Abstract
Flexible reinforced concrete piers with I shape section are flexible along bridge axis. These piers are characterized by their abilities to absorb earthquake energy through shear wall. The purpose of this paper is to study the fracture behavior, restoring force characteristic and the ability to absorb energy through the horizontal load experiments for scale models of flexible reinforced concrete piers with I shape sections. It assumed that the piers behave as shear bending members with central pillar and side walls, and four polyline type are proposed compounding bending and shear effects. When comparing theoretical value with experimental results, it is clear that although the load bearing ability is estimated with enough accuracy, but it is necessary to make improvement.
