• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.271-282
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• 2022

Seismic resisting self-centering bridge piers with high energy dissipation and negligible residual displacement after an earthquake event are focus topics of current structural engineering. The energy dissipation components of typical bridge piers are often relatively single; and exhibit a certain level of damage under earthquakes, leading to large residual displacements and low cumulative energy dissipation. In this paper, a novel socket self-centering bridge pier with a hybrid energy dissipation system is proposed. The seismic resilience of bridge piers can be improved through the rational design of annular grooves and rubber cushions. The seismic response was evaluated through the finite element method. The effects of rubber cushion thickness, annular groove depth, axial compression ratio, and lateral strength contribution ratio of rubber cushion on the seismic behavior of bridge piers are systematically studied. The results show that the annular groove depth has the greatest influence on the seismic performance of the bridge pier. Especially, the lateral strength contribution ratio of the rubber cushion mainly depends on the depth of the annular groove. The axial compression ratio has a significant effect on the ultimate bearing capacity. Finally, the seismic design method is proposed according to the influence of the above research parameters on the seismic performance of bridge piers, and the method is validated by an example. It is suggested that the range of lateral strength contribution ratio of rubber cushion is 0.028 ~ 0.053.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.275-283
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• 2018

Seismic strengthening is essential for existing bridge piers which are deficient to resist the earthquake. The concrete and CFRP jackets with a bottom-anchoring method are used to strengthen railway bridge piers with low reinforcement ratio. Quasi-static tests of scaled down model piers are performed to evaluate the seismic performance of the original and strengthened bridge pier. The fracture characteristics indicate that the vulnerable position of the railway bridge pier with low reinforcement ratio during earthquake is the pier-footing region and shows flexural failure mode. The force-displacement relationships show that the two strengthening techniques using CFRP and concrete jackets can both provide a significant improvement in load-carrying capacity for railway bridge piers with low reinforcement ratio. It is clear that the bottom-anchoring method by using planted steel bars can guarantee the CFRP and concrete jackets to work jointly with original concrete piers Furthermore, it can be found that the use of CFRP jacket offers advantages over concrete jacket in improving the energy dissipation capacity under lateral cyclic loading. Therefore, the seismic strengthening techniques by the use of CFRP and concrete jackets provide alternative choices for the large numbers of existing railway bridge piers with low reinforcement ratio in China.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.123-134
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• 2005

A coupled three-dimensional pile group analysis method (YSGroup) was developed considering nonlinear pile head stiffness matrices and compared with other analytical methods (elastic displacement method, Group 6.0 and FBPier 3.0). In this method, a pile cap was modelled by four-node flat shell element, a pier was modelled using 3 dimensional beam element, and individual piles were modelled as beam-column elements. Through the comparative studies on a piled pie. subjected to lateral loads in linear soil, it was found that present method (YSGroup), elastic displacement method and Group 6.0 gave similar results of lateral pile head displacement, but FBPier 3.0 was estimated to show somewhat larger displacements than those from the three methods. Displacements of superstructure (pier), including nonlinear soil behavior, could be estimated by present method (YSGroup) and FBPier 3.0 because these two methods modelled the superstructure directly by finite element techniques. It was found that pile groups in pinned pile head condition had a tendency to cause excessive rotation of the pile cap.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.26 no.6
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• pp.255-265
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• 2022

In order to determine fragility curves, the limit state of piers for each damage level is suggested in this paper based on the previous test results in Korea, including our test results. In previous studies, the quantitative measures for damage levels of piers have been represented by curvature ductility, lateral drift ratio, or displacement ductility. These measures are transformed to lateral drift ratios of piers for consistency, and the transformed values are compared and verified with our push-over test results for flexural RC piers with a circular cross-section. The test specimens are categorized concerning the number of lap-splices in the plastic hinge region and whether seismic design codes are satisfied or not. Based on the collected test results in Korea, including ours, the lateral drift ratio for each pier damage level is suggested.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.11 no.3 s.55
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• pp.23-31
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• 2007

Fast bridge construction has been increasingly needed according to the changed construction environment. This paper deals with quasi-static tests on precast piers for bridge substructures. One of the most crucial aspect of the design of precast prestressed concrete bridge piers is the seismic performance. Seven precast pier elements were fabricated. The amount of prestressing bars, the prestressing force, and the location and number of the joint between segments were the main test parameters. Test results showed that the introduced axial prestress made the restoration of the deformation under small lateral displacement and minor damage. However, there was no effect of the prestress when the plastic hinge region was damaged severely due to large lateral displacement. Judging from the observed damage, the design of the joints in precast piers should be done for the first joint between the foundation and the pier segment. The amount of the necessary prestressing steel may be designed to satisfy the P-M diagram according to the service loads, not by having the same steel ratio as normal RC bridge piers. In order to satisfy the current required displacement ductility, it is necessary to have the same amount of the transverse reinforcements as RC piers. As the steel ratio increases, the energy absorption capacity increases. The number of joints showed a little influence on the energy absorption capacity.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.273-286
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• 2020

