Summary The scope of this study is to investigate the effect of the direction of seismic excitation on the fragility of an already constructed, 99‐m‐long, three‐span highway overpass. First, the investigation is performed at a component level, quantifying the sensitivity of local damage modes of individual bridge components (namely, piers, bearings, abutments, and footings) to the direction of earthquake excitation. The global vulnerability at the system level is then assessed for a given angle of incidence of the earthquake ground motion to provide a single‐angle, multi‐damage probabilistic estimate of the bridge overall performance. A multi‐angle, multi‐damage, vulnerability assessment methodology is then followed, assuming uniform distribution for the angle of incidence of seismic waves with respect to the bridge axis. The above three levels of investigation highlight that the directivity of ground motion excitation may have a significant impact on the fragility of the individual bridge components, which shall not be a priori neglected. Most importantly, depending on the assumptions made for the component to the system level transition, this local sensitivity is often suppressed. It may be therefore necessary, based on the ultimate purpose of the vulnerability or the life cycle analysis, to obtain a comprehensive insight on the multiple damage potential of all individual structural and foundation components under multi‐angle excitation, to quantify the statistical correlation among the distinct damage modes and to identify the components that are both most critical and sensitive to the direction of ground motion and carefully define their limit states which control the predicted bridge fragility. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

This article presents a Matlab-based educational software developed at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in Greece, in order to familiarize students and young engineers with fundamental concepts of structural dynamics and, in particular, soil-structure interaction problems. This user-friendly educational tool aims to assist the students in comprehending the nature of this complex phenomenon and the role played by the physical parameters involved, while increasing their awareness of the potential impact of neglecting soil flexibility during seismic design of reinforced concrete (RC) buildings. This software is also used as a case study for teaching the development of civil engineering-oriented applications in Matlab within a course where all the relevant material is provided online. Two demonstration examples are comparatively assessed to illustrate the applicability of the software and justify the necessity of its implementation in class, while the integration of the software in the curriculum as well as students' feedback is also discussed. ß

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This paper presents hybrid simulations of a three-span R/C bridge among E.U., U.S. and Canada. The tests involved partners located on both sides of the Atlantic with each one assigned a numerical or a physical module of the sub-structured bridge. Despite the network latency in linking five remote sites located on the two sides of the Atlantic (compared to previous studies in which sites were not as widely distributed) and considering the ratedependency of the physical specimen as per Molina et al. (2002), the intercontinental hybrid simulation was accomplished and repeated successfully employing different tools, thus highlighting the robustness, efficiency and repetitiveness of the approach. Adaptations, challenges and limitations are critically discussed particularly focusing on the implications of network communication latency, the insensitivity of the sub-structuring arrangement and the accuracy of the results obtained.

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