Abstract
In practice, bridge foundations and pier columns are usually constructed with cast-in-place concrete. Precast columns are currently widely used in highway bridges in China, which can save construction time and improve concrete quality. The connection between precast bridge columns and the foundation can affect how forces transfer from one to the other. This paper investigates using external sockets to form a connection between the bridge column and foundation. This method can accelerate the bridge construction time with the additional advantages of improving the orientation and creating a large erection tolerance. Two types of connections are presented and tested to investigate the behavior of the column-foundation connections and find a more suitable way to use external socket connections. The experimental results show that the column-foundation connection design satisfies the design requirements. The results also show that roughening the column surface within the external socket is more effective at connecting the column to the foundation when using an external socket compared to attaching a steel plate on the column. The experimental results are validated with a finite element analysis, resulting in a proposal regarding the column-foundation connection behavior as well as design recommendations for the external socket connection.
Highlights
In recent years, precast and prefabrication technologies have been widely used for superstructure projects in China to accelerate the construction time and ensure structure component quality
The relationship of load-strain and load-displacement from the test data are plotted to investigate the behavior of the column and the external socket connection
Stage 1 applies forces to the specimen and models the column works under the service condition
Summary
Precast and prefabrication technologies have been widely used for superstructure projects in China to accelerate the construction time and ensure structure component quality. Bridge foundations are usually constructed on site with cast-in-place concrete. In the past few decades, a number of connection methods have been used to connect precast columns to foundations including grouted sleeve couplers, socket connections, grouted ducts, and hybrid systems. The bridge project has three or four spans of continuous girder bridges. The end supports used in this project are those with vertical displacement constraints only. The bridge project uses interior supports with vertical displacement constraints and horizontal friction constraints. C70 concrete is used for the precast columns, and C50 concrete is used for the socket connection and foundation.
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