• Proceedings of the Korea Concrete Institute Conference
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• 2001.05a
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• pp.559-564
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• 2001

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 two nonseismic test specimens which were nonseismic designed by the related provisions of the Highway Design Specification, and four nonseismic test specimens retrofitted with fibers in the plastic hinge region. Important test parameters were load patterns, and retrofit. The seismic behavior has been analyzed through the displacement ductility, energy analysis, and capacity spectrum. Approximate 7.0 displacement ductility was observed for nonseismic test specimens retrofitted with fibers. It is concluded that these retrofitting test specimens could have sufficient seismic capacity in the region of moderate seismic zone.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.429-446
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• 2006

Experimental investigation was conducted to evaluate the seismic ductility of earthquake-experienced concrete columns with an aspect ratio of 2.5. Eight circular concrete columns with a diameter of 600 mm were constructed with three test parameters: confinement ratio, lap-splice of longitudinal bars, and retrofitting with Fiber Reinforced Polymer (FRP) materials. The objective of this research is to examine the seismic performance of RC bridge piers subjected to a Quasi static test (QST), which were preliminary tested under a series of artificial earthquake motions referred to as a Pseudo dynamic test (PDT). The seismic enhancement effect of FRP wrap was also investigated on these RC bridge piers. Six specimens were loaded to induce probable damage by four series of artificial earthquakes, which were developed to be compatible with earthquakes in the Korean peninsula by the Korea Highway Corporation (KHC). Directly after the PDT, six earthquake-experienced columns were subjected to inelastic cyclic loading under a constant axial load of $0.1{f_c}^{\prime}A_g$. Two other reference specimens without the PDT were also subjected to similar quasi-static loads. Test results showed that specimens pre-damaged by moderate artificial earthquakes generally demonstrated good residual seismic performance, which was similar to the corresponding reference specimen. Moreover, RC bridge specimens retrofitted with wrapping fiber composites in the potential plastic hinge region exhibited enhanced flexural ductility.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.11 no.5
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• pp.107-118
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• 1999

10 RC bridge piers have been made on a 1/3.4 scale model, and six piers of them were retrofitted with glassfiber. The have been tested in the quasi-static cyclic load so as to investigate their seismic enhancement before and after retrofitting with glassfibers. The objective of this experimental study is to investigate how to strength the ductility of reinforced concrete bridge piers which have been nonseismically designed and constructed in Korea before 1992. Important test parameters are axial load, load pattern, retrofit type. Glassfiber sheets were used for retrofitting in the plastic hinge region of concrete piers. The nonlinear behavior of bridge columns have been evaluated through their yield and ultimate strength, energy dissipation, displacement ductility and load-deflection characteristics under quasi-static cyclic loads. It can be concluded from the test that concrete piers strengthened with glassfibers have been enhanced for their ductile behavior by approximate 50%.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.5 no.3
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• pp.29-36
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• 2001

Same as-built drawings in national roadway bridges in Korea were examined. As a result, many bridge piers were found whose aspect ratios are in the vicinity of 2.5. These columns are expected to do shear-flexure behaviour, but the previous research works considered flexure behaviour columns only. In the study, therefore, a shear-flexure behaviour column was selected as the model pier, and quasi static test on the full and 1/2 scale models was carried out. From the test results, the scale effect on the seismic performance evaluation was analyzed, and the seismic performance of the model bridge pier without seismic details was evaluated by the capacity spectrum method.

• Proceedings of the Korea Concrete Institute Conference
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• 2004.05a
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• pp.692-695
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• 2004

Seismic performance of reinforced concrete(RC) column bent piers to bidirectional seismic loadings was investigated experimentally. RC column bent piers represent one of the most popular forms of piers used in highway bridges. Further to series of previous experimental researches for the performance of single bridge columns subjected to seismic loadings, four column bent piers were constructed in 400 mm diameter and 2,000 mm height. Each pier has two circular supporting columns. These piers were tested under lateral load reversals with axial load of $0.1f_{ck}A_g$. Bidirectional lateral loadings were applied. The test parameters included: different transverse reinforcement contents and lap-spliced longitudinal reinforcing steels. Test results indicate that lap-splices of longitudinal reinforcing steels have significantly influence on hysteretic response of column bent piers. Column capacity changed with the level of transverse confinement, and bidirectional repeated loadings induced more strength and stiffness degradation than unidirectional repeated loading.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.19-26
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• 2007

