Probabilistic seismic assessment of innovative concrete bridge piers with Engineered Cementitious Composites (ECC) by different types of shape memory alloys (SMAs) bars

Critical role of bridges in post-earthquake rescue activities has made their seismic safety a major concern of structural engineers. While preventing collapse is one of essential requirements in bridge engineering, recent earthquakes have shown that bridges may also cease functionality due to residual deformations. To address this, shape memory alloys (SMAs) have received wide attentions according to their ability to recover the initial shape even after large plastic deformations. Two types of SMAs (NiTi and Cu–Al–Mn) are used in this paper to reinforce nine different concrete bridge piers in which Engineered Cementitious Composite (ECC) is also used for enhancing ductility in plastic hinge region. Each of the piers is subjected to 56 near field ground motions and collapse capacity of the piers is evaluated probabilistically using incremental dynamic analysis. The comparative results indicate that simultaneous use of steel and NiTi reinforcement in a plastic hinge area filled with ECC concrete can lead to a 30% improvement in median collapse capacity of the studied pier.