Strengthening of Corroded RC Bridge Piers Subjected to Seismic Loads Using UHPFRC Jacketing

Abstract

Corrosion of steel reinforcement is the main damage issue for the efficiency and performance of reinforced concrete (RC) bridge piers located in aggressive environments. In this study, the possibility of strengthening corroded RC bridge piers with high corrosion leveled by ultra-high performance fiber RC (UHPFRC) jacketing was investigated numerically. The model of nonlinear 3-D finite-element (FE) was constructed by using ANSYS software. The parameters of axial force ratio, longitudinal reinforcement ratio, aspect ratio, and transverse reinforcement ratio were studied to determine their effect on the lateral load resistance of strengthening corroded RC bridge piers. The verification carried out between the constructed FE and the experimental results of ten RC bridge piers in four experimental studies. The performance of RC bridge piers under cyclic lateral displacement and axial force was studied with different ratios. Finally, a practical model to calculate the lateral load resistance of corroded RC bridge piers was proposed. The results of this research suggest that this technique could be applied for existing concrete bridge exposed in the marine environment whereas, the concentration of corrosive chlorides are high and can also use for any shape of a column and this technique allows keeping the initial dimension of the column.