Study on seismic isolation techniques of the controlled rocking bridge pier

Abstract

The seismic isolation techniques of controlled rocking bridge pier is presented to improve seismic performance of the railway bridge in the earthquake-prone zone. In order to limit the lateral movement and overturning under the rarely strong earthquake, the inhibiting steel bar and prestressing tendon are used in the rocking bridge piers. The seismic performance of the two-different controlled rocking bridge piers are evaluated by quasi-static tests for two 1/10 scale model piers of a typical railway bridge pier with pile foundation. Through the hysteretic behaviors, it can be concluded that the rocking isolation model pier with the inhibiting steel bar shows better energy dissipation capacity, while the rocking isolation model pier with the prestressing tendon has higher anti-overturning capacity under strong earthquakes.