Experimental study and numerical simulation of seismic performance of precast segmental bridge piers with tapered sleeve locking-type splicing joints

The tapered sleeve locking-type splicing (TSLS) joint, as a new type of mechanical connection of steel bars, provides a new method for the connection of longitudinal steel bars in precast segmental bridge (PSB) piers. In this paper, the methods of quasi-static test and numerical simulation were adopted to study the seismic performance of PSB piers with TSLS joints (PPTJ). The results showed that the failure processes of PPTJ and cast-in-place piers (CIPP) were basically identical under quasi-static cyclic loading, and the failure modes were both flexural failure. When the reinforcement ratio was identical, the energy dissipation capacity and self-resetting performance of PPTJ and CIPP were comparable, and the horizontal bearing capacity and stiffness of PPTJ were improved compared to those of CIPP. When the volumetric stirrup ratio at the bottom of pier body was doubled, the horizontal bearing capacity, stiffness and energy dissipation capacity of PPTJ were improved slightly, and the self-resetting performance was increased by 8.4% when PPTJ was failure. When the longitudinal reinforcement ratio was doubled, the horizontal bearing capacity, stiffness, energy dissipation capacity and self-resetting performance of PPTJ were obviously improved. The self-resetting performance of PPTJ was slightly higher than that of the PSB piers with grouted sleeve joints, and the other seismic performance indexes of the two kinds of piers were comparable. The research results can provide reference for the seismic design and engineering application of PPTJ.