Cyclic test and numerical study of seismic performance of precast segmental concrete double-columns

The comparative research on the seismic performance of grouted sleeve connected pier (GS) and prestressed precast segmental concrete pier (PC) is mostly carried out by numerical simulation. In this study, the GS pier and the PC pier of the new railway project from Hetian to Ruoqiang are taken into consideration. Two kinds of 1/5-scale assembled double-column specimens are made, and the quasi-static tests are carried out. The overall seismic performance of the two spliced piers is studied, and compared in terms of failure mechanism, bearing capacity, ductility, stiffness and energy dissipation capacity. The results show that the failure modes of both GS pier and PC pier are characterized by bending. However, the specific failure location and form are different. The GS pier presents a complete hysteretic curve, large equivalent stiffness and strong energy dissipation capacity. The hysteretic area of the PC pier is small. However, it has good self-reset ability and quasi-static residual displacement. Finite element models are set up using DispBeamColumn fiber elements and ZeroLength elements. The models that are calibrated with the test data can effectively simulate the damage development under monotonic loading. The load-displacement curves are in good agreement with the backbone curves of the test results.

Automated summary

The seismic performance of grouted sleeve connected pier and prestressed precast segmental concrete pier were compared in terms of failure mechanism, bearing capacity, ductility, stiffness and energy dissipation capacity. The results showed that the grouted sleeve connected pier exhibited better seismic performance with larger stiffness and energy dissipation capacity.