[CCoE Notice] PhD Dissertation Presentation

[Abercrombie, Irene F]

PhD Dissertation Defense

Performance of RC Bridge Columns under Cyclic Combined Loadings including Torsion

Qian Li

Date: Monday, December 10th, 2012

Location: Civil Engineering Conference Room, N-137
Time: 10:00 am

Committee Chair: Dr. Abdeldjelil Belarbi

Committee Members:
Dr. Mina Dawood
Dr. Yi-Lung Mo
Dr. Pradeep Sharma
Dr. Gangbing Song



Reinforced concrete (RC) bridge columns, more likely in skewed and horizontally curved bridges, bridges with unequal spans or column heights, and bridges with outrigger bents, can be subjected to cyclic combined loading including axial, flexure, shear, and torsion loads during earthquakes. This would affect the performance of RC bridge columns with respect to strength, stiffness, deformation and progression of damage, and cause complex failure modes and in turn influence the overall behavior of the bridge system. This study performed experimental and analytical studies to investigate the performance of RC bridge columns under cyclic combined loading including torsion. The main variables considered here were (i) the ratio of torsion-to-bending moment (T/M), (ii) cross sectional shape, and (iii) transverse reinforcement configurations. The torsional and flexural hysteretic responses, plastic hinge formation, strength and stiffness degradation, rotation and displacement ductility limits, energy dissipation characteristics, and damage progression for these columns are discussed in this dissertation. It was found that the strength and stiffness degradation and progression of damage were amplified by an increase in torsional moment. The damage distribution and failure modes were significantly affected by combined loading effect. Also the square column exprienced more localized damage as compared to the oval column due to cross sectional shape and transverse reinoforcement configuration effect. A unified damage assessment approach was proposed to assess the damage limit states for RC columns under combined loading by unifying the decoupled damage index models for flexure and torsion. Moreover, a semi-empirical model was established to predict the interaction between bending, shear and torsional loads.







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