Analytical Investigations of Seismic Responses for Reinforced Concrete Bridge Columns Subjected to Strong Near-fault Ground Motion

Strong near-fault ground motion, often caused by fault-rupture and characterized by a pulse-like velocity-wave form, can cause dramatic instantaneous seismic energy (Jadhav and Jangid, 2006). Some reinforced concrete (RC) bridge columns, even those built according to ductile design principles, were damaged in the 1999 Chi-Chi earthquake. Thus, it is very important to evaluate the seismic response of an RC bridge column to improve its seismic design and prevent future damage. Nonlinear time history analysis using step-by-step integration is capable of tracing the dynamic response of a structure during the entire vibration period and is able to accommodate the pulsing wave form. The accuracy of the numerical results, however, is very sensitive to the modeling of the nonlinear load-deformation relationship of the structural member. FEMA 273 and ATC-40 provide the modeling parameters for structural nonlinear analyses of RC beams and RC columns. They use 3 parameters to define the plastic rotation angles and a residual strength ratio to describe the nonlinear load-deformation relationship of an RC member. Structural nonlinear analyses are performed based on these parameters. This method provides a convenient way to obtain the nonlinear seismic responses of RC structures. However, accuracy of the numerical solutions can be further improved. For this purpose, results from a prior study on modeling of the static pushover analyses for RC bridge columns (Sung et al., 2005) is adopted for the nonlinear time history analysis presented herein to evaluate the structural responses excited by a near-fault ground motion. To ensure reliability of this approach, numerical results were compared to experimental results. Results confirm that the proposed approach is valid.

• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/issn/16713664
• Authors:
  • Su, Chin-Kuo
  • Sung, Yu-Chi
  • Chang, Shuenn-Yih
  • Huang, Chao-Hsun
• Publication Date: 2007-9

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Print
• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: pp 237-244
• Serial:
  • Earthquake Engineering and Engineering Vibration
  • Volume: 6
  • Issue Number: 3
  • Publisher: Springer
  • ISSN: 1671-3664
  • EISSN: 1993-503X
  • Serial URL: http://link.springer.com/journal/11803

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Bridge members; Columns; Earthquake engineering; Earthquake resistant design; Earthquake resistant structures; Nonlinear systems; Reinforced concrete bridges; Seismicity; Structural models
• Identifier Terms: Chi-Chi Earthquake (Taiwan)
• Subject Areas: Bridges and other structures; Design; Highways; I24: Design of Bridges and Retaining Walls;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01082461
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Dec 18 2007 11:28AM