Bridge Pile Bent Number of Piles and X-Bracing System:

Impact on Pushover Capacity as Scour Increases

Doug Hughes1; George E. Ramey2; and Mary L. Hughes3

Abstract: A common design/construction procedure for highway bridges over marshes, small creeks, and streams is to have the bridge
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superstructure supported on pile bents. The focus of this article is to compare the relative lateral stiffness and pushover capacities of
X-braced three-, four-, five-, and six-pile bents under combined gravity loadings and extreme flood/scour events. The relative perfor-
mances of single- and two-story X-braced bents with and without a horizontal bracing strut at the bottom of the lower X-bracing were
examined. Bent pushover capacities for the various combinations of the numbers of bent piles, bent heights, and X-bracing conditions
previously described are presented in this paper.
DOI: 10.1061/共ASCE兲1084-0680共2007兲12:2共82兲
CE Database subject headings: Bridges; Bridge failure; Structural stability; Scour; Piles; Bending.

Introduction line. The ALDOT is interested in the relative performances

of bents, with and without these lower horizontal braces, under
A common design/construction procedure for highway bridges lateral flood water loadings.
that are over marshes, small creeks, and shallow bodies of water The focus of this paper is on the relative pushover perfor-
is to have the bridge superstructure supported on pile bents. The mances of X-braced pile bridge bents with and without a horizon-
pile bents may or may not be X-braced in the transverse direction. tal brace near the original ground line, with various numbers
The use of three, four, five, or six such piles in a row with the two of piles and bracing conditions under extreme flood/scour condi-
end piles battered constitute very common bridge bents 共Ramey
and Brown 2004兲. A typical Alabama Department of Transporta-
tion 共ALDOT兲 X-braced bridge pile bent is shown in Fig. 1. It
should be noted that if the height of the bents in Fig. 1 is small,
i.e., H 艋 4.0 m 共13 ft兲, the bents may be unbraced but the piling
will be encased in concrete, or the piling may be unencased, but
will then be X-braced. If 4.0 m ⬍ H 艋 5.8 m 共13 ft⬍ H 艋 19 ft兲
the bents will be X-braced 共one-story兲 and if 6.1 m 艋 H 艋 7.6 m
共20 ft艋 H 艋 25 ft兲 the bents will have vertically stacked
X-bracing 共two-stories兲 共Ramey et al. 2006兲.
In streams subject to significant flooding and scour, a critical
load condition for these bents can be the presence of a gravity
dead and live load in conjunction with a horizontal flood water
loading acting near the top of the bent. Such a loading may cause
a pushover failure of the bent and, in turn, failure of the bridge. It
should be noted that a few pile bents used by the ALDOT have a
double angle horizontal brace with battens like that shown in
Fig. 1 at approximately 0.9 m 共3 ft兲 above the original ground

1
Structural Engineer, Carpenter Wright Engineers, P.L.L.C., 304 9th
Ave. South, Nashville, TN 37203. E-mail: dhughes@carpenterwright.com
2
Professor, Dept. of Civil Engineering, Harbert Engineering Center,
Auburn Univ., Auburn, AL 36849. E-mail: geramey@eng.auburn.edu
3
Assistant Professor, Dept. of Civil Engineering, Harbert Engineering
Center, Auburn Univ., Auburn, AL 36849. E-mail: hughema@eng.
auburn.edu
Note. Discussion open until October 1, 2007. Separate discussions
must be submitted for individual papers. To extend the closing date by
one month, a written request must be filed with the ASCE Managing
Editor. The manuscript for this paper was submitted for review and pos-
sible publication on June 2, 2006; approved on August 7, 2006. This
paper is part of the Practice Periodical on Structural Design and Con-
struction, Vol. 12, No. 2, May 1, 2007. ©ASCE, ISSN 1084-0680/2007/
2-82–95/$25.00. Fig. 1. Typical ALDOT X-braced pile bent geometry

