Cumulative Seismic Damage of Circular Bridge Columns: Benchmark and Low-Cycle Fatigue tests

摘要

An experimental study was undertaken to investigate cumulative damage in reinforced concrete circular bridge piers subjected to a series of earthquake excitations. Twelve identical quarter-scale bridge columns, designed in accordance with current AASHTO specifications, were fabricated and tested to failure. This paper sum- marizes the results of Phase I testing that consisted of benchmark tests to establish the monotonic force-deformation envelop and the energy capacity under standard cyclic loads, and constant amplitude tests to determine the low-cycle fatigue characteristics of typical flex- ural bridge columns.