Until recently Korea is considered to be immune from the earthquake hazard because it is located for away from the active fault. However, we have noticed that recent strong earthquakes inflicted enormous losses on human lives and nation's economy all over the world. Hence, there has been raised the importance of the earthquake resistant design for various infrastructures. In this research, new methodologies for the seismic design and performance assessment of reinforced concrete(RC) bridge pier were proposed from experimental results of 82 circular RC bridge piers and 54 rectangular RC bridge piers tested in domestic and aboard. New seismic design method was based on the concept of the limited ductile design, which could be practically used for low or moderate seismic regions like Korea. Further study for the seismic safety of RC bridge piers was carried out to enhance the seismic performance of aged RC bridge piers, which were designed and constructed before implementing the 1992 seismic design provision in Korea. New formula for the seismic performance assessment of RC bridge piers was proposed and practically used for the decision on the need of repair and retrofit of many aged RC bridge piers.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.201-212
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• 2014

The plastic hinge region of RC pier ensures its nonlinear behavior during strong earthquake events. It is assumed that the piers secure sufficient strength and ductility in order to prevent the collapse of the bridge during strong earthquake. However, the presence of a lap-splice of longitudinal bars in the plastic hinge region may lead to the occurrence of early bond failure in the lap-splice zone and result in significant loss of the seismic performance. The current regulations for seismic performance evaluation limit the ultimate strain and displacement ductility considering the eventual presence of lap-splice, but do not consider the lap-splice length. In this study, seismic performance test and analysis are performed according to the cross-sectional size and the lap-splice length in the case of longitudinal bars with lap-splice located in the plastic hinge region of existing RC bridge columns with circular cross-section. The seismic behavioral characteristics of the piers are also analyzed. Based upon the results, this paper presents a more reasonable seismic performance evaluation method considering the lap-splice length and the cross-sectional size of the column.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.17 no.5
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• pp.435-445
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• 2019

The collapses of curved bridges are mainly caused by the damaged columns, subjected to the combined loadings of axial load, shear force, flexural moment and torsional moment, under earthquakes. However, these combined loadings have not been fully investigated. This paper firstly investigated the mechanical characteristics of the bending-torsion coupling effects, based on the seismic response spectrum analysis of 24 curved bridge models. And then 9 reinforced concrete (RC) and circular column specimens were tested, by changing the bending-tortion ratio (M/T), axial compression ratio, longitudinal reinforcement ratio and spiral reinforcement ratio, respectively. The results show that the bending-torsion coupling effects of piers are more significant, along with the decrease of girder curvature and the increase of pier height. The M/T ratio ranges from 6 to 15 for common cases, and influences the crack distribution, plastic zone and hysteretic curve of piers. And these seismic characteristics are also influenced by the compression ratio, longitudinal reinforcement ratio and spiral reinforcement ratios of piers.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.16 no.5
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• pp.41-53
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• 2012

The objective of this study is to evaluate the seismic capacity of RC piers with small aspect ratios. Test specimens were selected from the prototype piers among existing national roadway bridges which are expected to fail in shear and/or complex shear-flexural mode. Two groups of full scale RC pier models were constructed with aspect ratios of 2.25 and 2.67. Quasi-static tests have been implemented to investigate the failure behavior of the RC piers in terms of the lap-spliced longitudinal reinforcing steel and the aspect ratio. It is confirmed that regarding its shear-flexural behavior, the pier is very sensitive to the aspect ratio or details. In the case of a test pier with highly lap-spliced longitudinal bars, the bond failure of lap-splice steels was the dominant cause of failure before the occurrence of flexure or shear-flexural failure, despite a slight change in the aspect ratio. Finally, based on the test results and analysis, this paper proposes formulas for the yielding and ultimate displacements of circular reinforced concrete bridge piers without seismic details. These formulas will be useful for the investigation and upgrade of the seismic capacity of bridge piers without seismic details.

• 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.