A 3d numerical modeling of shear effects on the cyclic behavior of square hollow piers

Abstract eng:
The strong motivation for this work relies on the peculiar structural behavior of RC hollow section piers, quite similar to structural wall, and therefore the higher difficulty to assess their cyclic response with simple numerical tools. In fact, hollow bridge piers generally have large section dimensions, with reinforcement bars spread along both wall faces and, unlike common solid section columns, quite often the shear effect has great importance on the pier behavior. Thus, special attention should be given to this issue when the assessment of these section piers is envisaged. Representative of typical bridge construction, experimental tests of RC piers with square hollow cross sections under cyclic loading are being carried out at LESE – the Laboratory of Earthquake and Structural Engineering of the Faculty of Engineering of University of Porto. In this framework, 3D numerical simulations of the experimental tests were systematically carried out allowing complete and consistent interpretations of experimental results, for which the most important aspect was found associated with the shear influence on pier response. The adopted numerical methodology is based on finite element analysis using 3D elements with a continuum damage mechanics model for the concrete under tensile and compressive reversals and truss elements with the Menegotto-Pinto model for the cyclic behavior of steel reinforcement. The refined models allow realistic simulations of the non linear behavior, particularly when significant shear component is involved. In fact, shear deformation and also the shear mode failures were quite well simulated by this numerical strategy that also allowed identifying some relevant modeling issues that are likely to affect the quality of simulations.

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