The overall goal of the proposed research is to design, and prove experimentally, methods to seismically retrofit prestressed concrete hollow pile-columns used in bridges. WSDOT maintains approximately 25 bridges that are supported on hollow precast, prestressed concrete pile-columns. Most were constructed in the 1960s. The seismic performance of these bridges is in now question because the hollow sections have been shown to have little flexural ductility, which may cause them to fail prematurely. This project will determine the flexural strength and deformation capacity of a typical as-built, hollow, precast, pre-tensioned pile-column before retrofitting. Researchers will then develop a retrofit method, including design procedures, for the potential plastic hinge at the cap beam connection, and they will develop implementation procedures for the retrofit method. In addition, this project will create a simple numerical modeling tool that will allow WSDOT to rank existing bridges according to the risk that they pose to help it prioritize bridge retrofitting.
Principal Investigators:
John Stanton, Civil and Environmental Engineering, UW
Paolo Calvi, Civil and Environmental Engineering, UW
Sponsor: WSDOT
WSDOT Technical Monitor: Bijan Khaleghi
WSDOT Project Manager: Doug Brodin
Scheduled completion: December 2019