Seismic Response Analysis for Pier in Considering of Uplift Effect

Abstract

In earthquake engineering, researchers have found that many structures were not damaged after strong ground motions because of the rocking effect. In order to reveal the potential application value of the uplift effect on seismic isolation, it will be using numerical simulation software OpenSees to research the seismic response of pier considering uplift. Building the pier’s finite element model and considering the plasticity and nonlinear of the pier and soil spring, the ground motion from El Centro and TCU101 are taken as the input respectively. Through analyzing the result, it is shown that at the base of the pier the maximum bending moment is reduced by 36.93% and 46.70%, and the maximum curvature is also reduced by 78.42% and 87.12% respectively. Meanwhile, the maximum horizontal acceleration at the top of the pier is decreased 12.60% and 16.90%. The uplift effect significantly reduces the plastic deformation and plays a base-isolated role according to the results. It has also found that the earthquakes with velocity pulse effect are dangerous to the structures.