Assessment of Earthquake Resistance Capacity and Retrofit of Steel Tubular Bridge Piers

摘要

This paper deals with the assessment of earthquake resistance capacity and retrofit of thin-walled steel tubular bridge piers. The basic characteristics of the thin-walled steel tubular columns are noted and the importance of various retrofit techniques in improving strength and ductility capacity of such structures is explained. A seismic design method for ultimate strength and ductility evaluation of the new and retrofitted, thin-walled, steel tubular bridge pier is presented. The application of the method is demonstrated by comparing the computed strength and ductility of some cantilever columns with test results. The method is applicable for both the design of new and retrofitting of existing thin-walled steel tubular bridge piers. The effects of some important parameters such as width-to-thickness ratio, column slenderness ratio, height of infill concrete, residual stress, arrangement of additional longitudinal stiffeners and energy absorption segment on the ultimate strength and ductility of thin-walled steel tubular columns are presented and discussed.