Seismic vulnerability of hollow core concrete bridge piers

Hollow core concrete bridge piers are traditionally believed to be vulnerable to seismic action. However, seismic vulnerability of such piers has not been investigated fully. In this paper, a modeling method to assess seismic vulnerability of hollow core concrete bridge pier is developed. The method is validated with available experimental results. Code recommendations for hollow core bridge piers are evaluated. It is shown that confinement reinforcement requirements in the codes are sometimes highly conservative and sometimes non-conservative. However, the recently developed confinement reinforcement equations for solid bridge pier at Sherbrooke University can be applied for economic and safe design. It is demonstrated that hollow core bridge piers are not as vulnerable as it is believed traditionally. Such piers can attain expected ductility, if designed properly.