ABSTRACT
Bridge scour is one of the most common causes of bridge failure in the United States (HEC-18 2001). In order to prevent the failure of bridges spanning waterways, it is essential to consider the effects of scour on the structural performance of bridge and to design the bridge so that it can resist any structural degradation due to scour in addition to other natural hazards. According to AASHTO LRFD (2007), scour is not considered as a load parameter, but its effects on changing the structural properties of bridge should be evaluated to make sure that the structure is not vulnerable to extreme loads, such as wind and earthquake. Towards this goal, the current paper studies the behavior of reinforced concrete (RC) highway bridges under the combined effects of scouring and earthquake.
