Experimental and Numerical Researches on the Seismic Behavior of Tubular Reinforced Concrete Columns of Air-Cooling Structures

Abstract

Tubular reinforced concrete columns of air-cooling condenser structures, which undertake the most weight of air cooling equipment, are the major components to resist lateral forces under earthquake. Once collapsed, huge casualties and economic loss would be caused. Thus, four 1/8 scaled specimens were fabricated and tested through the pseudo-static testing method. Failure modes and crack patterns of the specimens under cyclic loading were observed. Then, finite element models of tubular reinforced concrete columns were established using OpenSees and were verified with the experimental results. Finally, the influence of axial compression ratio and longitudinal reinforcement on energy dissipation capacity and stiffness degradation were studied based on the validated finite element modes. It is confirmed that tubular reinforced concrete columns of air-cooling condenser structure exhibit a moderate ability of energy dissipation, and the nonlinear finite element model could reasonably simulate its seismic behavior. Furthermore, axial compression ratio and longitudinal reinforcement are main factors which affect the seismic behavior of the tubular reinforced concrete columns. The experimental results and simulation method provide an available way to design this kind of large tubular reinforced concrete columns with thin-wall.