Earthquake-resistant Design of Circular RC Pier Columns

The purpose of earthquake-resistant design for typical bridges is to secure no-collapse requirements, and pier columns are essential structural members. To secure no-collapse requirements, a ductile/brittle mechanism should be designed according to the seismic behaviors of pier columns. These formations should be based on the flexure/shear performance curves of pier columns. In this study on the circular reinforced concrete pier columns of typical bridges, the effects of design factors such as height, diameter, and transverse reinforcement ratio on the flexure/shear performance curves are determined. The seismic behaviors of the pier columns are analyzed by overlapping the performance curves. Conditions are proposed for ductile mechanism formation based on the study results.