• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.16 no.3 s.81
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• pp.357-367
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• 2004

In this paper, the effect of cumulative damage for reinforced concrete bridge piers subjected to both single and multiple earthquakes is investigated. For this purpose, selected are three set of accelerograms one of which represents the real successive input ground motions, recorded at the same station with three months time interval. The analytical predictions indicate that piers are in general subjected to a large number of inelastic cycles and increased ductility demand due to multiple earthquakes, and hence more damage in terms of stiffness degradation is expected to occur. In addition, displacement ductility demand demonstrates that inelastic seismic response of piers can significantly be affected by the applied input ground motion characteristics. Also evaluated is the effect of multiple earthquakes on the response with shear. Comparative studies between the cases with and without shear indicate that stiffness degradation and hence reduction in energy dissipation capacity of piers are pronounced due to the multiple earthquakes combined with shear. It is thus concluded that the effect of multiple earthquakes should be taken into account for the stability assessment of reinforced concrete bridge piers.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.41-54
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• 1999

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 eqrthquake motions. The objective of this experimental research is to 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. Particularly for this test, constant 10 cyclic loads have been repeatedly actuated to investigate the magnitude of strength degradation for the displacement ductility factor. Important test parameters are seismic design, confinement steel ratio, axial force and load pattern. It is observed from quasi-static tests for 7 bridge piers that the seismically designed columns and the retrofitted columns show better performance than the nonseismically designed colums, i.e. about 20% higher for energy dissipation capacity and about 70% higher for curvatures.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.10 no.3 s.49
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• pp.47-55
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• 2006

Seismic performance and retrofit of reinforced concrete (RC) two-column piers widely used at roadway bridges in Korea was experimentally evaluated. Ten two-column piers that were 400 mm in diameter and 2,000 mm in height were constructed. These piers were subjected to hi-directional cyclic loadings under a constant axial load of $0.1f_{ck}A_g$. Test parameters were the confinement steel ratio, loading pattern, lap splice of longitudinal reinforcing bars, and retrofitting method. Specimens with lap-spliced longitudinal bars were retrofitted with steel jacket, pre-stressing steel wire, and steel band. Test result showed that while the specimens subjected to bi-directional lateral cyclic loadings which consisted of two main amplitudes in the transverse axis and two sub amplitudes in longitudinal axis, referred to as a T-series cyclic loadings, exhibited plastic hinges both at the top and bottom parts of the column, the specimens subjected to bi-directional lateral cyclic loadings in an opposite way, referred to as a L-series cyclic loadings, exhibited a plastic hinge only at the bottom of the column. The displacement ductility of the specimen under the T-series loadings was bigger than that of the specimen under the L-series loadings. Specimen retrofitted with pre-stressing steel wires exhibited poor ductility due to the upward shift of the plastic hinge region because of over-reinforcement, but specimens retrofitted with steel jacket and steel band showed the required displacement ductility. Steel band can be an effective retrofitting scheme to improve the seimsic performance of RC bridge piers, considering its practical construction.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.75-89
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• 2007

Post-earthquake reconnaissance and experimental research indicate that squat reinforced concrete (RC) columns in existing buildings or bridge piers are vulnerable to non-ductile shear failure. Recently, several experimental studies were conducted to investigate upgrading the shear resistance capacity of such columns in order to modify their failure mode to ductile one. Among these upgrading methods is the use of fibre-reinforced polymer (FRP) jackets. One of the preferred analytical tools to simulate the response of frame structures to earthquake loading is the lumped plasticity macromodels due to their computational efficiency and reasonable accuracy. In these models, the columns' nonlinear response is lumped at its ends. The most important input data for such type of models is the element's lateral force-displacement backbone curve. The objective of this study is to verify an analytical method to predict the lateral force-displacement ductility relationship of axially and laterally loaded rectangular RC squat columns retrofitted with FRP composites. The predicted relationship showed good accuracy when compared with tests available in the literature.

