• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.431-452
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• 2014

The present study focuses on the mechanical behaviour of concrete filled double skin steel tubular (CFDST) stub columns confined by fiber reinforced polymer (FRP). A series of axial compression tests have been conducted on two CFDST stub columns, eight CFDST stub columns confined by FRP and a concrete-filled steel tubular (CFST) stub column confined by FRP, respectively. The influences of hollow section ratio, FRP wall thickness and fibre longitudinal-circumferential proportion on the load-strain curve and the concrete stress-strain curve for stub columns with annular section were discussed. The test results displayed that the FRP jacket can obviously enhance the carrying capacity of stub columns. Based on the test results, a new model which includes the effects of confinement factor, hollow section ratio and lateral confining pressure of the outer steel tube was proposed to calculate the compressive strength of confined concrete. Using the present concrete strength model, the formula to predict the carrying capacity of CFDST stub columns confined by FRP was derived. The theoretically predicted results agree well with those obtained from the experiments and FE analysis. The present method is also adapted to calculate the carrying capacity of CFST stub columns confined by FRP.

• 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.43 no.2
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• pp.257-270
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• 2022

Recycled aggregate concrete (RAC) is rarely used in load-carrying structural members. To widen its structural application, the compressive behavior of a promising type of composite column, steel-fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) double-tube confined RAC column, has been experimentally and analytically investigated in this study. The objectives are the different performance of such columns from their counterparts using natural aggregate concrete (NAC) and the different mechanisms of the double-tube and single-tube confined concrete. The single-tube confined concrete refers to that in concrete-filled steel tubular (CFST) columns and concrete-filled FRP tubular (CFFT) columns. The test results showed that the use of recycled coarse aggregates (RCA) affected the axial load-strain response in terms of deformation capacity but such effect could be eliminated with the increasing confinement. The composite effect can be triggered by the double confinement of the steel and carbon FRP (CFRP) tubes but not by the steel and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) FRP tubes. The proposed analysis-oriented stress-strain model is capable to capture the load-deformation history of such steel-FRP double-tube confined concrete columns under axial compression.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.95-109
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• 2020

This paper aims to analytically study the effect of loading conditions and confinement type on the mechanical properties of the concrete-steel composite columns under axial compressive loading. The axial loading is applied to the composite columns in the two ways; only on the concrete core, and on the concrete core and steel tube simultaneously, which are called steel tube-confined concrete (STCC) and concrete-filled steel tube (CFST) columns, respectively. In addition, the confinement is investigated in the three types of passive, short-term active and long-term active confinement. Nonlinear finite element 3D models for analyzing these columns are developed using the ABAQUS program, and then these models are verified with respect to the recent experimental results reported by the authors on the STCC and CFST columns experiencing active and passive confinements. Axial and lateral stress-strain curves as well as the failure mode for qualitative verification, and compressive strength for quantitative verification are considered. It is found that there is a good consistency between the finite element analysis results and the experimental ones. In addition, a parametric study is performed to evaluate the effect of axial loading type, prestressing ratio, concrete compressive strength and steel tube diameter-to-wall thickness ratio on the compressive behavior of the composite columns. Finally, the compressive strength results of CFST specimens obtained via the finite element analysis are compared with the values specified by the international codes and standards including EC4, CSA, ACI-318, and AISC, with the results showing that ACI-318 and AISC underestimate the compressive strength of the composite columns, while EC4 and CSA codes present overestimated values.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.299-314
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• 2017

The aim of this paper is to investigate the performance of Lightweight Aggregate Concrete Filled Steel Tube (LWCFST) columns experimentally and compare to the behavior of Self-Compacted Concrete Filled Steel Tube (SCCFST) columns under axial loading. Four different L/D ratios and three D/t ratios were used in the experimental program to delve into the compression behaviours. Compressive strength of the LWC and SCC are 33.47 MPa and 39.71 MPa, respectively. Compressive loading versus end shortening curves and the failure mode of sixteen specimens were compared and discussed. The design specification formulations of AIJ 2001, AISC 360-16, and EC4 were also assessed against test results to underline the performance of specification methods in predicting the compression capacity of LWCFST and SCCFST columns. Based on the behaviour of the SCCFST columns, LWCFST columns exhibited different performances, especially in ductility and failure mode. The nature of the utilized lightweight aggregate led to local buckling mode to be dominant in LWCFST columns, even the long LWCFST specimens suffered from this behaviour. While with the SCCFST specimens the global buckling governed the failure mode of long specimens without any loss in capacity. Considering a wide range of column geometries (short, medium and long columns), this paper extends the current knowledge in composite construction by examining the potential of two promising and innovative structural concrete types in CFST applications.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.343-350
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• 2020

Concrete-filled steel tubular (CFST) members have been widely used in engineering, and their tube diameters have become larger and larger. But there is no research on the thermal field of large-diameter CFST structure. These studies focused on the thermal field of the large-diameter CFST structure under solar radiation. The environmental factors and the actual placement position were considered, and the finite element model (FEM) of the thermal field of CFST members under solar radiation (SR) was established. Then the FEM was verified by practical experiments. The most unfavorable temperature gradient model in the cross-section was proposed. The testing results showed that the temperature field of the large-diameter CFST member section was non-linearly distributed due to the influence of SR. The temperature field results of CFST members with different pipe diameters indicated that the larger the core concrete diameter was, the slower the central temperature changed, and there was a significant temperature difference between the center and the boundary. Based on the numerical model, the most unfavorable temperature gradient model in the section was proposed. The model showed that the temperature difference around the center of the circle is small, and the boundary temperature difference is significant. The maximum temperature difference is 15.22℃, which appeared in the southern boundary area of the specimen. Therefore, it is necessary to consider the influence of SR on the thermal field of the member for large-diameter CFST members in actual engineering, which causes a large temperature gradient in the member.

