Research

RAPID REPAIR OF BRIDGE COLUMNS BY PLASTIC HINGE RELOCATION

Sponsor: Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities

Once buckled or ruptured bars are observed, it is assumed that repair is no longer feasible. It is the objective of this research to challenge this assumption via relocation of the plastic hinge to a position slightly higher in the column that remained essentially elastic during the initial seismic attack.

GRADE 80 REINFORCEMENT FOR MEMBERS FORMING PLASTIC HINGES

Sponsor: California Department of Transportation

The goal of this research program is to characterize the seismic response of reinforced concrete circular columns constructed with ASTM A706 Grade 80 reinforcing steel. As part of this program, a new material test named the ‘Buckled Bar Tension Test’ has been developed to characterize the seismic behavior of high strength steel.

SEISMIC ASSESSMENT OF ANCHORAGE PORT ACCESS BYPASS

Sponsor: Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities

This research will aim to investigate a series of steel column to cap connections historically employed for bridge design that are felt to be deficient with regards to seismic performance.

TRANSVERSE SEISMIC DESIGN OF BRIDGES WITH LONGITUDINAL KEYWAY JOINTS

Sponsor: Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities

This research studies the behavior of a common bridge system employed in Alaska that utilizes decked bulb-tee girders connected by a diamond shaped longitudinal grouted keyway joint with intermittent steel shear connectors.

DURABILITY OF GROUTED SHEAR STUD CONNECTIONS IN STEEL BRIDGES

Sponsor: Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities

This research proposal addresses the design and behavior of a new, recently developed connection for steel bridge substructures. This new connection, termed the grouted shear stud connection (GSS), was shown to be an effective and improved design over current practice of directly welding hollow circular steel pipe piles to steel cap beams.

REINFORCED CONCRETE FILLED PIPE PILES IN SOIL

Sponsor: Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities

The research program aims to continue a previous study on RCFSTs by studying the impact of soil on behavior of these systems. Through the use of a unique soil-structure interaction testing facility, RCFSTs will be placed in soil and subjected to reversed cyclic loading.

STABILITY OF DUCTILE RC STRUCTURAL WALLS – ASSESSMENT OF THE LOCAL BUCKLING FAILURE MODE

Sponsor: Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities

A new model is suggested to capture the effect of out-of-plane loads on the inelastic instability of structural walls through experiments on twelve prisms, which are tested in the Constructed Facilities Laboratory at the NC State University. The experiments involve controlled load paths where prisms are subjected to tension/compression cycles in addition to lateral loading.