The seismic vulnerability of highway bridges remains an important problem and has received increased attention as\r\na consequence of unprecedented damage observed during several major earthquakes. A significant number of\r\nresearch studies have examined the performance of skew bridges under service and seismic loads. The results of\r\nthese studies are particularly sensitive to modeling assumptions in view of the interacting parameters. In the\r\npresent study, three-dimensional improved beam-stick models of two-span highway bridges with skew angles\r\nvarying from 0�° to 60�° are developed to investigate the seismic response characteristics of skew box girder bridges.\r\nThe relative accuracy of beam-stick models is verified against counterpart finite element models. The effect of\r\nvarious parameters and conditions on the overall seismic response was examined such as skew angle, ground\r\nmotion intensity, soil condition, abutment support conditions, bridge aspect ratio, and foundation-base conditions.\r\nThe study shows that the improved beam-stick models can be used to conduct accurate nonlinear time history\r\nanalysis of skew bridges. Skew angle and interacting parameters were found to have significant effect on the\r\nbehavior of skewed highway bridges. Furthermore, the performance of shear keys may have a predominant effect\r\non the overall seismic response of the skew bridges.
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