Revised Design Specifications for Highway Bridges in Japan and Design Earthquake Motions

摘要

The Design Specifications for Highway Bridges in Japan were revised in March 2002. The most important change regarding seismic design in this revision is the adoption of performance-based design criteria. Although we had similar design concepts in the previous specifications, they are systematically arranged in the newly revised specifications. Two levels of design ground motions, which are further classified into three kinds of ground motions, three levels of seismic performance criteria and corresponding limit states are prescribed. A new concept has also been introduced to the provision of design earthquake motion, and a site-specific ground motion can be conditionally employed for design practice.