Composed analytical models for seismic assessment of reinforced concrete bridge columns

This paper presents general composed analytical models to predict the behavior of reinforced concrete (RC) bridge columns. The analytical models were developed in OpenSees to represent the common hysteretic behavior of RC bridge columns. The proposed composed models can accommodate flexure failure, flexure-shear failure, and pure shear failure, which are observed in existing RC bridge piers. The accuracy of the models was verified using data from the static cyclic-loading experiments of 16 single columns and one multi-column bent and dynamical experiment from two pseudo-dynamic tests. The results showed that the analytical models could simulate the nonlinear behavior until the post-failure behavior, including the strength degradation, the buckling of the reinforcement, and the pinching effect. Therefore, a global view of the behavior of reinforcement concrete is prescribed as simply as possible from the academic perspective, and these models are expected to provide sufficient accuracy when applied in engineering practice. Copyright (c) 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.