A new type of steel-element-concrete composite pier that had its conventional reinforcing bars replaced by steel elements or modified straight-web sheet piles was developed for use as a highway bridge pier. The straight-web sheet piles had oblong holes drilled in the web to integrate the steel elements with the concrete. The concrete bond performance, bending load carrying mechanism, and shear load carrying mechanism of the steel-element-concrete composite pier were investigated by model experiments. The steel-element-concrete composite pier was verified to have the same earthquake resistance as the conventional reinforced concrete pier. As part of a joint research project with Japan Highway Public Corporation (JHPC), steel-element-composite piers were test built to support the Joshin-etsu Expressway within 75 percent of the construction period for that of comparable conventional reinforced concrete piers. Based on these test construction results, construction of a steel-element-concrete composite pier was calculated for application as a bridge pier of about 60 m height. These calculations confirmed that the construction period of bridge piers would be shortened. The test construction data and calculation results are reported here.
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