• International journal of steel structures
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.1306-1317
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• 2018

For determining the in-plane buckling resistance of a concrete-filled steel tubular (CFST) arch, the current technical code GB50923-2013 specifies the use of an equivalent beam-column method which ignores the effect of rise-to-span ratio. This may induce a gap between the calculated result and actual stability capacity. In this study, a FE model is used to predict the buckling behavior of CFST truss arches subjected to uniformly distributed loads. The influence of rise-to-span ratio on the capacity of truss arches is investigated, and it is found that the stability capacity reduces as rise-to-span ratio declines. Besides, the calculations of equivalent slenderness ratio for different truss sections are made to consider the effect of shear deformation. Moreover, based on FE results, a new design equation is proposed to predict the in-plane strength of CFST parabolic truss arches under uniformly distributed loads.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.44 no.1
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• pp.119-139
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• 2022

This paper aims to use the artificial intelligence approach to develop a new model for predicting the ultimate axial strength of the circular concrete-filled steel tubular (CFST) stub columns. For this, the results of 314 experimentally tested circular CFST stub columns were employed in the generation of the design model. Since the influence of the column diameter, steel tube thickness, concrete compressive strength, steel tube yield strength, and column length on the ultimate axial strengths of columns were investigated in these experimental studies, here, in the development of the design model, these variables were taken into account as input parameters. The model was developed using the backpropagation algorithm named Bayesian Regularization. The accuracy, reliability, and consistency of the developed model were evaluated statistically, and also the design formulae given in the codes (EC4, ACI, AS, AIJ, and AISC) and the previous empirical formulations proposed by other researchers were used for the validation and comparison purposes. Based on this evaluation, it can be expressed that the developed design model has a strong and reliable prediction performance with a considerably high coefficient of determination (R-squared) value of 0.9994 and a low average percent error of 4.61. Besides, the sensitivity of the developed model was also monitored in terms of dimensional properties of columns and mechanical characteristics of materials. As a consequence, it can be stated that for the design of the ultimate axial capacity of the circular CFST stub columns, a novel artificial intelligence-based design model with a good and robust prediction performance was proposed herein.

• International journal of steel structures
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• v.18 no.5
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• pp.1666-1683
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• 2018

To explore seismic behavior of blind bolted concrete-filled steel tube (CFST) frames infilled with precast sandwich composite wall panels (SCWPs), a series tests of blind bolted square CFST frames with precast SCWPs under lateral low-cyclic loading were conducted. The influence of the type of wall concrete, wall-to-frame connection and steel brace setting, etc. on the hysteretic curves and failure modes of the type of composite structure was investigated. The seismic behavior of the blind bolted CFST frames with precast SCWPs was evaluated in terms of lateral load-displacement relation curves, strength and stiffness degradation, crack patterns of SCWPs, energy dissipation capacity and ductility. Then, a finite element (FE) analysis modeling using ABAQUS software was developed in considering the nonlinear material properties and complex components interaction. Comparison indicated that the FE analytical results coincided well with the test results. Both the experimental and numerical results indicated that setting the external precast SCWPs could heighten the load carrying capacities and rigidities of the blind bolted CFST frames by using reasonable connectors between frame and SCWPs. These experimental studies and FE analysis would enable improvement in the practical design of the SCWPs in fabricated CFST structure buildings.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.181-194
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• 2017

In order to investigate the interface debonding defects detection mechanism between steel tube and concrete core of concrete-filled steel tubes (CFSTs), multi-physical fields coupling finite element models constituted of a surface mounted Piezoceramic Lead Zirconate Titanate (PZT) actuator, an embedded PZT sensor and a circular cross section of CFST column are established. The stress wave initiation and propagation induced by the PZT actuator under sinusoidal and sweep frequency excitations are simulated with a two dimensional (2D) plain strain analysis and the difference of stress wave fields close to the interface debonding defect and within the cross section of the CFST members without and with debonding defects are compared in time domain. The linearity and stability of the embedded PZT response under sinusoidal signals with different frequencies and amplitudes are validated. The relationship between the amplitudes of stress wave and the measurement distances in a healthy CFST cross section is also studied. Meanwhile, the responses of PZT sensor under both sinusoidal and sweep frequency excitations are compared and the influence of debonding defect depth and length on the output voltage is also illustrated. The results show the output voltage signal amplitude and head wave arriving time are affected significantly by debonding defects. Moreover, the measurement of PZT sensor is sensitive to the initiation of interface debonding defects. Furthermore, wavelet packet analysis on the voltage signal under sweep frequency excitations is carried out and a normalized wavelet packet energy index (NWPEI) is defined to identify the interfacial debonding. The value of NWPEI attenuates with the increase in the dimension of debonding defects. The results help understand the debonding defects detection mechanism for circular CFST members with PZT technique.