Study on the Seismic Performance of Column-Bent Piers in the Transverse Direction

DOI

10.2991/978-94-6239-740-8_7How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Column bent pier; Plastic hinge area; Axial compression ratio; Seismic performance; Numerical Simulation

Abstract

To address the unclear transverse seismic mechanism of column-type bent piers, this study investigates the advantages of three-column bent piers compared to single-column bent piers in terms of force distribution and plastic hinge zones. Numerical models were established using OpenSees to analyze the differences in the distribution of plastic hinge zones between single-column and three-column bent piers. Furthermore, the influence of pier height and axial compression ratio on the seismic performance of the middle pier in three-column bent piers was explored in depth. The results indicate that three-column bent piers outperform single-column bent piers in curvature distribution and plastic hinge zone formation, exhibiting a dual plastic hinge energy dissipation mechanism at both the pier top and bottom. The curvature distribution along the height of the middle pier is notably symmetric. Pier height has a threshold effect on the distribution of plastic hinges, with excessively tall piers leading to an abnormal increase in the plastic zone at the pier top. An increase in the axial compression ratio induces a stiffness hardening effect, delaying the formation of plastic hinges. However, due to second-order effects of gravity, the transverse peak displacement at the pier top shows a slight increasing trend as the axial compression ratio increases.

Copyright

© 2026 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Zhou Li
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/08/14
TI  - Study on the Seismic Performance of Column-Bent Piers in the Transverse Direction
BT  - Proceedings of the 2026 9th International Symposium on Traffic Transportation and Civil Architecture (ISTTCA 2026)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 65
EP  - 77
SN  - 2589-4943
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-94-6239-740-8_7
DO  - 10.2991/978-94-6239-740-8_7
ID  - Li2026
ER  -