| Summary: | The large degradation of the mechanical performance of hollow reinforced concrete (RC) bridge piers subjected to multi-dimensional earthquakes has not been thoroughly assessed. This paper aims to improve the existing seismic damage model to assess the seismic properties of tall, hollow RC piers subjected to pseudo-static, biaxial loading. Cyclic bilateral loading tests on fourteen 1/14-scale pier specimens with different slenderness ratios, axial load ratios, and transverse reinforcement ratios were carried out to investigate the damage propagation and the cumulative dissipated energy with displacement loads. By considering the influence of energy dissipation on structural damage, a new damage model (M-Usami model) was developed to assess the damage characteristics of hollow RC piers. The results present four consecutive damage stages during the loading process: (a) cracking on concrete surface, (b) yielding of longitudinal reinforcements; (c) spalling of concrete, and (d) collapsing of pier after the concrete crushed and the longitudinal bars ruptured due to the flexural failure. The damage level caused by the seismic waves can be reduced by designing specimens with a good seismic energy dissipation capacity. The theoretical damage index values calculated by the M-Usami model agreed well with the experimental observations. The developed M-Usami model can provide insights into the approaches to assessing the seismic damage of hollow RC piers subjected to bilateral seismic excitations.
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