• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.42 no.1
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• pp.91-106
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• 2022

Concrete-filled square stainless steel tubes (CFSSST), which possess relatively large flexural stiffness, high corrosion resistance and require simple joint configurations and low maintenance cost, have a great potential in constructional applications. Despite that the use of stainless steel may result in high initial cost compared to their conventional carbon steel counterparts, the whole-life cost of CFSSST is however considered to be lower, which offers a competitive choice in engineering practice. In this paper, a comprehensive experimental and numerical program on 24 CFSSST stub column specimens, including 3 austenitic and 3 duplex stainless steel square hollow section (SHS) stub columns and 9 austenitic and 9 duplex CFSSST stub columns, has been carried out. Finite element (FE) models were developed to be used in parametric analysis to investigate the influence of the tube thickness and concrete strength on the ultimate capacities more accurately. Comparisons of the experimental and numerical results with the predictions made by design guides ACI 318, ANSI/AISC 360, Eurocode 4 and GB 50936 have been performed. It was found that these design methods generally give conservative predictions to the ultimate capacities of CFSSST stub columns. Improved calculation methods, developed based on the Continuous Strength Method, have been proposed to provide more accurate estimations of the ultimate resistances of CFSSST stub columns. The suitability of these proposals has been validated by comparison with the test results, where a good agreement between the predictions and the test results have been achieved.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.1487-1505
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• 2016

This paper presents the results of an experimental study on the behavior of a new type of composite FRP-concrete-steel member subjected to bi-axial eccentric loading. This new type of composite member is in the form of concrete-filled square steel tube slender columns with inner CFRP (carbon fiber-reinforced polymer) circular tube, composed of an inner CFRP tube and an outer steel tube with concrete filled in the two tubes. Tests on twenty-six specimens of high strength concrete-filled square steel tube columns with inner CFRP circular tube columns (HCFST-CFRP) were carried out. The parameters changed in the experiments include the slenderness ratio, eccentric ratio, concrete strength, steel ratio and CFRP ratio. The experimental results showed that the failure mode of HCFST-CFRP was similar to that of HCFST, and the specimens failed by local buckling because of the increase of lateral deflection. The steel tube and the CFRP worked together well before failure under bi-axial eccentric loading. Ductility of HCFST-CFRP was better than that of HCFST. The ultimate bearing capacity of test specimen was calculated with simplified formula, which agreed well with test results, and the simplified formula can be used to calculate the bearing capacity of HCFSTF within the parameters of this test.

• Progress in Superconductivity and Cryogenics
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.11-15
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• 2018

Torque tubes in High Temperature Superconducting (HTS) motor transfer torque from superconducting field winding rotor to the room temperature shaft. It should have minimum heat conduction property for minimizing the load on cryo-refrigerator. Generally, these torque tubes are made with stainless steel material because of high strength, very low outgassing and low thermal contraction properties at cryogenic temperatures and vacuum conditions. With recent developments in composite materials, these torque tubes could be made of composites such as Kevlar and S-Glass, which have the required properties like high strength and low thermal conductivity at cryogenic temperatures, but with a reduced weight. Development and testing of torque tubes made of these composites for HTS motor are taken up at Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL), Hyderabad in collaboration with Central Institute of Plastics and Engineering Technology (CIPET), Chennai and Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kharagpur. As these materials are subjected to vacuum, it is important to measure their outgassing rates under vacuum conditions before manufacturing prototype torque tubes. The present study focusses on the outgassing characteristics of Kevlar and S-Glass, using an Outgassing Measurement System (OMS), developed at IIT Kharagpur. The OMS facility works under vacuum environment, in which the test samples are exposed to vacuum conditions over a sufficient period of time. The outgassing measurements for the composite samples were obtained using pressure-rise technique. These studies are useful to quantify the outgassing rate of composite materials under vacuum conditions and to suggest them for manufacturing composite torque tubes used in HTS motors.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Heat Treatment
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.165-172
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• 2004

