Seismic performance of reinforced concrete bridge piers using ultra-high-strength fiber-reinforced concrete against bilateral earthquake motion

In the seismic design of reinforced concrete bridge piers, earthquake motion is considered separately in the longitudinal and transverse directions. Actually, however, earthquake motion in either direction is expected to act on the structure simultaneously. It has been reported that simultaneous action of earthquake motion is likely to cause greater damage to bridge piers than in the case where earthquake motion in either direction is considered separately. To use precast ultra-high-strength fiber-reinforced concrete (UFC) forms for the bottom regions of reinforced concrete bridge piers is expected to reinforce the concrete cover in the plastic hinge region and achieve high seismic performance against bilateral ground motion. In this study, a reinforced concrete bridge pier using precast UFC forms was subjected to bilateral cyclic loading and the seismic performance of the bridge pier against bilateral earthquake motion was identified. © 2010 by Japan Society of Civil Engineers.