NUMERICAL INVESTIGATION OF CFST BRIDGE PIERS UNDER LATERAL CYCLIC LOADING

Abstract

Concrete-filled steel tubular columns as bridge piers are appropriate for bridges with very tall piers in seismically active areas because they greatly slow down local bucklingof the steel hollow section. Members made of concrete-filled steel tubular (CFST) columns as bridge piers combine the benefits of steel and concrete Since concrete greatly reduces the ductility of the section and delays local buckling of steel hollow sections. Strength and ductility of the core are improved by the steel tube. Therefore, using CFST columns as bridge piers are more effective than normal RC columns. This thesis paper is set out to study the effect of certain parameters such as Diameter to thickness ratio, concrete grade and slenderness ratio on the performance of CFST in bridge piers and its benefits under lateral cyclic loading conditions. The study on the behavior of CFST bridge pier and various parameters influencing their behavior are carried out using commercially available ANSYS, FEM software. Predicting the behavior of CFST using the modeling software has become economical and this is time saving. Also comparing their effect of shape of CFST bridge pier such as circular and square and results are in the terms of ultimate load carrying capacity. From the results, loaddisplacement graph is plotted to give a clear idea on the performance of CFST bridge pier under lateral cyclic loading. It also helps to analyze the variation of parameters like concrete grade, Diameter to thickness ratio and slenderness ratio under lateral cyclic loading