Abstract:In recent years, viscous dampers have been widely used in the seismic design of long-span bridges in high seismic intensity areas, but the average service life of viscous dampers is far less than the design service life of bridge structures. In the whole life cycle of the bridge, the failed viscous dampers that are not detected in time or undiscovered may still be in use, which will cause a hidden danger to the earthquake resistance of the bridge. The finite element analysis is carried out for a long-span continuous beam of a new high-speed railway under various failure conditions of viscous dampers, and the shear force at the top of the pier and the relative displacement between the pier and the beam under different working conditions are obtained. The analysis is considered that all dampers or single damper becoming a similar rigid body or all dampers completely losing damping effect will seriously affect the safety of continuous beam structures, which should be avoided during the processes of design, manufacture, installation and use of the dampers. The damping reduction or loss of damping effect of a single damper will not have a significant impact on the seismic resistance of continuous beams.