Comparative analysis of Numerical and Experimental Results on Seismic Performance of Bridge Piers with Application of Steel Fiber Reinforced Concrete

Abstract:

On the basis of the pseudo-static tests of reinforced concrete (RC) and steel fiber reinforced concrete (SFRC) pier specimens under low reversed cyclic loading, the nonlinear finite element models of concrete piers under cyclic loading were established using analytical method of fiber model. In the modeling, the concrete material model with the affect of steel fiber and steel material model considering bond-slip effect were adopted. The influences of steel fiber volume fraction, stirrup ratio and the height of SFRC region on seismic capacity of the piers were obtained by the numerical analysis. Several aspects about seismic performance of the models, including hysteretic characteristics, skeleton curves and ductility, were discussed by the numerical simulation method. The numerical results were compared with the test results. The results show that the simulation results of seismic response are basically identical with the pseudo-static test results; part of the stirrups’ role of seismic resistance can be substituted by the addition of steel fibers, and the seismic capacity of concrete piers is improved with the increase of steel fiber content in a certain range; similar seismic capacity can be sustained when the piers are constructed with local or wholly application of SFRC.