Effect of Tie Bar Volume on the Seismic Performance of Polypropylene Fiber Reinforced Columns based on Hybrid Loading Experiments

Abstract

 It has been shown based on previous research that damage of RC bridge columns can be mitigated and ductility capacity can be enhanced by implementing polypropylene fiber-reinforced cement composites (PFRC) at the plastic hinge. The bridging action of polypropylene fibers which can mitigate crack propagation and widening of cracks has similar action with the lateral confinement by tie bars. Thus, it is likely that use of PFRC can reduce amount of tie bars required for ductility capacity enhancement. This paper shows a feasibility study for reducing an amount of tie bars by implementing PFRC at the plastic hinge. Based on a hybrid loading experiment and a nonlinear dynamic response analysis, it is shown that it is feasible to reduce an amount of tie bars by half by using PFRC though failure of the column slightly increases.