An experimental and numerical investigation on the cyclic response of a portal frame pier belonging to an old reinforced concrete viaduct

SUMMARY This paper deals with the assessment of the seismic response of a portal frame pier belonging to an old reinforced concrete viaduct. A series of tests, consisting of cyclically imposed displacements, were carried out on three 1:4 scale mock‐ups. The objective of the experimental campaign is twofold: (1) identification and evaluation of the local failure mechanisms and (2) calibration of a numerical model including all observed nonlinear phenomena. The experimental results show that the shear strength of the transverse beam and of the beam–column joints characterizes the post‐elastic behavior of the piers. Other phenomena, like bond‐slip and buckling of the longitudinal bars of the columns, typical of old reinforced concrete structures have also been observed. Finally, a numerical model, built in OpenSEES, was calibrated to reproduce in a satisfactory way the experimental results and to provide a reliable tool for the evaluation of the seismic response of the pier.