Probabilistic Evaluation of Load Factors for Steel Rigid-Frame Piers on Urban Expressway Network

A procedure is proposed for calculating the optimal load factors for steel rigid-frame piers using the extended level 2 reliability method. Twelve typical types of pier structures are selected out of the existing expressway bridge structures. Four actual load components (dead, live, temperature, and earthquake load) are considered. By numerical calculations, the effectiveness of the proposed procedure is demonstrated.