• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.193-200
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• 2018

This paper presents an experimental work for short circular steel tube columns filled with normal concrete (NAC), recycled aggregate concrete (RAC), and RAC with silica fume and steel fiber. Ten specimens were tested under axial compression to research the effect of silica fume and steel fiber volume percentage on the behavior of recycled aggregate concrete-filled steel tube columns (RACFST). The failure modes, ultimate loads and axial load- strain relationships are presented. The test results indicate that silica fume and steel fiber would not change the failure mode of the RACFST column, but can increase the mechanical performances of the RACFST column because of the filling effect and pozzolanic action of silica fume and the confinement effect of steel fiber. The ultimate load, ductility and energy dissipation capacity of RACFST columns can exceed that of corresponding natural aggregate concrete-filled steel tube (NACFST) column. Design formulas EC4 for the load capacity NACFST and RACFST columns are proposed, and the predictions agree well with the experimental results from this study.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.37 no.5
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• pp.533-549
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• 2020

Recently, Concrete-filled double skin steel tubular (CFDST) columns have proven an exceptional structural resistance in terms of strength, stiffness, and ductility. However, the resistance of these column members can be severely affected by the type of loading in which bending stresses increase in direct proportion with axial load and eccentricity value. This paper presents a non-linear finite element based modeling approach that studies the behavior of slender CFDST columns under biaxial loading. Finite element models were calibrated based on the outcomes of experimental work done by other researchers. Results from simulations of slender CFDST columns under axial loading eccentric in one direction showed good agreement with the experimental response. The calibrated models are expanded to a total of thirty models that studies the behavior of slender CFDST columns under combined compression and biaxial bending. The influences of parameters that are usually found in practice are taken into consideration in this paper, namely, eccentricity-to-diameter (e/D) ratios, slenderness ratios, diameter-to-thickness (D/t) ratios, and steel contribution ratios. Finally, an analytical study based on current code provisions is conducted. It is concluded that South African national standards (2011) provided the most accurate results contrasted with the Eurocode 4 (2004) and American Institute of Steel Construction (2016) that are found to be conservative. Accordingly, correction factors are proposed to the current design guidelines to provide more satisfactory results.

• 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.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.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.28 no.5
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• pp.573-588
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• 2018

The objective of this paper is to investigate the mechanical performances of polygonal concrete-filled circular steel tubular (CFT) stub columns under axial loading through combined experimental and numerical study. A total of 32 specimens were designed to investigate the effect of the concrete strength and steel ratio on the compressive behavior of polygonal CFT stub columns. The ultimate bearing capacity, ductility and confinement effect were analyzed based on the experimental results and the failure modes were discussed in detail. Besides, ABAQUS was adopted to establish the three dimensional FE model. The composite action between the core concrete and steel tube was further discussed and clarified. It was found that the behavior of CFT stub column changes with the change of the cross-section, and the change is continuous. Finally, based on both experimental and numerical results, a unified formula was developed to estimate the ultimate bearing capacity of polygonal CFT stub columns according to the superposition principle with rational simplification. The predicted results showed satisfactory agreement with both experimental and FE results.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.17 no.6
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• pp.929-949
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• 2014

Thirty one push-out tests were carried out in order to investigate the bond behavior between shape steel, steel tube (named steels) and recycled aggregate concrete (RAC), including 11 steel reinforced recycled aggregate concrete (SRRAC) columns, 10 recycled aggregate concrete-filled circular steel tube (RACFCST) columns and 10 recycled aggregate concrete-filled square steel tube (RACFSST) columns. Eleven recycled coarse aggregate (RCA) replacement ratios (i.e., 0%, 10%, 20%, 30%, 40%, 50%, 60%, 70%, 80%, 90% and 100%) were considered for SRRAC specimens, while five RCA replacement ratios (i.e., 0%, 25%, 50%, 75% and 100%), concrete type and length-diameter ratio for recycled aggregate concrete-filled steel tube (RACFST) specimens were designed in this paper. Based on the test results, the influences of all variable parameters on the bond strength between steels and RAC were investigated. It was found that the load-slip curves at the loading end appeared the initial slip earlier than the curves at the free end. In addition, eight practical bond strength models were applied to make checking computations for all the specimens. The theoretical analytical model for interfacial bond shear transmission length in each type of steel-RAC composite columns was established through the mechanical derivation, which can be used to design and evaluate the performance of anchorage zones in steel-RAC composite structures.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.821-835
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• 2016

