Experimental Validation of Repair Methods for Earthquake-Damaged Bridges Incorporating Pipe-Socket Precast Pier System

Abstract

This project focuses on the retrofitting of concrete bridge piers. In the first phase of the project, a half-scale bridge bent was designed and experimentally tested in the Idaho State University (ISU) Structural Lab (SLAB) under earthquake-style loading. The bents modeled a pier connection developed by ISU and Idaho Transportation Department (ITD) (pipe-socket connection). The bridge bent was tested until failure and the results were processed and compared to one another. After testing the bent specimens ISU and ITD have come back to work on another project to retrofit the half-scale bridge piers and experimentally test and quantify the design. Many post-earthquake repair methods have been suggested by ISU and ITD to repair the pier's stiffness, strength, and ductility after a design-level event. This paper focuses on ultra-high-performance concrete (UHPC) jacketing as the retrofit method. Methods to retrofit concrete-filled steel tubes (CFSTs) have only been used in analytical studies and have not been experimentally tested. In order to combat this issue of lack of experimental data, ISU is testing four piers with a UHPC jacket retrofit. The objective of this research is to experimentally validate the proposed UHPC retrofit for the pipe connection.