Seismic Retrofit Of Circular Reinforced Concrete Bridge Columns

Inadequate flexural strength and ductility or shear strength of concrete bridge columns has resulted in collapse or severe damage of a number of California bridges in recent moderate earthquakes. In general, these bridges were designed prior to the new seismic design methods which were implemented in the mid-seventies. Bridges constructed in accordance with the new design methods have performed well in recent earthquakes. However, the large number of older bridges that are in service, particularly freeway overpasses designed and constructed in the 1950s and 1970s, are now recognized to have substandard design details and to constitute a cause for major concern. This paper reports the results of a theoretical and experimental program investigating retrofit techniques for circular columns by encasing the critical regions within a steel jacket. The jacket is bonded to the column using grout. Results from six large-scale column tests show that the casing acts efficiently as confinement reinforcement, enabling a displacement ductility factor of greater than 6 to be achieved. The casing also inhibits bond failures at the laps of longitudinal reinforcement in the critical regions of the column by restraining the dilation and spalling of the cover concrete which degenerates into bond failure. Comparisons of 'as-built' and retrofitted columns are presented, and experimental strengths and ductilities are compared with analytical predictions. For the covering abstract of the Conference see IRRD Abstract no. 807839.