Compared with the hydroforming technology for steel, the hydroforming technology for aluminum has not been actively investigated. Recently, the hydroforming of high strength aluminum tubes has attracted great interest because of its good strength to weight ratio. In this study, front side member (FSM) is fabricated with the hydroforming of aluminum tube and the mechanical properties and dimensional accuracy of the hydroformed FSM is investigated. For hydroforming process, extruded aluminum tubes with ribs to improve the structural rigidity are used. To ensure the mechanical properties, the aluminum tubes are T6 heat-treated before hydroforming.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.509-523
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• 2018

This paper presents experimental results on the residual bond-slip behavior of high strength concrete-filled square steel tube (HSCFST) after elevated temperatures. Three parameters were considered in this test: (a) temperature (i.e., $20^{\circ}C$, $200^{\circ}C$, $400^{\circ}C$, $600^{\circ}C$, $800^{\circ}C$); (b) concrete strength (i.e., C60, C70, C80); (c) anchorage length (i.e., 250 mm, 400 mm). A total of 17 HSCFST specimens were designed for push-out test after elevated temperatures. The load-slip curves at the loading end and free end were obtained, in addition, the distribution of steel tube strain and the bond stress along the anchorage length were analyzed. Test results show that the shape of load-slip curves at loading ends and free ends are similar. With the temperature constantly increasing, the bond strength of HSCFST increases first and then decreases; furthermore, the bond strength of HSCFCT proportionally increases with the anchoring length growing. Additionally, the higher the temperature is, the smaller and lower the bond damage develops. The energy dissipation capacity enhances with the concrete strength rasing, while, decreases with the temperature growing. What is more, the strain and stress of steel tubes are exponentially distributed, and decrease from the free end to loading end. According to experimental findings, constitutive formula of the bond slip of HSCFST experienced elevated temperatures is proposed, which fills well with test data.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.42 no.4
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• pp.459-475
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• 2022

In this paper a model for the prediction of the ultimate axial compressive capacity of square and rectangular Concrete Filled Steel Tubes, based on an Artificial Neural Network modeling procedure is presented. The model is trained and tested using an experimental database, compiled for this reason from the literature that amounts to 1193 specimens, including long, thin-walled and high-strength ones. The proposed model was selected as the optimum from a plethora of alternatives, employing different activation functions in the context of Artificial Neural Network technique. The performance of the developed model was compared against existing methodologies from design codes and from proposals in the literature, employing several performance indices. It was found that the proposed model achieves remarkably improved predictions of the ultimate axial load.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.28 no.1A
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• pp.69-78
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• 2008

In this study, in order to verify the reinforcement effects of the cracked concrete tubes and culverts, static load test was conducted. After the load carrying capacity of the original concrete tubes (nominal diameter 0.8 m, 1.0 m, 1.5 m) and box culverts (inner width 2.0 m. 2.5 m) was reduced by the cracking test, the cracked concrete specimens were strengthened by installing profile with steel stiffener and high strength mortar. And then, the maximum load tests were conducted the renewal concrete tubes and box culverts. According to the method application, the load carrying capacity increased 1.66~3.50 times than it of the original tubes before applying the method. In case of the original box culverts, the load carrying capacity increased 1.66~3.10 times than the case before installing profile and high strength mortar. Also non-linear analysis was carried out by using the commercial FEM program of ABAQUS 6.6. Solid (C3D8R) elements and concrete damage plasticity option was applied to the analysis. For reflecting confined reinforcing bars in the analysis, the composite material properties were used.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.13 no.5
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• pp.423-436
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• 2012

In this study total of six buckling-restrained braces (BRBs) were manufactured using a square steel rod as a load-resisting core member and a hollow steel tube as restrainer to prevent global buckling of the core. The gap between the core and the tube was filled with steel rods as filler material. The performances of the proposed BRB from uniaxial and subassemblage tests were compared with those of the specimens filled with mortar. The test results showed that the performance of the BRB with discontinuous steel rods as filler material was not satisfactory, whereas the BRBs with continuous steel rods as filler material showed good performance when the external tubes were strong enough against buckling. It was observed that the buckling strength of the external tube of the BRBs filled with steel rods needs to be at least twice as high as that of the BRBs filled with mortar to ensure high cumulative plastic deformation of the BRB.

• 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.

• 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.