Seismic Performance of Hybrid SMA/Steel Reinforced Hollow Section Concrete Bridge Piers

Abstract Concrete bridge piers reinforced with conventional steel bars experience large permanent (residual) deformation that may lead to uneconomical repair or demotion of bridges due to their non-functionality post strong seismic event. Thus, sufficiently ductile materials are required to reinforce concrete bridge piers in the plastic hinge zone in order to limit their permanent damage and deformation post-earthquake event. Previous studies showed that partial replacement of conventional steel reinforcement bars with superelastic shape memory alloy (SMA) bars in the plastic hinge zone of concrete bridge piers has the capacity to limit the residual deformation owing to the superior self-centering properties of SMA bars. In this study, the efficacy of hybrid SMA/steel reinforcement for hollow section concrete bridge piers under combined reverse cyclic and constant axial loading is numerically investigated for the first time. The responses of the piers were evaluated in terms of different performance indices including hysteretic characteristics, residual deformation, energy dissipation capacity, and self-centering capacity. A sensitivity analysis was used to explore the main effects of key design parameters and their interactions on each performance index at four damage states, namely, complete, extensive, moderate, and slight damage states. The results of this study demonstrate the effectiveness of hybrid SMA/steel reinforcement for enhancing the seismic behavior of hollow section concrete bridge piers.