Seismic Analysis of Precast Concrete Bridge Columns Connected with Grouted Splice Sleeve Connectors

Reinforcing bar couplers are used in prefabricated bridge elements and bridge systems for accelerated bridge construction. Grouted splice sleeve connectors are used in bridge substructures because of the enhanced construction tolerances they offer. This paper presents a simplified modeling strategy for seismic assessment of precast bridge columns connected to precast footings using grouted splice sleeve connectors. A computational model was developed and validated using three half-scale bridge subassemblies tested to failure. Cyclic quasi-static loading was applied to two precast subassemblies and one cast-in-place specimen. The connectors were located in the footing, for the first precast alternative, and in the column end for the second precast alternative along with debonding of reinforcing bars in the footing. Force-based beam-column elements with fiber sections were used to construct the computational model based on plastic hinge weighted integration; the model included low-cycle fatigue and bond-slip. The proposed model was validated with the experiments through both local and global response comparisons. The results from the proposed computational model were found to be in good agreement with the experiments. (C) 2016 American Society of Civil Engineers.