Axial–Shear–Flexure Interaction Behavior of Joints in Precast Concrete Segmental Bridge Columns

Abstract

Precast concrete segmental bridge columns (PCSBCs) have developed rapidly in recent years. To study the effect of shear on the carrying capacity of the joints in PCSBCs, four conventionally reinforced concrete segmental bridge columns (CRCSBCs) and three totally prestressed concrete segmental bridge columns (TPCSBCs) with different aspect ratios were subjected to monotonic loading for failure. During the test, initiation and development of failure cracks, failure processes and modes, relative slide along the joint plane, strains of stirrups, longitudinal steels, and prestressing tendons were recorded. The results showed that the failure crack always concentrated in the joint plane in PCSBCs, and stirrups near the joint contributed little to resist the shear force at the joint section. Subsequently, the peak carrying capacity of the joint was attained with uncracked concrete subjected to combined normal and shear stresses that resulted in the interaction of axial load, shear, and bending moment at the joint plane in PCSBCs. Based on the simplified failure modes proposed in this paper, both a general and a simplified method were proposed to calculate the axial–shear–flexure interaction resistance of the joints in PCSBCs.