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Experimental research and inite element analysis of
bridge piers failed in lexure-shear modes
  
Sun Zhiguo¹ , Si Bingjun² ; Wang Dongsheng¹ and Guo Xun³

1. Institute of Road and Bridge Engineering, Dalian Maritime University, Dalian 116026, China
2. School of Civil & Hydraulic Engineering, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian 116024, China
3. Institute of Engineering Mechanics, China Earthquake Administration, Harbin 150080, China

Abstract: In recent earthquakes, a large number of reinforced concrete (RC) bridges were severely damaged due to
mixed lexure-shear failure modes of the bridge piers. An integrated experimental and inite element (FE) analysis study is
described in this paper to study the seismic performance of the bridge piers that failed in lexure-shear modes. In the irst part,
a nonlinear cyclic loading test on six RC bridge piers with circular cross sections is carried out experimentally. The damage
states, ductility and energy dissipation parameters, stiffness degradation and shear strength of the piers are studied and
compared with each other. The experimental results suggest that all the piers exhibit stable lexural response at displacement
ductilities up to four before exhibiting brittle shear failure. The ultimate performance of the piers is dominated by shear
capacity due to signiicant shear cracking, and in some cases, rupturing of spiral bars. In the second part, modeling approaches
describing the hysteretic behavior of the piers are investigated by using ANSYS software. A set of models with different
parameters is selected and evaluated through comparison with experimental results. The inluences of the shear retention
coeficients between concrete cracks, the Bauschinger effect in longitudinal reinforcement, the bond-slip relationship
between the longitudinal reinforcement and the concrete and the concrete failure surface on the simulated hysteretic curves
are discussed. Then, a modiied analysis model is presented and its accuracy is veriied by comparing the simulated results
with experimental ones. This research uses models available in commercial FE codes and is intended for researchers and
engineers interested in using ANSYS software to predict the hysteretic behavior of reinforced concrete structures.

Keywords: RC bridge piers; lexure-shear failure; seismic behavior; inite element; ANSYS software