Seismic Response of Bridge Columns with Engineered Cementitious Composites and Shape Memory Alloys in Plastic Hinge Zone
[ NCHRP 20-30 (NCHRP-IDEA) ]
Project Data
Staff Responsibility:
Dr. Inam Jawed
Reinforced concrete bridge piers dissipate earthquake energy through substantial inelastic deformation. The consequence of larger deformations is severe concrete damage and large residual lateral drift that force the closure of the bridge, thus disrupting the disaster recovery operation in addition to leading to major economic loss. The objective of this research is to use innovative superelastic shape memory alloy (SMA) reinforcement in combination with engineered cementitious composites (ECC), which is a new generation of concrete with high tensile strain capacity. The SMA reinforcement will substantially reduce the permanent deformation of the bridge while the new concrete material will stand large deformations without spalling. The study included 1/5-scale columns that were tested under cyclic lateral loads to simulate earthquake loading. The proposed plastic hinge detail incorporating new materials could potentially make bridges serviceable even after they undergo large deformations and dissipate energy. The final report is available from the National Technical Information Service (NTIS # PB2007-109640).
