• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.18 no.6 s.96
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• pp.749-757
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• 2006

Many losses of life and extensive damage of social infrastructures have occurred due to moderate and strong earthquakes all over the world. In this research various design parameters have been evaluated to develop a rational seismic design code of rectangular reinforced concrete(RC) bridge piers. It was confirmed from this study that the axial force ratio and longitudinal steel ratio were most influencing design parameters on the seismic displacement ductility from experimental results of 54 rectangular RC bridge piers, which were tested at domestic and foregin countries. However, these important parameters are not considered in the confinement steel ratio of Korea Highway Bridge Design Specification(KHBDS). The objective of this study is to propose a rational design provision for the transverse reinforcement of rectangular RC bridge piers. New confinement steel ratio is proposed by reflecting the effect of the axial force and longitudinal steel into the current code of KHBDS. furthermore, minimum transverse confinement steel ratio is also proposed to avoid a probable buckling of longitudinal reinforcing steels of RC bridge piers with a relatively low axial force. New practical code can alleviate the rebar congestion in the plastic hinge region of RC bridge pier, which contributes to construct RC bridge piers in a simple and economic way.

• Proceedings of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea Conference
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• 2003.03a
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• pp.377-384
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• 2003

Recently, there are much concerns about new and innovative transverse materials which could be used instead of conventional transverse steel in reinforced concrete bridge piers. FRP materials could be substituted for conventional transverse steel because of their sufficient strength, light weight, easy fabrication, and useful applicability to any shapes of pier sections, such as rectangular or circular sections. The objective of this research is to evaluate the seismic performance of reinforced concrete bridge pier specimens with FRP transverse reinforcement by means of the Quasi-Static test. In the first task, test columns were made using FRP rope, but these specimens appeared to fail at low displacement ductility levels due to insufficient confinement of strand extension itself. Therefore, the second task was to evaluate the seismic performance of test specimens transversely confined with FRP band. Although FRP banded specimens showed lower seismic performance than the specimen with spiral reinforcing steel, it satisfied with the response modification factor, 3, required for the single column of Korea bridge roadway design code. It was concluded that FRP band could be efficiently substituted for conventional reinforcing steel.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.463-484
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• 2014

Solid piers with a rounded rectangular cross-section are widely used in railway bridges for high-speed trains in China. Compared to highway bridge piers, these railway bridge piers have a larger crosssection and less steel reinforcement. Existing material models cannot accurately predict the seismic behavior of this kind of railway bridge piers. This is because only a few parameters, such as axial load, longitudinal and transverse reinforcement, are taken into account. To enable a better understanding of the seismic behavior of this type of bridge pier, a simultaneous influence of the various parameters, i.e. ratio of height to thickness, axial load to concrete compressive strength ratio and longitudinal to transverse reinforcements, on the failure characteristics, hysteresis, skeleton curves, and displacement ductility were investigated. In total, nine model piers were tested under cyclic loading. The hysteretic response obtained from the experiments is compared with that obtained from numerical studies using existing material models. The experimental data shows that the hysteresis curves have significantly pinched characteristics that are associated with small longitudinal reinforcement ratios. The displacement ductility reduces with an increase in ratio of axial load to concrete compressive strength and longitudinal reinforcement ratio. The experimental results are largely in agreement with the numerical results obtained using Chang-Mander concrete model.

• 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.