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Fig. 2. GTSTRUDL pushover curves for one-story X-braced HP10⫻ 42 five-pile bent subjected to scour, piles fixed at ground, H = 4.0 m 共13 ft兲

tions. The bent performance in all cases was determined by
GTSTRUDL-generated pushover curves with piles assumed fixed
or pinned at the ground line 共Georgia 2002兲. As ALDOT was
interested in the relative performances of bents of various
geometry/bracing/number of piles, the modeling of the soil
support condition, P-load level, and pile size was not viewed as
critical. The pile end conditions modeled at the ground line
represent extreme cases, but afford good comparisons of the rela-
tive strength and stiffness performance of bents with various
numbers of piles and bracing systems. It should be noted that a
separate study by two of the authors found that full fixity of piles
embedded in all but the very poorest soils may be assumed at a
depth of approximately 1.5 m 共5 ft兲 below the ground line
共Hughes and Ramey 2005兲. This same study found that bents

Fig. 3. GTSTRUDL pushover curves for one-story X-braced HP10⫻ 42 five-pile bent 共with proposed lower horizontal member in X-bracing兲
subjected to scour, piles fixed at ground, H = 4.0 m 共13 ft兲

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Fig. 4. GTSTRUDL pushover curves for two-story X-braced HP10⫻ 42 five-pile bent subjected to scour, piles fixed at ground, H = 7.6 m 共25 ft兲

modeled with pinned connections at the ground line gave very
similar, but somewhat lower and more conservative, pushover
capacities as those modeled with fixities at levels of 1.5 m 共5 ft兲
below ground line. Also, for purposes of modeling the pushover
behavior of the bents, three extreme height cases were examined.
The shortest single-story X-braced pile bent and the tallest un-
braced bent 关H = 4.0 m 共13 ft兲 for both兴 and the tallest two-story
X-braced pile bent 关H = 7.6 m 共25 ft兲兴 were modeled.
Pushover Analysis for X-Braced Bents
without and with Lower Brace with Fixed Bases
Pushover curves for a one-story HP10⫻ 42 five-pile bent with
original H = 4.0 m 共13 ft兲 and different levels of scour are shown
plotted in Fig. 2. As indicated earlier, the ALDOT was interested
in whether the addition of a horizontal strut near the base of the
X-bracing would provide significant increases in stiffness and lat-

Fig. 5. GTSTRUDL pushover curves for two-story HP10⫻ 42 five-pile bent 共with proposed lower horizontal member in X-bracing兲 subjected to
scour, piles fixed at ground, H = 7.6 m 共25 ft兲

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Fig. 6. GTSTRUDL pushover curves for one-story X-braced HP10⫻ 42 five-pile bent subjected to scour, piles pinned to ground, H = 4.0 m
共13 ft兲

eral load capacity in the event of scour, due to improved truss
action of the piling-X-bracing system. Fig. 3 shows the pushover
curves for the single-story bent with the new strut included. This
strut was assumed to be the same as the horizontal strut which
divides the upper and lower stories of the two-story bents, i.e., it
was composed of two 4 ⫻ 3-1 / 2 ⫻ 5 / 16 angle members that are
welded to one another by battens to prevent buckling of the
angles.
For the single-story bent without the proposed strut 共Fig. 2兲
the lateral load capacity, F, is 522.2 kN 共117.4 kips兲 when no
scour is present. Significant reduction in lateral load capacity and
stiffness occurs as scour is introduced. For S = 1.5, 3.0, 4.6,

Fig. 7. GTSTRUDL pushover curves for one-story HP10⫻ 42 five-pile bent 共with proposed lower horizontal member in X-bracing兲 subjected to
scour, piles pinned at ground, H = 4.0 m 共13 ft兲

