• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.341-346
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• 2001

Near source earthquakes can be characterized not only by strong horizontal but also by strong vertical ground motions with broad range of dominant frequencies. The inelastic horizontal response of thin-walled L-shaped steel bridge piers, which are popularly used as highway bridge supports, subjected to simultaneous horizontal and vertical ground excitations of near source earthquakes is investigated. A comprehensive damage index and an evolutionary-degrading hysteretic model are applied. Numerical analysis reveals that the strong vertical excitation of a near source earthquake exerts considerable influences on the damage development and horizontal response of thin-walled L-shaped steel bridge piers.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.355-374
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• 2006

Thin walled steel bridge-piers/columns are vulnerable to damage, when subjected to earthquake excitations. Local buckling, global buckling or interaction between local and global buckling usually is the cause of this damage, which results in significant strength reduction of the member. In this study new innovative design concepts, "thin-walled corrugated steel columns" and "thin-walled cellular steel columns" are presented, which allow the column to undergo large plastic deformations without significant strength reduction; hence dissipate energy under cyclic loading. It is shown that, compared with the conventional designs, circular and stiffened box sections, these new innovative concepts might results in cost-effective designs, with improved buckling and ductility properties. Using a finite element model, that takes the non-linear material properties into consideration, it is shown that the corrugations will act like longitudinal stiffeners that are supporting each other, thus improving the buckling behavior and allowing for reduction of the overall wall thickness of the column.