The paper presents an experimental study of the structural behavior of circular flyash-concrete-filled steel tubular stub columns under axial compressive loads. In this study, 90% and 100% by weight of the cement in the concrete core was replaced with flyash. Twenty-seven specimens were tested to study the influence of flyash content, wall thickness of the steel tube, and curing age on the ultimate capacity and confinement effect. The experimental results were compared with the design values calculated using AISC-LRFD (1999), ACI (1999), AIJ (1997) and Eurocode 4 (1994). From the experimental study, it was determined that the confinement effect of circular steel tubes filled with high content flyash concrete was better than that of specimens filled with ordinary Portland cement concrete. The 5.88-mm-thick steel tube filled with 100% flyash concrete was equivalent in strength to a steel tube filled with C30 concrete at 28 days.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.2 no.4
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• pp.259-276
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• 2002

In the present investigation the experimental and theoretical flexural and compressive behavior of short tubular steel columns filled with plain concrete and fiber-reinforced concrete (FRC) was examined. For a given length of the members, the effects of different geometry and dimensions of the transverse cross-section (square and circular) were investigated. Constituent materials were characterized through direct tensile tests on steel coupons and through compressive and split tension tests on concrete cylinders. Load-axial shortening and load-deflection curves were recorded for unfilled and composite members. Finally, simplified expressions for the calculus of the load-deflection curves based on the cross-section analysis were given and the ultimate load of short columns was predicted.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.47 no.4
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• pp.455-466
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• 2023

To investigate the load bearing capacity of axially preloaded circular hollow section (CHS) stub columns strengthened by carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP), theoretical analysis is carried out. The yield strength and the ultimate strength of a CFRP strengthened preloaded CHS stub column are determined at the yielding of the CHS tube and at the CFRP fracture, respectively. Theoretical models are proposed and corresponding equations for calculating the static strengths, including the yield strength and the ultimate strength, are presented. Through comparison with reported experimental results, the theoretical predictions on the static strengths are proved to be accurate. Through finite element (FE) analyses, parametric studies for 258 models of CFRP strengthened preloaded CHS stub columns are conducted by considering different values of tube diameter, tube thickness, CFRP layer and preloading level. The static strengths of the 258 models predicted from presented equations are proved to be in good agreement with FE simulations when the diameter-to-thickness ratio is less than 90ε². The parametric study indicates that the diameter and the thickness of the steel tube have great effects on CFRP strengthening efficiency, and the recommended ranges of the diameter and the thickness are proposed.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.191-204
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• 2013

A hybrid double skin concrete filled (HDSCF) circular steel tube column is proposed in this study. The yield strength of the outer steel tube is larger than 690MPa and the inner tube has less strength. In order to achieve efficiency with the high strength outer tube, a feasibility study on reducing the thickness of the tube below the specified design codes for CFTs was conducted based on an experimental approach. The experiment also took variables such as thickness of the inner tube, hollow ratio, and strength of concrete into consideration to investigate the behavior of the HDSCF column. In order to estimate the applicability of design equations for CFTs to the HDSCF column, test results from CFT and HDSCF columns with design codes were compared. It was found that the axial compressive performance of the proposed HDSCF column is equivalent to that of the conventional CFT member irrespective of design variables. Furthermore, the design equation for a circular CFT given by EC4 is applicable to estimate the ultimate strength of the HDSCF circular steel tube column.