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Fig. 8. GTSTRUDL pushover curves for two-story X-braced HP10⫻ 42 five-pile bent subjected to scour, piles pinned at ground, H = 7.6 m
共25 ft兲

and 6.1 m 共5, 10, 15, and 20 ft兲 the capacities, F, are 306.0,
224.2, 188.6, and 116.1 kN 共68.8, 50.4, 42.4, and 26.1 kips兲, re-
spectively. Each of the pushover curves “lay over” clearly with
the exception of the curve for S = 6.1 m 共20 ft兲. When scour be-
comes this severe, the bent deflects linearly until capacity is
achieved. This behavior may be explained by an abrupt loss of
capacity due to buckling of such a tall structure with large un-
braced pile lengths below the X-bracing. For the bent with the
proposed strut 共Fig. 3兲 the horizontal load capacities for S = 0, 1.5,
3.0, 4.6, and 6.1 m 共0, 5, 10, 15, and 20 ft兲 are F = 760.2, 350.1,
234.4, 189.9, and 137.5 kN 共170.9, 78.7, 52.7, 42.7, and
30.9 kips兲, respectively. The additional lateral load capacity of the
bent provided by the proposed horizontal strut is relatively small,
except when S 艋 1.5 m 共5 ft兲. When S is this low, the original

Fig. 9. GTSTRUDL pushover curves for two-story HP10⫻ 42 five-pile bent 共with proposed lower horizontal member in X-bracing兲 subjected to
scour, piles pinned at ground, H = 7.6 m 共25 ft兲

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 Table 1. Pushover Capacity of HP10⫻ 42 Five-Pile X-Braced Bents without and with Horizontal Strut at Bottom of X-Bracing for P = 444.8 kN 共100k兲
with Scour
Pushover capacity,
Ft 关kN 共kips兲兴
Bent with fixed base modeling Bent with pinned base modeling
Bent stories and height Scour
H 关m 共ft兲兴 S 关m 共ft兲兴 Without strut With strut Without strut With strut
Single H = 4.0 共13兲 0 共0兲 522.2 共117.4兲 760.2 共170.9兲 286.5 共64.4兲 391.9 共88.1兲
1.5 共5兲 306.0 共68.8兲 350.1 共78.7兲 156.1 共35.1兲 165.5 共37.2兲
3.0 共10兲 224.2 共50.4兲 234.4 共52.7兲 128.6 共28.9兲 122.8 共27.6兲
4.6 共15兲 188.6 共42.4兲 189.9 共42.7兲 125.4 共28.2兲 117.0 共26.3兲
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6.1 共20兲 116.1 共26.1兲 137.5 共30.9兲 91.6 共20.6兲 100.1 共22.5兲
Two H = 7.6 共25兲 0 共0兲 511.5 共115.0兲 845.1 共190.0兲 250.0 共56.2兲 661.0 共148.6兲
1.5 共5兲 286.5 共64.4兲 570.3 共128.2兲 123.7 共27.8兲 266.4 共59.9兲
3.0 共10兲 203.7 共45.8兲 363.9 共81.8兲 93.4 共21.0兲 168.1 共37.8兲
4.6 共15兲 166.4 共37.4兲 271.3 共61.0兲 81.4 共18.3兲 127.7 共28.7兲
6.1 共20兲 147.7 共33.2兲 219.3 共49.3兲 56.9 共12.8兲 72.5 共16.3兲

