Investigating the Hysteretic Behavior of Concrete-Filled Steel Tube Arch by Using a Fiber Beam Element

Abstract

A fiber beam finite element that could account for the nonlinear constitutive relationship between steel and concrete was applied to investigate the hysteretic behavior of concrete filled steel tube (CFT) arch ribs of bridges. At first, the effectiveness of this fiber beam element using for nonlinear analysis was verified by comparing the analytical results with the experimental data, and then this composite element was applied to analyze the hysteretic performance of CFT arch ribs. The following hysteretic behavior of CFT arch ribs of bridges was investigated such as the hysteretic behaviors of moment-curvature of arch ribs in vertical direction of bridge and the hysteretic relationship between load and displacement of arch ribs in longitudinal and transverse direction of bridge. Finally, some parameters affecting the hysteretic behaviors of CFT arch ribs were presented by evaluating the capacity of ductility of CFT arch ribs.