Author(s)

I. Darwish, M. Saiidi & D. Sanders

Abstract

A large number of bridges located in the Reno/Sparks area have been identified as having potentially inadequate detailing to resist earthquakes. A major deficiency in many columns of these bridges is short dowel bars in the footings and short lap splices at the base of the columns. Also, the columns are inadequately confined. To identify the extent of inadequacy of these bridge columns and to develop a method to retrofit them, six 0.4 scale model specimens were constructed and tested. The first two specimens represented "as-built" details for existing bridge columns; one with a fixed base detail and the other with a one-way hinge detail. The other four specimens were identical to the two as-built, but were retrofitted to address their deficiencies. Two of the retrofitted specime

Keywords