Experimental study on the cyclic behavior of reinforced concrete bridge piers with non-uniform corrosion

Abstract

Coastal bridges exposed to the marine environment always suffer from non-uniform corrosion along the pier height. As the non-uniform corrosion increase, the material properties of the pier in the splash and tidal zone deteriorates significantly, affecting the seismic performance of the pier. In this study, four scaled bridge pier specimens were designed and fabricated. These specimens were subjected to different level of electrical accelerated corrosion in the proposed splash and tidal zone. Then, the cyclic load tests were conducted on the four bridge pier specimens. The hysteretic behavior, loading capacity, ductility, energy dissipation capacity and mean curvature of each specimen were analyzed. It was found that with increasing corrosion level, the load capacity, ductility and cumulative energy consumption of the specimens decreased. When the corrosion was severe enough, the location of the plastic hinge will transfer from the pier bottom to the corroded zone.