bent does not need any improvement in capacity, and thus the
addition of a horizontal brace near the ground line would not be
warranted for future new bents or as a retrofit for existing bents of
this height.
Pushover curves for the two-story HP10⫻ 42 pile bent with
H = 7.6 m 共25 ft兲 are shown in Figs. 4 and 5 where the latter
includes the new horizontal strut. From Fig. 4 the horizontal load
capacities for S = 0, 1.5, 3.0, 4.6, and 6.1 m 共0, 5, 10, 15, and
20 ft兲 are F = 511.5, 286.5, 203.7, 166.4, and 147.7 kN 共115.0,
64.4, 45.8, 37.4, and 33.2 kips兲, respectively. Pushover analysis
results for the two-story bent with the extra horizontal strut
placed just below the lower X-bracing 共Fig. 5兲 give capacities of
F = 845.1, 570.3, 363.9, 271.3, and 219.3 kN 共190.0, 128.2, 81.8,
61.0, and 49.3 kips兲 for the same levels of scour. In contrast to
the single-story bent, inclusion of the horizontal strut in the
two-story bent increases the horizontal loading capacity signifi-
cantly for each value of S. Additionally, because the two-story
X-bracing serves to more evenly distribute the lateral and vertical
loads, this bent is slightly more stable at S = 6.1 m 共20 ft兲 than
the single-story bent. This is evident by observing the corres-
ponding pushover curves in Figs. 2–5. Unlike the curves for
S = 6.1 m 共20 ft兲 in Figs. 2 and 3 which deflect linearly until a
buckling failure occurs, the curves for S = 6.1 m 共20 ft兲 in Figs. 4
and 5 for the two-story bent are clearly “laying over” when ca-
pacity is reached. The results of this analysis show that for each
level of scour, the addition of the proposed lower strut greatly
improves the load capacity of the two-story bent for the fixed-
based condition.
Pushover Analysis for X-Braced Bents without
and with Lower Brace with Pinned Bases
In the previous section, fixed connections to the ground were
assumed; however, this is an exaggeration of the actual level of
fixity at the ground. Therefore, the case with pinned connections
at the base should also be evaluated. The behavior of these bents
can then be compared to those with fixed bases to gain a better
understanding of how the bent would behave with partial fixities
at the pile ends, which is the actual condition.
The pushover analysis results for the single-story X-braced
bents with pinned connections at the ground are shown in Figs. 6
and 7 for bents with and without the proposed lower strut. Fig. 6
shows that the lateral load capacities of the typical single story
bent for S = 0, 1.5, 3.0, 4.6, and 6.1 m 共0, 5, 10, 15, and 20 ft兲 are
F = 286.5, 156.1, 128.6, 125.4, and 91.6 共64.4, 35.1, 28.9, 28.2,
and 20.6 kips兲, respectively. In general, the values for horizontal
load capacity for these bents are nearly half of the capacities
observed if the base is fixed 关except for S 艌 4.6 m 共15 ft兲兴.
When S = 6.1 m 共20 ft兲 the load–deflection behavior of the bent
is not quite linear to failure as was the case for the fixed base
model. Fig. 7 shows the pushover curves for the single-story
X-braced bent with the proposed horizontal strut. For S = 0, 1.5,
3.0, 4.6, and 6.1 m 共0, 5, 10, 15, and 20 ft兲, the lateral load ca-
pacities are F = 391.9, 165.5, 122.8, 117.0, and 100.1 kN 共88.1,
37.2, 27.6, 26.3, and 22.5 kips兲, respectively. Thus, for the single-
story bent, the horizontal strut has a similar effect whether the
base of the bent is assumed pinned or fixed. It only provides a
considerable increase in capacity when S ⬍ 1.5 m 共5 ft兲. Addition-
ally, when the strut is included, the unbraced length of the piles is
decreased and the pushover curve for S = 6.1 m 共20 ft兲 lays over
somewhat.
Pushover curves for the two-story X-braced bents assumed to
be pinned at the ground are shown in Figs. 8 and 9. The two-story
bent without the lower horizontal strut 共Fig. 8兲 gives horizontal
load capacities of F = 250.0, 123.7, 93.4, 81.4, and 56.9 kN 共56.2,
27.8, 21.0, 18.3, and 12.8 kips兲 when S = 0, 1.5, 3.0, 4.6, and
6.1 m 共0, 5, 10, 15, and 20 ft兲. These lateral load capacities are
also approximately half the capacity values of the fixed base
bents. For the two-story bent modeled with the proposed lower
horizontal strut 共Fig. 9兲, the pushover capacities are F = 661.0,
266.4, 168.1, 127.7, and 72.5 kN 共148.6, 59.9, 37.8, 28.7, and
16.3 kips兲 when S = 0, 1.5, 3.0, 4.6, and 6.1 m 共0, 5, 10, 15, and
20 ft兲. These capacities are significantly larger compared to the
capacities without the strut. When no scour is present, the in-
crease in capacity due to the strut is nearly threefold. For ease
of comparison, the horizontal load capacities for bents with fixed
and pinned based modeling for single-story and two-story
X-braced bents are given in Table 1. It appears from this analysis
that the proposed lower strut has a considerable impact on one-
story bents only when S ⬍ 1.5 m 共5 ft兲 and on two-story bents for
all levels of scour.

