• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.38 no.1
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• pp.17-31
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• 2021

Post-earthquake fire is a common disaster which causes serious safety issues to infrastructures. This study aims to investigate the residual loading capacities of circular concrete-filled steel tube (CFST) columns under post-earthquake fire experimentally and numerically. The experimental programme contains two loading steps - pre-damage cyclic loading at room temperature and transient state tests with constant compression loads. Three finite element models are developed and validated against the test results. Upon validation, a total of 48 numerical results were generated in the parametric study to investigate the effects of thickness and strengths of steel tube, axial compression ratio and damage degree on the fire resistance of circular CFST columns. Based on the analysis on experimental and numerical results, the loading mechanism of circular CFST columns is discussed. A design method is proposed for the prediction of fire resistance time under different seismic pre-damage and compression loads. The predictions by the new method is compared with the newly generated experimental and numerical results and is found to be accurate and consistent with the mean value close to the unity and a coefficient of variation around 1%.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.379-397
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• 2016

Due to creep and shrinkage of the concrete core, concrete-filled steel tubular (CFST) arches continue to deform in the long-term under sustained loads. This paper presents analytical investigations of the effects of geometric nonlinearity on the long-term in-plane structural performance and stability of three-pinned CFST circular arches under a sustained uniform radial load. Non-linear long-term analysis is conducted and compared with its linear counterpart. It is found that the linear analysis predicts long-term increases of deformations of the CFST arches, but does not predict any long-term changes of the internal actions. However, non-linear analysis predicts not only more significant long-term increases of deformations, but also significant long-term increases of internal actions under the same sustained load. As a result, a three-pinned CFST arch satisfying the serviceability limit state predicted by the linear analysis may violate the serviceability requirement when its geometric nonlinearity is considered. It is also shown that the geometric nonlinearity greatly reduces the long-term in-plane stability of three-pinned CFST arches under the sustained load. A three-pinned CFST arch satisfying the stability limit state predicted by linear analysis in the long-term may lose its stability because of its geometric nonlinearity. Hence, non-linear analysis is needed for correctly predicting the long-term structural behaviour and stability of three-pinned CFST arches under the sustained load. The non-linear long-term behaviour and stability of three-pinned CFST arches are compared with those of two-pinned counterparts. The linear and non-linear analyses for the long-term behaviour and stability are validated by the finite element method.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.307-324
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• 2011

With the increasing use of concrete-filled steel tubes (CFST) as structural members, there is a growing need to provide suitable measures for possible strengthening or repair of these kinds of structural elements. Fibre reinforced polymer (FRP) jacketing is a recent method and is particularly attractive in which it does not significantly increase the section size, and is relatively easy to install. Thus, it can be used to enhance strength and/or ductility of CFST members. Very little information is available on the performance of FRP-strengthened CFST members under fire conditions. This paper is an attempt to study the fire performance of CFST columns strengthened by FRP. The results of fire endurance tests on FRP-strengthened circular CFST columns are presented. Failure modes of the specimens after exposure to fire, temperatures in the cross section, axial deformation and fire resistance of the composite columns are analysed. It is demonstrated that the required fire endurance can be achieved if the strengthened composite columns are appropriately designed.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.23 no.5
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• pp.517-527
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• 2017

In this paper, the effect of active confinement on the compressive behaviour of circular steel tube-confined concrete (STCC) and concrete-filled steel tube (CFST) columns is investigated. In STCC columns the axial load is only applied to the concrete core, while in CFST columns the load is carried by the whole composite section. A new method is introduced to apply confining pressure on fresh concrete by laterally prestressing steel tubes. In order to achieve different prestressing levels, short-term and long-term pressures are applied to the fresh concrete. Three groups of STCC and CFST specimens (passive, S-active and L-active groups) are tested under axial loads. The results including stress-strain relationships of composite column components, secant modulus of elasticity, and volumetric strain are presented and discussed. Based on the elastic-plastic theory, the behaviour of the steel tube is also analyzed during elastic, yielding, and strain hardening stages. The results show that using the proposed prestressing method can considerably improve the compressive behaviour of both STCC and CFST specimens, while increasing the prestressing level has insignificant effects. By applying prestressing, the linear range in the stress-strain curve of STCC specimens increases by almost twice as much, while the improvement is negligible in CFST specimens.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.33 no.6
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• pp.643-658
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• 2024

To date, shell-solid and fibre element model analysis are the most commonly used methods to investigate the seismic performance of concrete-filled steel tube (CFST) bridge piers. However, most existing research does not consider the loss of bearing capacity caused by the fracture of the outer steel tube. To fill this knowledge gap, a refined finite element (FE) model considering the ductile damage of steel tubes and the behaviour of infilled concrete with cracks is established and verified against experimental results of unidirectional, bidirectional cyclic loading tests and pseudo-dynamic loading tests. In addition, a parametric study is conducted to investigate the seismic performance of CFST bridge piers with different concrete strength, steel strength, axial compression ratio, slenderness ratio and infilled concrete height using the proposed model. The validation shows that the proposed refined FE model can effectively simulate the residual displacement of CFST bridge piers subjected to highintensity earthquakes. The parametric analysis indicates that CFST piers hold sufficient strength reserves and sound deformation capacity and, thus, possess excellent application prospects for bridge construction in high-intensity areas.

• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
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• v.9 no.1 s.30
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• pp.121-128
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• 1997

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.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.281-294
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• 2019

The post-fire behavior of structural elements and the cooling process has always been one of the main concerns of the structural engineers. The structures can be cooled at different rates, where they affect the structure's behavior. In the present study, a numerical model has been developed using the Abaqus program to investigate the effect of cooling rate on the post-fire behavior of the CFST column. To verify the model, results of an experimental study performed on CFST columns within a full heating and cooling cycle have been used. In this model, coMParison of the residual strength has been employed in order to examine the behavior of CFST column under different cooling rates. Furthermore, a parametric study was carried out on the strength of steel and concrete, the height of the specimens, the axial load ratio and the cross-sectional shape of the specimen through the proposed model. It was observed that the cooling rate affects the behavior of the column after the fire, and thus the higher the specimen's temperature is, the more effect it has on the behavior. It was also noticed that water cooling had slightly more residual strength than natural cooling. Furthermore, it was recognized from the parametric study, that by increasing the strength of steel and concrete and the load ratio, as well as modifying the cross-sectional shape from circular to square, residual strength of column at the cooling phase was less than that of the heating phase. In addition, with reducing column height, no change was witnessed in the column behavior after the cooling phase.

• International Journal of High-Rise Buildings
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.327-342
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• 2018

Geopolymer concrete (GPC), which is recognised as an environmentally friendly alternative to ordinary Portland cement (OPC) concrete, has been reported to possess high fire resistance. However, very limited research has been conducted to investigate the behaviour of geopolymer concrete-filled steel tubular (GCFST) columns at either ambient or elevated temperatures. This paper presents the compressive test results of a total of 15 circular concrete-filled steel tubular (CFST) stub columns, including 5 specimens tested at room temperature, 5 specimens tested at elevated temperatures and the remaining 5 specimens tested for residual strength after exposure to elevated temperatures. The main variables in the test program include: (a) concrete type; (b) concrete strength; and (c) curing condition of geopolymer concrete. The test results demonstrate that GCFST columns have similar ambient temperature behaviour compared with the conventional CFST counterparts. However, GCFST columns exhibit better fire resistance than the conventional CFST columns. Meanwhile, it is found that the GCFST column made with heat cured GPC has lower strength loss than other columns after exposure to elevated temperatures. The research results highlight the possibility of using geopolymer concrete to improve the fire resistance of CFST columns.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.451-464
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• 2018

This paper presents some quasi-static tests for 4 mixed columns composed of CFST column and RC column. The seismic performance and failure mode were studied under low-cyclic revised loading. The failure mode was observed under different axial compression ratios. The hysteretic curve and skeleton curve were obtained. The effects of axial compression ratio on yield mechanism, displacement ductility, energy dissipation, stiffness and strength attenuation were analyzed. The results indicate that the failure behavior of CFST-RC mixed column with archaized style is mainly caused by bending failure and accompanied by some shear failure. The axial compression ratio performs a control function on the yielding order of the upper and lower columns. The yielding mechanism has a great influence on the ductility and energy dissipation capacity of specimens. Based on the experiment, finite element analysis was made to further research the seismic performance by ABAQUS software. The variable parameters were stiffness ratio of upper and lower columns, axial compression ratio, yielding strength of steel tube, concrete strength and rebar ratio. The simulation results show that with the increase of stiffness ratio of the upper and lower columns, the bearing capacity and ductility of specimens can correspondingly increase. As the axial compression ratio increases, the ductility of the specimen decreases gradually. The other three parameters both have positive effect on the bearing capacity but have negative effect on the ductility. The results can provide reference for the design and engineering application of mixed column consisted of CFST-RC in Chinese archaized buildings.

• International Journal of High-Rise Buildings
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.313-325
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• 2018

Concrete-filled steel tubular (CFST) members are commonly used as composite columns in modern construction. However, the current guidelines for members' fire design (EN1994-1-2) have been proved to be unsafe in case the relative slenderness is higher than 0.5. In addition, the simplified design methods of Eurocode 4 are limited to circular and square CFST columns, while in practice columns with rectangular and elliptical hollow sections are being increasingly used because of their architectural aesthetics. In the last years a large experimental research has been carried out at Coimbra University on the topic. They have been tested concrete filled circular, square, rectangular and elliptical hollow columns with restrained thermal elongation. Some parameters such as the slenderness, the type of cross-section geometry as well as the axial and rotational restraint of the surrounding structure to the column have been tested in order to evaluate their influence on the fire resistance of such columns. In this paper it is evaluated the influence of the boundary conditions (pin-ended and semi-rigid end-support conditions) on the behavior of the columns in case of fire. In these tests it could not be seen a marked effect of the tested boundary conditions but it is believed that the increasing of rotational stiffness increases the fire resistance of the columns.