The Assessment and reduction of seismic risk in cable structures

Extreme earthquakes may produce significant financial damage and affect a large number of people, due to direct and indirect damage to structures and infrastructure. Transportation networks are essential parts of infrastructure, which can cause significant financial loss and downtime for large communities, as a result of extreme seismic events. An accurate risk assessment and high-performance risk reduction methods are essential tools for
preparedness and resilience in case of catastrophic events.

This study focuses on the assessment and reduction of the seismic risk of cable-structures, such as cable-stayed bridges, which could be indispensable but vulnerable components of critical transportation networks. Cables are slender structures with low inherent damping, exposed to a wide range of day-to-day and extreme excitation. The seismic risk assessment is achieved through estimating seismic fragility for cables, which is a widely-used measure for structural reliability. The seismic risk reduction is achieved by implementing vibration-suppression devices,
such as tuned-inerter-dampers (TID). Numerical examples are shown for realistic structures subjected to seismic loading.