Steel-concrete composite pylon walls under concentrated loads: bending and punching performances

This paper studies the structural behaviour of steel-concrete composite pylon walls strengthened by thin perfobond rib connectors subjected to the horizontal component of the cable force. Ten steel-concrete composite pylon wall specimens were designed, fabricated, and tested to study failure modes, load-deflection responses, and energy absorptions. The specimens consisted of two groups of steel-concrete (SC) and steel-concrete-steel (SCS) composite pylon walls, and the investigated variables in each group included composite pylon wall thickness, anchor tube angle, and square anchor plate side length. Test results show that steel-concrete composite pylon walls strengthened by thin perfobond rib connectors possess excellent ductility, bearing capacity, stiffness, and energy absorption. Subsequently, a method for predicting the bending capacities of SC and SCS composite pylon walls was developed, and a corresponding convenient and efficient calculation procedure was provided. Besides, the punching resistances of SC and SCS composite pylon walls were analysed based on three classical control perimeters of the one-way slab. Finally, the predicted values of the ultimate resistance of composite pylon walls based on bending capacity and punching resistance achieved engineering satisfaction with the test results. These findings provide valuable insights for applying steel-concrete composite bridge pylons. • Analysis model for flexural behaviour of composite pylon walls proposed. • Failure modes and flexural resistance of composite pylon walls investigated. • Punching resistance and calculation model of composite pylon walls analysed.