• Proceedings of the Korea Concrete Institute Conference
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• 2005.05a
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• pp.63-66
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• 2005

Six RC pier were tested under a constant axial load and a cyclically reversed horizontal load to investigate the performance of RC piers used in the high strength concrete and the high strength rebar. It is designed with a hollow section according to the Korean Bridge Design Standard. The variables of the test were concrete strength, rebar strength, a ratio of lap splice and a ratio of transvere rebar. The test results show that the performance of a RC Pier; failure mode, crack pattern, maximum load and ductility.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.215-244
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• 2004

There is an ever-increasing demand for assessment of earthquake effects on transportation structures, emphasised by the crippling consequences of recent earthquakes hitting developed countries reliant on road transportation. In this work, vulnerability functions for RC bridges are derived analytically using advanced material characterisation, high quality earthquake records and adaptive inelastic dynamic analysis techniques. Four limit states are employed, all based on deformational quantities, in line with recent development of deformation-based seismic assessment. The analytically-derived vulnerability functions are then compared to a data set comprising observational damage data from the Northridge (California 1994) and Hyogo-ken Nanbu (Kobe 1995) earthquakes. The good agreement gives some confidence in the derived formulation that is recommended for use in seismic risk assessment. Furthermore, by varying the dimensions of the prototype bridge used in the study, and the span lengths supported by piers, three more bridges are obtained with different overstrength ratios (ratio of design-to-available base shear). The process of derivation of vulnerability functions is repeated and the ensuing relationships compared. The results point towards the feasibility of deriving scaling factors that may be used to obtain the set of vulnerability functions for a bridge with the knowledge of a 'generic' function and the overstrength ratio. It is demonstrated that this simple procedure gives satisfactory results for the case considered and may be used in the future to facilitate the process of deriving analytical vulnerability functions for classes of bridges once a generic relationship is established.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.180-189
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• 2002

The objective of this experimental research is to assess the seismic performance of circular RC bridge pier specimens retrofitted with fibers which were designed as a prototype of Hagal bridge in the city of Suwon, Korea. Pseudo dynamic test has been done for four(4) test specimens which were nonseismically or seismically designed by the related provisions of the Korea roadway bridge design specification, and four nonseisemic test specimens retrofitted with fibers in the plastic hinge region. Glass and carbon fiber sheets were used for the seismic capacity enhancement of circular test specimens. Important test parameters were confinement steel ratio, load pattern, and retrofitting. The seismic behavior has been analyzed through the displacement ductility, energy analysis, and capacity spectrum. Approximate 7.7 ∼8.7 displacement ductility was observed for nonseismic test specimens retrofitted with fibers subjected to Korea Highway Cooperation artificial earthquake motions. It is concluded that these retrofitted test specimens could have sufficient seismic capacity in the region of moderate seismic zone.

• Proceedings of the Korea Concrete Institute Conference
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• 2008.04a
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• pp.77-80
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• 2008

Lap splices were located in the plastic hinge region of most bridge piers that were constructed before the adoption of the seismic design provision of Korea Highway Design Specification on 1992. This research aims at evaluating the seismic performance of reinforced concrete bridge piers with lap-spliced longitudinal steels, which were strengthened with prestressed steel jacket in the plastic hinge region. Quasi-static test was used to investigate the seismic performance enhancement of RC test specimens. Conventional method applied mortar grouting inside steel jacket, but this research did not apply mortar grouting inside steel plate. Four test specimens in an aspect of 3.5 were constructed with 400 mm in diameter and 1600 mm in height. Test parameters are the lap splice of longitudinal reinforcing steels and thickness of steel jacket.

• Proceedings of the Korea Concrete Institute Conference
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• 1998.10b
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• pp.615-620
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• 1998

The objective of this experimental study is to investigate the hysteretic behavior of reinforced concrete piers subjected to quasi-static cyclic loads, which have been used in large numbers for railway and urban transportation facilities. Important test parameters are hoop ratio, axial load, loading type, and the behaviors f members have been evaluated through limit states of crack occurrence, yielding and ultimate state of member, ductility and load-deflection loop can be secured by considering the influence of hoop reinforcement ratio and axial load, and that plastic hinge length and ductility ar determined by the combination of the quantities of hoop reinforcement and axial load.

• Proceedings of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea Conference
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• 2003.09a
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• pp.255-262
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• 2003

In present Korea Highway Bridge Standards the lap splice of longitudinal bars in a potential plastic hinge region is allowed so that large amount of transverse rebar specified in high seismicity regions Is required to prevent brittle bond failure If the brittle failure effects can be completely removed from the conventional designed piers, the amount of transverse rebar will be reduced drastically. In this study scaled models with solid and hollow rectangular sections were tested to investigate the seismic behavior of RC piers with 50％ of lap-spliced longitudinal bars in plastic hinge regions. In the tests the typical flexural failure conducting a ductile behavior were observed in both models. It is shown that the 50％ of lap-spliced bars can be considered as a good alternative of seismic detailing for longitudinal bars.