Seismic Vulnerability of Bridges Using Simplified Models

Currently, numerous existing bridges can suffer damage of different considerations when subjected to seismic actions of certain magnitude. The failure of these systems can be the origin of enormous economical losses(direct and indirect) that can collapse economic activities.Therefore, simplified and reliable evaluation tools of the current state of these structures are necessary for the subsequent decision making on rehabilitation and damage mitigation plans.
Studies on the seismic vulnerability of bridges are still far from the standard reached for buildings, and more research in this field is necessary. The future researches shuld include standard procedures, easy to be applied, close to the reality, and thus, more rigorous. In subsequent researches, the attention should be directed especially to damage detection and evaluation techniques