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Fig. 10. Pile bents and bracing conditions analyzed

Effect of X-Bracing on Pile Bent Lateral Stiffness
and Pushover Capacity as Scour Increases
It is estimated that 95% of ALDOT’s steel HP pile bents support-
ing bridges are of the type illustrated in Fig. 10 with the number
of piles being three, four, five, or six 共Ramey et al. 2006兲. Thus,
these are the pile bents analyzed via GTSTRUDL pushover analy-
ses in this section. In each case, it was assumed that the piles were
HP10⫻ 42, spaced 2.4 m 共8 ft兲 apart at the bent cap, and loaded
with gravity loads of P = 444.8 kN 共100 kips兲 above each pile,
with a lateral horizontal flood water loading at the level of the
bottom of the bent cap as shown in Fig. 10. As H = 4.0 m 共13 ft兲
is the upper limit of bent height that may utilize an unbraced bent
and, in many instances, the lower limit of height to use one-story
X-bracing, and H = 7.6 m 共25 ft兲 is the upper limit of bent height
for a two-story bent, these two values of H were used in this
comparative analysis.
Pushover curves are shown in Figs. 11–15 to allow relative

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Fig. 11. GTSTRUDL sample pushover curves for HP10⫻ 42 three-pile bent, bents pinned at ground, H = 4.0 m 共13 ft兲

comparisons of the lateral stiffness and pushover capacities of the
various bent configurations shown in Fig. 10. Figs. 11共a and b兲
show some pushover analysis results for one-story three-pile
bents, Figs. 12共a and b兲 show some results for one-story four-
pile bents, Figs. 13共a and b兲 show some results for one-story
five-pile bents, Figs. 14共a and b兲 show some results for one-story
six-pile bents, and Figs. 15共a and b兲 show some results for
two-story three-, four-, five-, and six-pile bents. These figures
visually illustrate the effect of scour on each of the bents’ lateral
stiffness and pushover capacity. Summaries of the pushover ca-
pacities for these bent geometries for scour levels, S, of 0, 1.5,
3.0, 4.6, and 6.1 m 共0, 5, 10, 15, and 20 ft兲 are shown in Tables 2
and 3. A review of Figs. 11–14 reveals that the addition of
X-bracing to pile bents significantly increases the bent pushover
capacity only for cases where S ⬍ 1.5 m 共5 ft兲 with the exception
of the three-pile bent where the X-bracing significantly increases
capacity up to S = 3.0 m 共10 ft兲. Bent stiffness, on the other
hand, remains considerably greater for the X-braced bents when
S 艋 3.0 m 共10 ft兲.
It should be noted that prior to performing the GTSTRUDL
bent pushover analyses, a check was made to determine the
flexure and shear capacities of typical ALDOT concrete bent
caps to make sure that they would not fail. This check revealed
that the caps would not fail under the internal forces developed

