Influencing factors of residual drifts of precast segmental bridge columns with energy dissipation bars

Abstract

The energy dissipation bar has been proven to be an effective way to improve the lateral strength and the seismic capacity of the precast segmental bridge column. To date, however, investigations on how the main design parameters affect the residual drift of such bridge columns are quite limited. Focusing on this research gap, a novel numerical simulation method was proposed in this article to investigate the influencing factors of residual drift of precast segmental bridge columns with energy dissipation bars. First, the refined fiber element model was developed based on the OpenSees software package, considering the bond slip phenomenon at the column end and the boundary condition at the interface between the two adjacent segments. Then, the proposed numerical model was validated by comparing the simulated hysteretic behavior of the precast segmental bridge columns with available experimental data. After that, cyclic analyses were performed on 288 precast segmental bridge column models with different design parameters. Four important influencing factors were investigated, including the post-tensioning force, gravity load, energy dissipation bar ratio, and shear span ratio. According to the analysis results, some suggestions were provided for the practical design procedure of the energy dissipation bar reinforced precast segmental bridge columns.