Seismic Performance of RC Column Using Fiber Hinge Concept with Time Integration Method

Abstract

Recent seismic events showed the importance of understanding the structural performance of RC column that can be predicted numerically. The accuracy of column performance depends on type of the analysis and representation of seismic effect. Therefore, in this paper a nonlinear time history analysis has been performed to assess the seismic performance of bridge column using fiber hinge concept with time integration method using sap2000 software. A long bridge RC column is utilized and subjected to seismic excitation. The column has been divided into different size and numbers of fiber to assess the accuracy of the analysis and time consuming to analyze each case of fiber hinges. In addition, this paper used three-time integration methods, Newmark, Hilber-Hughes-Taylor, and Chung & Hulbert to predict the most suitable method to be used in column seismic analysis. The time history displacement and base shear in addition to moment rotation of the column are the most important factors to evaluate the column seismic performance. The analysis results demonstrated that the most suitable time integration method is Hilber-Hughes-Taylor for such type of the analysis since it gives more stable base shear result than other two methods. Furthermore, the results indicated that the accuracy of seismic performance increased by number of fibers incremental. Moreover, the number of steel fibers should be equal to the number of bars with same area and location. The unconfined and confined concrete should be divided into small areas to get accurate prediction of column seismic performance.