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Fig. 12. GTSTRUDL sample pushover curves for HP10⫻ 42 four-pile bent, bents pinned at ground, H = 4.0 m 共13 ft兲

during the pushover analyses. Also, prior to performing the
pushover analyses, the buckling capacity of the light X-bracing
members shown in Fig. 1 when modeled as pin-ended members
between each bent pile was determined, and their possible buck-
ling was taken into account by placing pseudo plastic axial
springs in these members in the GTSTRUDL model. This was
accomplished by setting the yield stress of the springs equal to
the member elastic buckling stress. Local flange and web buck-
ling of both the bent piles and X-bracing members were also
checked for adequacy prior to performing the GTSTRUDL push-
over analyses.
As can be seen in comparing the pushover capacities in
Tables 2 and 3, the large strength gain which results from adding
X-bracing when S = 0, is almost entirely lost after the first 1.5 m
共5 ft兲 of scour with exception of the three-pile bent. For the three-
pile bent at S = 1.5 and 3.0 m 共5 and 10 ft兲, the strength of
the X-braced bent remains several times larger than the strength
of the non-X-braced bent. The lateral stiffness gained from adding
X-bracing does not fully diminish with the first 1.5 m 共5 ft兲
of scour, however it does become very similar to that of the
non-X-braced bent as S approaches 4.6 m 共15 ft兲.
For bents with various numbers of piles the corresponding
columns of Tables 2 and 3 reveal that X-bracing increases the
pushover capacity of each bent by approximately 133 kN

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Fig. 13. GTSTRUDL sample pushover curves for HP10⫻ 42 five-pile bent, bents pinned at ground, H = 4.0 m 共13 ft兲

共30 kips兲 when S = 0 m 共0 ft兲, but only slight increases in push-
over capacity are seen for S 艌 1.5 m 共5 ft兲. When double
X-bracing is used in the six-pile bent, stiffness is increased and
strength improves by 66.7 kN 共15 kips兲 beyond the strength of
the single X-braced bent for S = 0 m 共0 ft兲 关see Fig. 14共a兲兴.
However, the strength gain created by the double X-bracing is
also significantly diminished after the first 1.5 m 共5 ft兲 of scour.
This is evident in that the six-pile non-X-braced, single X-braced,
and double X-braced bents provide similar pushover capacities
for S 艌 1.5 m 共5 ft兲.
It can be noted that in a few instances, the capacity of the
non-X-braced bent actually exceeded the capacity of the X-braced
bent 关namely the five- and six-pile bents at S = 3.0 m 共10 ft兲兴. This
is thought to be a result of beam action on the battered piles
caused by the X-bracing. When H = 4.0 m 共13 ft兲 and S = 3.0 m
共10 ft兲, the X-bracing frames into the battered piles very near

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Fig. 14. GTSTRUDL sample pushover curves for HP10⫻ 42 six-pile bent, bents pinned at ground, H = 4.0 m 共13 ft兲

their mid-height above ground. With a transverse force applied at
this critical location 共midheight兲, the battered pile buckles with
slightly less load, i.e., the force applied to the leeward batter pile
by the compression X-bracing member magnifies the P-delta
effect on this pile and leads to pushover of the bent at a smaller
load than for the non-X-braced bent. Thus, for H = 4.0 m 共13 ft兲
and S = 3.0 m 共10 ft兲, a one-story X-braced bent will fail when
subjected to slightly smaller transverse loads than a non-X-braced
bent.
Sample two-story bent pushover curves are shown in
Figs. 15共a and b兲, and the complete pushover capacity results for
these bents are given in Table 3 for S = 0, 1.5, 3.0, 4.6, and 6.1 m
共0, 5, 10, 15, and 20 ft兲. Pushover curves for the two-story bents
reveal similar stiffness behavior as do the one-story bents. While
stiffness decreases slightly for bents with more piles when
S = 0 m 共0 ft兲, pushover capacity continues to increase with the
addition of piles. As observed for the one-story bents, the stiffness
of the double X-braced six-pile two-story bent remains substan-
tially larger than the single X-braced bent when S = 0 m 共0 ft兲.
Also, the pushover capacity of each bent is reduced by approxi-
mately half with the first 1.5 m 共5 ft兲 of scour, an exception being
the three-pile bent. When S = 1.5 m 共5 ft兲, the capacity of the

