Overview on current bridge seismic design approach in home and abroad codes based on survey of Wenchuan earthquake

The structures in earthquake regions should be designed with the seismic requirement,so the damage condition of structures is associated with the standard it relies on.A comparative study was made on specification relating to bridge seismic design in codes of China,Japan,USA,Europe and New Zealand,combined with the observed damage of bridges in Wenchuan earthquake.It is shown that although the damage of bridge in the earthquake is mainly attributed to overintensity,other reasons related to the damage are poor design,substandard and lack of detailed consideration.The design approach in new published criteria for seismic design of bridge is comparatively close in some aspect to abroad codes,but further improvement is needed.