Performance Assessment of Corroded Highway Bridge Piers Under Cyclic Loading

The corrosion of reinforcement in reinforced concrete (RC) bridge piers adversely affects the capacity and serviceability of bridges, causing increasing vulnerability to failure due to multiple hazards. This paper evaluates the performance of RC piers with different levels of corrosion under cyclic loading using a finite element model. The model is capable of taking into account all the degrading effects of corrosion, such as reduction of cross sectional area of steel, reduction of strength and ductility of steel, degradation of material property of concrete, as well as bond deterioration. First the finite element model results are compared to and validated by a precious set of experimental results. Then two RC columns with different corrosion levels have been simulated and their response under cyclic loading similar to those in the experimental tests have been studied. The details of the hysteretic loops, as well as concrete crushing and cover cracking of the corroded columns are provided. The results indicate the proposed model is capable of simulating the cyclic behavior of corroded RC bridge piers with accuracy, efficiency and full details.