Influence of wall thickness on the seismic performance of thin-walled precast UHPC hollow piers

IF 5.7 1区工程技术 Q1 ENGINEERING, CIVIL Thin-Walled Structures Pub Date : 2025-03-14 DOI:10.1016/j.tws.2025.113205

Xu Wang , Zhao Liu , Jesús-Miguel Bairán , Wenshan Li

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Conventional precast piers made of normal concrete (NC) typically feature a solid section, which may hinder hoisting and transportation during construction. Given the superior properties of ultra-high-performance concrete (UHPC), replacing the NC solid section with a UHPC hollow section presents a viable alternative. However, the seismic performance of thin-walled piers will be different from the solid piers. Current research on the seismic performance of hollow piers primarily focuses on cast-in-place (CIP) piers made of normal concrete, which generally have thick walls and a hollow ratio <0.4. The exceptional mechanical properties and fluidity of UHPC make it feasible to reduce wall thickness in hollow piers. Nevertheless, studies specifically investigating the seismic performance of UHPC hollow piers remain limited. This study presents an experimental investigation of four precast piers with varying wall thicknesses—three made of UHPC and one made of NC as a reference. Quasi-static tests were conducted and the hysteretic responses, energy dissipation, residual displacement, and curvature distribution were discussed. Finally, a refined numerical model was developed on OpenSees platform to accurately replicate the hysteretic and skeleton curves of each specimen. Parametric and time-history analyses were conducted under six strong near-fault ground motions. The results revealed that wall thickness had a limited effect on the strength and residual displacement of UHPC hollow piers, but significantly influenced cumulative energy dissipation and stiffness degradation. The UHPC pier with a hollow ratio of 0.36 exhibited the best strength and displacement responses among all specimens.

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来源期刊

Thin-Walled Structures 工程技术-工程：土木

CiteScore

9.60

自引率

20.30%

发文量

801

审稿时长

66 days

期刊介绍： Thin-walled structures comprises an important and growing proportion of engineering construction with areas of application becoming increasingly diverse, ranging from aircraft, bridges, ships and oil rigs to storage vessels, industrial buildings and warehouses. Many factors, including cost and weight economy, new materials and processes and the growth of powerful methods of analysis have contributed to this growth, and led to the need for a journal which concentrates specifically on structures in which problems arise due to the thinness of the walls. This field includes cold– formed sections, plate and shell structures, reinforced plastics structures and aluminium structures, and is of importance in many branches of engineering. The primary criterion for consideration of papers in Thin–Walled Structures is that they must be concerned with thin–walled structures or the basic problems inherent in thin–walled structures. Provided this criterion is satisfied no restriction is placed on the type of construction, material or field of application. Papers on theory, experiment, design, etc., are published and it is expected that many papers will contain aspects of all three.