Seismic Resilience and Post-Earthquake Sustainability Evaluation of Long-Span Deck-Type Reinforced Concrete Arch Bridges

To evaluate the seismic resilience and post-earthquake sustainability of long-span deck-type reinforced concrete arch bridges, this paper constructs a seismic resilience assessment framework based on seismic vulnerability theory, utilizing post-earthquake functional loss and recovery functions. A post-earthquake sustainability evaluation method is further developed using social and environmental indicators. Taking Shatuo Bridge as an engineering case study, the seismic vulnerability, seismic resilience, and post-earthquake sustainability are evaluated. The influences of functional recovery functions and the rise-to-span ratio on seismic resilience are compared and analyzed. The results show that under the same Peak Ground Acceleration (PGA), the seismic vulnerability of the system is greater than that of individual components, and the vulnerability of bearings is greater than that of the main arch ring and columns. The seismic resilience of reinforced concrete arch bridges decreases with increasing PGA, showing a trend that is initially rapid and then slows down. The exponential functional recovery function yields the highest seismic resilience, followed by the linear function, and the triangular function yields the lowest. The resilience obtained by the improved method lies between that of the exponential and triangular functions, consistent with the failure pattern of arch bridges, providing preliminary insights and a methodological reference for seismic resilience assessment. The rise-to-span ratio significantly affects the seismic resilience of deck-type reinforced concrete arch bridges, with a ratio of 1/6 yielding the highest resilience, followed by 1/7, 1/5, 1/8, and 1/4. Under seismic action, the environmental cost caused by damage to the main arch ring is significantly greater than that caused by damage to columns and bearings, and the environmental cost due to column damage is greater than that due to bearing damage. Post-earthquake time loss is primarily controlled by damage to the main arch ring. It is acknowledged that the findings are subject to limitations, including model simplifications and the use of idealized recovery functions, as discussed in the full paper.