Reinforced concrete piers have been widely studied and certainly applied in recent years. To ensure the normal operation of reinforced concrete piers under corrosive environments and seismic effects, new corrosion-resistant materials with good mechanical properties need to be introduced. In this study, fiber reinforced polymer (FRP), engineered cementitious composite (ECC), and stainless steel plates were incorporated into concrete piers for the first time, and a novel concrete pier reinforced with FRP confined ECC core (FCEC) was proposed. Subsequently, a spiral stirrup confined and three stainless steel plate confined concrete piers reinforced with different FCEC heights were constructed, and a quasi-static test was conducted to investigate their seismic capabilities. As a comparison specimen, a conventional reinforced concrete pier (RC pier) was also tested. Then, the failure mode and hysteresis behavior of the specimens were analyzed. Test results indicated that plastic hinges of all specimens were situated at the pier base, with the exception of concrete pier reinforced with 250mm-height FCEC. Concrete piers reinforced with FCEC showed superior load-bearing capacity but lower ductility compared with conventional RC piers. While a reduction in FCEC height could moderately improve the ductility of this novel concrete pier. Finally, to effectively design concrete piers reinforced with FCEC, a simplified bearing capacity calculation model and a reasonable FCEC height calculation model were developed through experimental results and mechanical analysis. • A novel concrete pier reinforced with FRP confined ECC core (FCEC) was proposed. • Quasi-static test was conducted for the specimens reinforced with FCECs. • Seismic performance of these specimens were experimentally investigated. • Design method and reasonable FCEC height of the specimen were proposed and verified.
Ma et al. (2026) studied this question.