Seismic Vulnerability Study of Precast Segmental Piers with Bonded Tendons

<p>The widely applications of precast segmental bridge piers in high-seismicity areas are hindered for their insufficient capacities of energy dissipation. In this study, precast segmental piers’ seismic behaviours were investigated, focusing on the connection of “grouted sleeves/bonded tendons”. Four piers were cyclically loaded, of one cast-in-place pier, one precast segmental pier, and two prestressed precast segmental piers. Experimental results showed that bonded tendons apparently enhanced the pier’s lateral strength, ductility, energy dissipation capacity and reducing residual drift. Of particular, bonded tendons prevented the shear-induced slip between the shaft and footing segments. Furthermore, seismic vulnerability assessments of the bridge piers are obtained in terms of fragility curves. Residual drift is adopted to define the limit states. It is suggested that bonded tendons could significantly ameliorate the fragility curves of precast segmental piers.</p>