Abstract

The objectives of this study are to investigate effective stiffness of Rectangular reinforced concrete bridge columns. It is reasonable to use yielding effective stiffness of columns in seismic bridge design, especially in case that plastic hinges form at the bridge columns. In this study, the material nonlinear analysis was conducted for 3, 240 column sections of which variables were the concrete compressive stress, the steel yielding stress, the longitudinal steel location parameter, the longitudinal steel ratio, the axial load level, and the diameter of section. Based on the analytical results, an effective stiffness including two variables(longitudinal steel ratio and axial load ratio) was proposed by regression analyses, and it is compared with test results and the proposed equation for yielding effective stiffness of circular bridge columns.

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