reinforced soil-integrated bridge system (GRS-IBS) has obtained wide popularity recently. Despite of the abundant research on the behavior of GRS-IBS under static loading, its dynamic performance has not been investigated well, especially for the whole GRS-IBS structure. In this paper, a numerical model in finite element DBLEAVES program was built to simulate the seismic response of GRS-IBS, which was based on the experimental study performed on the whole GRS-IBS with bridge beam resting on the two opposite directional abutments. The applicability and accuracy of the GRS-IBS model was verified by the measured accelerations, lateral facing displacements, and reinforcement tensile forces. Then a variable-amplitude harmonic ground motion record was adopted for relevant parameter analysis. Both experimental and numerical results showed that smaller reinforcement spacing led to smaller lateral facing displacements and tensile forces. Besides, it was found that an increase in earthquake wave frequency and bridge span would induce the increase of acceleration response, lateral facing displacement, and tensile force in reinforcement. The necessity of the whole GRS-IBS model was suggested in the related experimental studies by the significant differences of lateral facing displacement and tensile force of reinforcement among different bridge spans. © 2021, Saudi Society for Geosciences.