Experimental Research for Seismic Performance of Circular Hollow R.C. Bridge Pier

원형중공 콘크리트 교각의 내진성능에 대한 실험적 연구

Because of relatively heavy dead weight of concrete itself and unavoidable heat of massive concrete in bridge piers, circular hollow columns are widely used in Korean highway bridges. Since the occurrence of 1995 Kobe earthquake, there have been much concerns about seismic design for various infrastructures, inclusive of bridge structures. It is, however, understood that there are not much research works for nonlinear behavior of circular hollow columns subjected to earthquake motions. The ultimate of this experimental research is investigate nonlinear behavior of circular hollow reinforced concrete bridge piers under the quasi-static cyclic load, and then to enhance their ductility by strengthening the plastic hinge region with glassfiber sheets. It is concluded from quasi-static tests for 7 bridge piers that energy dissipation capacity and curvatures for a given displacement ductility factor $\{\mu}=frac{\Delta}{\Delta_y}$are about 20% higher for the seismically designed columns and about 70% higher for the retrofitted piers than the nonseismically designed columns in a conventional way.