Abstract
It has been reported by the existing papers that the ultimate load capacity and energy absorption capacity of the CFST column are considerably higher than those resulting from a simple addition of the capacities of the concrete and the steel tube. It is normally believed that the confined effect for the infilled concrete due to the hoop tension of steel at the parameter of cross sections can remarkably improve the ductility and energy absorption capacities of the CFST columns. This paper provides the results of a study on the load-carrying capacities and energy absorption capacities of the CFST columns, a numerical analysis method, i. e. N-M interaction curves and Moment curvature relationships. The numerical approaches are verified by comparing with the existing test results and the circular and square steel tube sections are selected to clarify the amount of confinement effects to improve the ultimate deformable capacity(a ultimate strain value) of the infilled concrete. Then, an adequate value of the ultimate strain of the infilled concrete and an equation of the ultimate capacity of the CFST column are suggested.