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Fig. 15. GTSTRUDL sample pushover curves for HP10⫻ 42 two-story X-braced pile bents with different numbers of piles, pinned at base,
H = 7.6 m 共25 ft兲

two-story three-pile X-braced bent is reduced by only 1/3 of the Conclusions

capacity at S = 0 m 共0 ft兲. As scour is incremented, the two-story
bents having more piles exhibit greater stiffness than those with
fewer numbers of piles 共see Fig. 15兲, and the double X-bracing in
the six-pile two-story bent has a somewhat greater impact on
stiffness and lateral strength than for the double X-braced one-
story bent.
Bridge pile bents with three-, four-, five-, or six-piles in a row
with various X-bracing systems were analyzed in this study for
lateral stiffness and pushover capacity under combined gravity
dead and live load and lateral flood water loading using the push-

PRACTICE PERIODICAL ON STRUCTURAL DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION © ASCE / MAY 2007 / 93

Pract. Period. Struct. Des. Constr. 2007.12:82-95.

 Table 2. Pushover Capacity of HP10⫻ 42 Non-X-Braced Bents with H = 4.0 m 共13 ft兲 and P = 444.8 kN 共100k兲 with Scour
Scour S Three-pile bents Four-pile bents Five-pile bents Six-pile bents
关m 共ft兲兴 关kN 共kips兲兴 关kN 共kips兲兴 关kN 共kips兲兴 关kN 共kips兲兴
0 共0兲 58.7 共13.2兲 123.7 共27.8兲 155.2 共34.9兲 165.0 共37.1兲
1.5 共5兲 28.5 共6.4兲 109.4 共24.6兲 146.3 共32.9兲 149.9 共33.7兲
3.0 共10兲 6.7 共1.5兲 92.5 共20.8兲 137.5 共30.9兲 144.1 共32.4兲
4.6 共15兲 Unstable 64.5 共14.5兲 100.1 共22.5兲 105.0 共23.6兲
6.1 共20兲 Unstable 41.4 共9.3兲 68.9 共15.5兲 72.5 共16.3兲

Table 3. Pushover Capacity of HP10⫻ 42 X-Braced Bents with P = 444.8 kN 共100k兲 with Scour
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Six-pile bents
关kN 共kips兲兴
Bent stories
and height H Scour S Three-pile bents Four-pile bents Five-pile bents Single Double
关m 共ft兲兴 关m 共ft兲兴 关kN 共kips兲兴 关kN 共kips兲兴 关kN 共kips兲兴 X-braced X-braced
Single H = 4.0 共13兲 0 194.4 245.1 286.5 311.4 381.2
共0兲 共43.7兲 共55.1兲 共64.4兲 共70.0兲 共85.7兲
1.5 72.1 125.0 156.1 167.7 177.0
共5兲 共16.2兲 共28.1兲 共35.1兲 共37.7兲 共39.8兲
3.0 31.1 93.4 128.6 134.3 139.7
共10兲 共7.0兲 共21.0兲 共28.9兲 共30.2兲 共31.4兲
4.6 5.3 77.4 125.4 134.3 135.2
共15兲 共1.2兲 共17.4兲 共28.2兲 共30.2兲 共30.4兲
6.1 Unstable 50.3 91.6 102.3 104.1
共20兲 共11.3兲 共20.6兲 共23.0兲 共23.4兲
Two H = 7.6 共25兲 0 204.2 221.1 254.0 274.5 355.4
共0兲 共45.9兲 共49.7兲 共57.1兲 共61.7兲 共79.9兲
1.5 68.1 99.2 125.4 137.9 154.8
共5兲 共15.3兲 共22.3兲 共28.2兲 共31.0兲 共34.8兲
3.0 21.4 61.8 93.9 103.6 118.8
共10兲 共4.8兲 共13.9兲 共21.1兲 共23.3兲 共26.7兲
4.6 Unstable 41.4 81.8 92.1 110.3
共15兲 共9.3兲 共18.4兲 共20.7兲 共24.8兲
6.1 Unstable 22.2 58.7 69.8 82.7
共20兲 共5.0兲 共13.2兲 共15.7兲 共18.6兲