The pile group foundation is widely used for gravity pier of high-speed railway bridges in China. If a moderate or strong earthquake occurs, the pile-surrounding soil will exhibit obvious nonlinearity and significant pile group effect. In this study, an improved pushover analysis model for the pile group foundation with consideration of pile group effect is presented and validated by the quasi-static test. The improved model uses simplified springs to simulate the soil lateral resistance, side friction and tip resistance. PM (axial load-bending moment) plastic hinge model is introduced to simulate the impact of the axial force changing of pile group on their elastic-plastic characteristics. The pile group effect is considered in stress-stain relations of the lateral soil resistance with a reduction factor. The influence factors on nonlinear characteristics and plastic hinge distribution of the pile group foundation are discussed, including the pier height, longitudinal reinforcement ratio and stirrup ratio of the pile, and soil mechanical parameters. Furthermore, the displacement ductility factor, resistance increase factor and yielding stiffness ratio are provided to evaluate the seismic performance of soil-pile system. A case study for the pile group foundation of a railway simply supported beam bridge with a 32 m-span is conducted by numerical analysis. It is shown that the ultimate lateral force of pile group is not determined by the yielding force of the single one in these piles. Therefore, the pile group effect is essential for the seismic performance evaluation of the railway bridge with pile group foundation.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.13 no.6
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• pp.87-98
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• 2009

It is well known that reinforcement details in the plastic hinge region of bridge piers give the most important effects on the seismic performance of bridges, from investigations of bridge failures in many earthquake events and in laboratory tests. Longitudinal reinforcement details give larger effects than lateral reinforcement details do. The lap-spliced longitudinal steel shows slip during earthquake events, which results in low ductility and inadequate seismic performance. However, before the issue of the earthquake design code, a considerable number of bridge piers were constructed with lap-spliced longitudinal steel in the plastic hinge region. Therefore, a large amount of research has been conducted on the seismic performance and retrofit of circular and rectangular shaped bridge columns with lap-spliced longitudinal steel. However, research on wall type piers is very limited. This paper investigates the seismic performance of a pier wall by a quasi-static test in the weak axis direction and proposes a retrofit method. From the test with variables being the longitudinal steel detail and the transverse steel amount, it is shown that the currently used definition of yield displacement is not adequate. Therefore a new definition of yield displacement for the ductility investigation for a pier wall is proposed. In addition, a retrofit method by steel plates and bolts is proposed to improve ductility, and test results show that slip of the longitudinal steel is prevented by up to a considerably large displacement.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.116-122
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• 2021

This study quantitatively evaluated the performance improvement of a circular reinforced concrete pier under dynamic load with strengthening using a steel plate. Various three-dimensional elements were applied using the finite element program ABAQUS. The analytical parameters included the ratios of the steel cover length to the pier's total height and the ratios of the steel cover thickness to the pier diameter for inelastic-nonlinear analysis. The lower part of the pier had fixed boundary conditions, and lateral repetitive loads were applied at the top of the pier. The pier was investigated to evaluate the dynamic performance based on the load-displacement curve, stress-strain curve, ductility, energy absorption capability, and energy ratio. The yield and ultimate loads of piers with steel covers increased by 3.76 times, and the energy absorption capability increased by 4 times due to the confinement effects caused by the steel plate. A plastic hinge part of the column with a steel plate improved the ductility, and the thicker the steel plate was, the greater the energy absorption capacity. This study shows that the reinforced pier should be improved in terms of the seismic performance.

• Proceedings of the Korea Concrete Institute Conference
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• 2001.11a
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• pp.47-52
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• 2001

Short reinforced concrete bridge piers are particularly susceptible to shear failure as a consequence of the high shear/moment ratio and conservatism in the flexural strength design of existing RC bridge pier, which were constructed before 1992. In addition, shear failure is brittle and involves rapid strength degradation. Inelastic shear deformation is thus unsuitable fur ductile seismic response. It is, however, believed that there are not many experimental research works fur shear failure of the existing RC bridge pier in Korean peninsula subjected to earthquake motions. The object of this research is to evaluate the seismic performance of existing circular RC bridge piers by the quasi-static test. Existing RC bridge piers were moderate seismically designed in accordance with the conventional provisions of Korea Highway Design Specification. This study has been performed to verify the effect of aspect ratio (column height-diameter ratio). Quasi-static test has been done to investigate the physical seismic performance of RC bridge piers, such as lateral force-displacement hysteric curve, envelope curve etc.

• Proceedings of the Korea Concrete Institute Conference
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• 2002.05a
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• pp.941-946
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• 2002

Short reinforced concrete bridge piers are particularly susceptible to shear failure as a consequence of the high shear/moment ratio and conservatism in the flexural strength design of existing RC bridge pier, which were constructed before 1992. In addition, shear failure is brittle and involves rapid strength degradation. Inelastic shear deformation is thus unsuitable for ductile seismic response. It is, however, believed that there are not many experimental research works for shear failure of the existing RC bridge pier in Korean peninsula subjected to earthquake motions. The object of this research is to evaluate the seismic performance of existing circular RC bridge piers by the quasi-static test. Existing RC bridge piers were moderate seismically designed in accordance with the conventional provisions of Korea Highway Design Specification. This study has been performed to verify the effect of aspect ratio (column height-diameter ratio). Quasi-static test has been done to investigate the physical seismic performance of RC bridge piers, such as lateral force-displacement hysteric curve, envelope curve etc.