Lateral load resistance of bridge piers under flexure and shear using factorial analysis

Tie spacing, concrete and steel properties, amount of reinforcement and column height are factors (or parameters) that can affect the performance of bridge piers under lateral loads. These parameters differ significantly from older bridges to modern bridges. Here, a detailed parametric study has been performed to understand the effects of these factors and their interactions on limit states of bridge columns using factorial analysis. Fiber modeling approach has been implemented to determine the performance of bridge piers (such as cracking base shear, cracking displacement, yield base shear, yield displacement, crushing base shear/shear capacity, displacement at crushing/shear failure and ductility) under lateral loads. This study shows that simple predictive equations can be derived from the parametric study, to estimate the cracking, crushing and yielding displacement of a bridge pier with reasonable accuracy.