Influence of Tie Beams of Pier on the Seismic Performance of a Continuous Rigid Frame Bridge with Twin-Legged Piers

In this paper, the influence of tie beams for piers is investigated on the dynamic characteristics and the seismic performance of a continuous rigid frame bridge with twin-legged piers. Modal analyses and the linear seismic response analyses are performed on a practical continuous rigid frame bridge with twin-legged piers with no tie beam, one tie beam and three tie beams of pier, using software Midas/civil. The findings indicate that installing tie beams of pier can increase the natural frequencies of this kind of bridge. Setting tie beams of pier is disadvantageous to the seismic performance of the bridge beam, but advantageous to improving the seismic performance of the twin-legged piers. The influence of tie beams of pier on the seismic performance on the whole structure is relevant to the pier height. These analytical results provide a reference for the seismic design and analysis of similar structures.