Abstract
In the seismic design of steel bridge piers and the retrofitting works for existing steel bridge piers against strong earthquakes, it is very important to know the dynamic behavior of the piers under the earthquakes. The dynamic behavior is dependent on not only the inelastic characteristics of the column members and pier bases, but also the interactive behavior of these structural components. Investigated in this paper, therefore, are the dynamic behavior of existing and stiffened steel bridge piers under the strong earthquakes specified in the Japanese Specifications for Highway Bridges, considering the inelastic behavior of the pier bases and column members. Through the results of the elasto-plastic and dynamic analyses of two retrofitted and existing steel bridge pier models supported by the anchor bolts with inelastic spring constant subjected to the strong earthquakes, a practical approach for estimating the maximum response is proposed for retrofitting and existing steel bridge piers, on the basis of the energy constant rule.