over subprogram of GTSTRUDL. Non-X-braced bents were also
analyzed for comparisons. Based on these analyses, the following
conclusions can be drawn.
• The addition of a horizontal strut at the bottom of a one-story
X-braced bent with H = 4.0 m 共13 ft兲 significantly improves
共⬇40% 兲 the bent pushover capacity when scour S = 0.
However, when scour occurs and S 艌 1.5 m 共5 ft兲, the addition
of a bottom horizontal strut for a one-story bent with
H = 4.0 m 共13 ft兲 does not significantly improve the bent push-
over capacity.
• The addition of a horizontal strut at the bottom of a two-story
X-braced bent 6.1 m 艋 H 艋 7.6 m 共20 ft艋 H 艋 25 ft兲 signifi-
cantly increases the bent pushover capacity at all levels of
scour 共0 m 艋 S 艋 6.1 m兲 共0 艋 S 艋 20 ft兲. This is probably be-
cause for two-story bents, the X-bracing covers a larger verti-
cal height of the bent after scour, and the additional horizontal
strut improves the truss action of the pile-X-bracing system.
• The pushover analysis results of standard X-braced bents 共no
lower horizontal strut兲 reveal that for scour levels exceeding
1.5 m 共5 ft兲, nearly all of the additional pushover capacity
gained by adding X-bracing is lost. The additional stiffness
provided from the X-bracing is lost more gradually as scour is
increased to approximately 4.6 m 共15 ft兲.
• Stiffness and pushover capacities for the one-story and two-
story six-pile bents with double X-bracing were substantially
larger than the single X-braced six-pile bents when S = 0. How-
ever, the pushover capacity gain created by the double
X-bracing is greatly diminished after the first 1.5 m 共5 ft兲 of
scour to the point that the six-pile non X-braced, single
X-braced, and double X-braced bents provide similar pushover
capacities for S 艌 1.5 m 共5 ft兲.
• With the exception of the three-pile bent, each of the two-story
X-braced bents were stable at scour levels of 6.1 m 共20 ft兲.
However, at least half the lateral load capacity was lost with
the first 1.5 m 共5 ft兲 of scour.
Acknowledgments
The financial support of this work by the Alabama Department
of Transportation 共ALDOT兲 and secondarily by the Highway Re-
search Center at Auburn University is gratefully acknowledged.

94 / PRACTICE PERIODICAL ON STRUCTURAL DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION © ASCE / MAY 2007

Pract. Period. Struct. Des. Constr. 2007.12:82-95.

 References
Georgia Tech Research Corporation. 共2002兲. GT STRUDL reference
manual, Vol. 3, Atlanta.
Hughes, D., and Ramey, G. E. 共2005兲. “Bridge bent P-⌬ curves in
transverse direction using FB-Pier and GTSTRUDL pushover
analysis procedures.” Project No. 930-608, Interim Rep., Alabama
Downloaded from ascelibrary.org by UNIVERSITAS INDONESIA on 02/04/14. Copyright ASCE. For personal use only; all rights reserved.
Department of Transportation, Ala.
Ramey, G. E., and Brown, D. A. 共2004兲. “Stability of highway bridges
subject to scour—Phase I.” Project No. 930-585, Final Rep., Alabama
Department of Transportation, Ala.
Ramey, G. E., et al. 共2006兲. “Stability of highway bridges subject
to scour—Phase II.” Project No. 930-608, Final Rep., Alabama De-
partment of Transportation, Ala.

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