NEHRP Clearinghouse
- Title
- Performance of Circular Reinforced Concrete Bridge Columns under Bidirectional Earthquake Loading.
- File
- PB2005100812.pdf
- Author(s)
- Hachem, M. H.; Mahin, S. A.; Moehle, J. P.
- Source
- National Science Foundation, Arlington, VA. Earthquake Engineering Research Centers Program., February 2003, 473 p.
- Identifying Number(s)
- ['PEER 2003/06', 'UCB/ENG-9374']
- Abstract
- The behavior of ductile reinforced concrete bridge columns subjected to cyclic loading has been the subject of extensive research. However, some areas of uncertainty remain, including the response of such columns when subjected to one or more components of intense earthquake ground motions, and the ability of current analytical models to predict response. As such, an integrated series of experimental and analytical studies were undertaken. The report describes the dynamic testing of four circular reinforced concrete bridge columns on the earthquake simulator of the of the Earthquake Engineering Research Center (EERC) of the University of California at Berkeley. The specimens were divided into two pairs, with each pair subjected to a different ground motion. Within each pair, one specimen was subjected to one component of the ground motion, while the other specimen was subjected to two components. The four columns exhibited stable ductile behavior under several repetitions f the targeted ground motions. The bidirectionally loaded columns behaved similar to the unidirectionally loaded columns under the design earthquake, and were in fact able to sustain more repetitions of loading before failure was reached.
- Keywords
- ; Bridges; Earthquake resistant structures; Circular columns; Reinforced concrete; Bidirectional loading; Experiments; Finite element analysis; Modeling; Shaking table