Seismic Performance of a Pre-Cast Concrete Block Arch System

Abstract eng:
While arches are a well established structural system, with well understood performance under gravity loads, there are known issues under seismic loading. A study was undertaken to assess the seismic performance of a modular pre-cast concrete arch using a combination of experimental testing and numerical modeling. Small scale unreinforced and reinforced arch models were subjected to quasi-static and dynamic testing. For the dynamic testing, shake-table tests using a suite of earthquake records of varying magnitudes, types and locations, were performed. From the results of the shake-table testing on the unreinforced models it was found that the arches tend to collapse by the four-hinge mechanism which is typical for these types of structures. For the reinforced arch testing, a steel band was instrumented to provide information on the loads. The reinforced arch performed well when subjected to the same suite of earthquakes. A numerical distinct element model was developed and calibrated to the quasi-static testing. The response of the numerical model matched the experiments with the arch exhibiting the same four-hinge failure mechanism. From numerical analysis, sensitivity studies were performed on various parameters of the arch.

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