Seismic Performance of SFRC Piers under Reversed Cyclic Loading

Steel fiber reinforced concrete (SFRC) has many good dynamic performances such as toughness and ductility. However, few studies have focused on SFRC's application in bearing member of bridge structures. In this paper, pseudo-static cyclic tests of eight pier specimens are carried out to investigate seismic behavior of piers using SFRC. The main variables in the testing are the steel fiber content (volume fraction of 0.0%, 0.5%, 1.0% and 1.5%), the length of SFRC region and the stirrup ratio of piers. Seismic behavior of the test specimens, like the failure pattern, the hysteretic characteristics, the skeleton curves, the ductility and the energy dissipation are investigated experimentally. The results show that, 1) the SFRC pier with the steel fiber volume fraction of 1.0% has much better performance than that with other fiber volume contents, particularly for bearing capacity, hysteretic energy dissipation and ductility; 2) the pier specimen can keep sufficient seismic capacity, in which some stirrups are replaced by steel fibers; and 3) compared with specimen with application of SFRC in entire pier, the specimen with appropriate local application of SFRC in potential plastic hinge region can sustain almost the same seismic properties, such as the ultimate bearing capacity, the stiffness, the ductility and the energy dissipation capacity.