Chang-Ho Sun

Seismic Characteristics of Hollow Rectangular Sectional Piers with Reduced Lateral Reinforcements

The seismic design concept of RC bridges is to attain the proper ductility of piers, yielding a ductile failure mechanism. Therefore, seismic design force for moment is determined by introducing a response modification factor (R), and lateral reinforcements to confine core concrete are specified in the current design code. However, these design provisions have irrationality, which results in excessive amounts of lateral reinforcements for columns in Korea, which are generally designed with large sections. To improve on these provisions, a new design method based on seismic performance has been proposed. To apply this to hollow sectional columns, however, further investigations and improvements must be performed, due to the different seismic behaviors and confinement effects. In this study, hollow sectional columns with different lap-splice of longitudinal bars and lateral reinforcements have been tested. Seismic characteristics and performance were investigated quantitatively. These research results can be used to derive a performance-based design for hollow sectional columns.

Damage Probabilities according to the Structural Characteristics of Bridges and the Determination of Target Ductilities

The target performance of a current seismic design code is to achieve collapse-prevention in order to minimize casualties. Existing structures are also being retrofitted to meet this target performance. This seismic performance seems to have been achieved in recent great overseas earthquakes, but the accompanying enormous economic loss is pointed out as a new problem. A new seismic design concept over the current target performance is required to reduce economic loss, in which a target performance is determined by the damage probability in order to control the damage levels of structures. In this study, the seismic behavior of bridges having different characteristics was investigated by nonlinear seismic analyses, and fragility curves with respect to a reference damage level were derived. Based on these results, the characteristics of target ductilities satisfying a target damage probability were investigated.

Seismic Vulnerabilities of a Multi-Span Continuous Bridge Considering the Nonlinearity of the Soil

Seismic performances of existing structures should be assessed with more accuracy for cost-effective retrofits. Existing bridges are assessed by the current guidelines in which a simple method has been adapted considering the technical level of engineers of the historical time of construction. Recently many probabilistic approaches have been performed to reflect the uncertainties of seismic input motions. Structures are modeled frequently with the neglection of soil foundations or modeled occasionally with elastic soil spring elements to consider the effect of the soil on the structural response. However, soil also shows nonlinearity under seismic events, so this characteristic should be reflected in order to obtain a more accurate assessment. In this study, a 6-span continuous bridge has been analyzed under various seismic events, in which the soil was represented by equivalent linear spring elements having different properties according to the intensities of the input motions experienced. The seismic vulnerabilities with respect to the failure of piers and the dropping of the super-structure were evaluated on the basis of the analysis results.

Characteristics of the shear behavior of RC rectangular sectional columns and initial shear strength considering the ratio of longitudinal bars

It is well known that the shear strength of an RC column subjected to a lateral force decreases with the increase of the displacement ductility of column. This decreasing rate of shear strength is quite dependent on the initial shear strength. Therefore, the evaluation of the initial shear strength is important to predict the shear strength with reasonable accuracy. The shear behavior is complex because many parameters, such as the sectional shape, aspect ratio, axial force, longitudinal bars and ductility, are mutually interactive. In this study, the initial shear strength has been investigated by experiments varying parameters such as the aspect ratios, void ratios, ratio of longitudinal bars and sectional types. A new empirical equation for the initial shear strength, considering the ratio of the longitudinal bars, has been proposed and its validity has been assessed.

Nonlinear Numerical Analysis for Shear Dominant RC Columns Subjected to Lateral Force

Because of crack control by steel bars after cracking the material models for reinforced concrete(RC) differ from those for plain concrete(PL). The nonlinear behavior of columns subjected to lateral load was simulated with reasonable accuracy in 3D analysis by applying distinct material models for RC and PL zone subdivided properly on the section. The shear strain is confirmed to develope unstably with ununiform distribution in out-of-plane direction. And this tendency becomes stronger as the thickness of column member increases in out-of-plane direction. If this ununiformity in strain distribution is not taken into consideration the capacity and the deformability of columns in shear dominant failure are overestimated excessively in two dimensional analysis. By introducing equivalent softening model a behavior of columns can be predicted too in two dimensional analysis.