Seismic Analysis for Performance Assessment of Precast Segmental PSC Bridge Columns

The purpose of this study is to investigate the seismic behavior of precast segmental PSC bridge columns. For the analysis of reinforced concrete structures, a computer program named RCAHEST (Reinforced Concrete Analysis in Higher Evaluation System Technology) is used. To represent the interaction between tendon and concrete of a prestressed concrete member, a bonded or unbonded tendon element based on the finite element method is used. A joint element is modified to predict the inelastic behaviors of segmental joints. The solution of the equations of motion is obtained by numerical integration using Hilber-Hughes-Taylor (HHT) algorithm. The proposed numerical method gives a realistic prediction of seismic behavior throughout the input ground motions for numerical examples.