Effect of Load History on Performance Limit States of Circular Bridge Columns

Abstract

In this paper, the importance of displacement history and its effects on performance limit states, the relationship between strain and displacement, and the spread of plasticity in RC structures is explored. An experimental study is underway to assess the performance of 30 circular, well-confined, bridge columns with varying lateral displacement history, transverse reinforcement detailing, axial load, aspect ratio, and longitudinal steel content. Eight of these columns, with similar geometry and detailing, were subjected to various unidirectional displacement histories including standardized laboratory reversed cyclic loading and re-creations of the displacement responses obtained from a nonlinear time-history analysis of multiple earthquakes with distinct characteristics. Longitudinal reinforcing bars were instrumented to obtain strain hysteresis, vertical strain profiles, cross section curvatures, curvature distributions, and fixed-end rotations attributable to strain penetration. Results have shown that the limit state of reinforcement bar buckling was influenced by load history, but the relationship between strain and displacement along the envelope curve was not. The main impact of load history on bar buckling is its influence on accumulated strains within the longitudinal reinforcement and transverse steel.