Structural performance assessment of a 60-year-old reinforced concrete bent cap

摘要

As the world's reinforced concrete (RC) civil infrastructure continues to age and exhibit visual signs of distress (e.g., cracking), the challenge of how to process this visual information is becoming increasingly important. While research is ongoing in this field, limited work has been done involving structures that are truly representative of real-world, aged civil infrastructure requiring assessment. Thus, this paper presents the results of an experimental program and subsequent numerical investigation into the performance of a diagonally cracked, RC bent cap that was removed from a 60-year-old bridge in Texas. Extensive work was done to document the cracking behavior and characterize the mechanical properties of the bent cap prior to ultimate load testing. The numerical investigation included both "conventional" methods and nonlinear finite element analysis (with and without consideration of existing damage). Ultimately, the results of the experimental and numerical investigations suggest that, while the bent cap was exhibiting large-width shear cracks in service, the damage was not indicative of an impending shear failure.