Pseudo-static test on mechanical behavior of pile with pre-hole filled by rubber particles

Integral abutment bridges (IABs) could fundamentally resolve the durability problems of expansion joints and bearings in bridges with expansion joints and improve the seismic performance due to high redundancy and integrity. The concrete piles beneath abutments were considered as the most vulnerable component in IABs under longitudinal deformation of superstructure caused by the temperature variation and seismic load. The pre-hole method was adopted by researchers to absorb the longitudinal deformation transferred from superstructure to the piles. Therefore, how to improve the seismic resistance of concrete piles is the key issue in IABs. In this paper, the piles with pre-hole filled by damping materials in IABs was proposed. The pseudo-static test of three pile specimens with the scaled factor of 1/12.5 and different pre-hole dimensions was carried out. The rubber particles were chosen as the damping material. It can be observed that comparing with the pile specimen without pre-hole, the hysteresis loops of the pile specimens with pre-hole filled by rubber particles were plumper and the equivalent viscous damping ratios were larger. The pre-hole diameter calculated from the pile central point is one of the key parameters which can influence the horizontal displacement transmission of piles to the rubber particles and sand. The influence of pre-hole filled by rubber particles on the failure mode, horizontal displacement and bending moment of the piles were not obvious. Consequently, the method of pre-hole filled by rubber particles could improve the energy dissipation and seismic performance of the concrete piles in IABs.