08-10-2014, 04:20 PM
Monotonic lateral load-deformation relationships of RC bridge piers bending in single curvature, designed as per the existing Indian standards, are analytically derived. For this, a static nonlinear displacement-based pushover analysis programme is developed. The analysis captures progression of plasticity, both along and across large pier sections using a fibre model. The effective shear stiffness considered accounts for both flexural translational and shear translational deformations of a general pier. Using an existing concrete confinement model, applicable for both circular and rectangular solid and hollow RC sections, appropriate hysteretic uniaxial constitutive relations for concrete and longitudinal steel are developed to account for unloading and reloading in fibres during redistribution of stresses in the sections. Buckling of longitudinal steel is also accounted for. From analysis of a number of piers, transverse reinforcement requirements are found to be inadequate; shear capacities of sections are found to be lower than the shear demand due to flexure, excep