• International journal of steel structures
• /
• v.18 no.5
• /
• pp.1577-1588
• /
• 2018

As the excellent mechanical performance and easy construction of concrete filled steel tubes (CFST) composite structure, it has the potential to be used to strengthen RC pier columns. Therefore, tests were conducted on 2 reinforcement concrete (RC) stub columns and 9 RC columns strengthened with circular CFST under axial loading. The test results show that the circular CFST strengthening method is effective since the mean bearing capacity of the RC columns is increased at least 3.69 times and the ductility index is significantly improved more than 30%. One of the reasons for enhancement is obvious confinement provided by steel tube besides the additional bearing capacity supplied by the strengthening materials. From the analysis of the enhancement ratio, the strengthening structure has at least an extra 20% amplification except for taking full advantage of the strength of the strengthening material. Through the analysis of confining stress provided by steel tube and the stress-strain relationship of confined concrete, it is found that the strength of the core concrete can be increased by 21-33% and the ultimate strain can be enhanced to beyond $15,000{\mu}{\varepsilon}$.

• Steel and Composite Structures
• /
• v.20 no.6
• /
• pp.1193-1203
• /
• 2016

This paper focuses on the analytical behavior of modular circular concrete-filled tubular (CFT) column with enhanced bracing details. To design a full-scale bridge pier of multiple circular concrete-filled tubes, numerical analysis was used to evaluate structural performance according to load directivity. In previous research (Ma et al. 2012, Shim et al. 2014), low cycle fatigue failure at bracing joints was observed, so enhanced bracing details to prevent premature failure are proposed in this analysis. The main purpose of this research is to investigate seismic performance for the diagonal direction load without premature failure at the joints when the structure reaches the ultimate load. The ABAQUS finite-element software is used to evaluate experimental performance. A quasi-static loading condition on a modular bridge pier is introduced to investigate structural performance. The results obtained from the analysis are evaluated by comparing with load-displacement responses from experiments. The concrete-filled tubes with enhanced bracing details showed higher energy dissipation capacity and proper performance without connection failure for a diagonal load.

• Steel and Composite Structures
• /
• v.48 no.4
• /
• pp.461-474
• /
• 2023

Concrete-filled steel tubes are among the most efficient compressive structural members because the strength of the concrete is enhanced given that the surrounding steel tube confines the concrete laterally and the steel tube is restrained with regard to inward deformation due to the concrete existing inside. Accurate estimations of the ultimate compressive strength of CFT are important for efficient designs of CFT members. In this study, an analytical procedure that directly formulates the interaction between the concrete and steel tube by considering the nonlinear Poisson effect and stress-strain curve of the concrete including the confinement effect is proposed. The failure stress of concrete and von-Mises failure yield criterion of steel were used to consider multi-dimensional stresses. To verify the prediction capabilities of the proposed analytical procedure, 99 circular CFT experimental data instances from other studies were used for a comparison with AISC, Eurocode 4, and other researchers' predictions. From the comparison, it was revealed that the proposed procedure more accurately predicted the ultimate compressive strength of a circular CFT regardless of the range of the design variables, in this case the concrete compressive strength, yield strength of the steel tube and diameter relative to the thickness ratio of the tube.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
• /
• v.24 no.4
• /
• pp.463-478
• /
• 2006

The design of structural frameworks for buildings is constantly evolving and is dependent on regional issues such as loading and constructability. One of the most promising recent developments for low to medium rise construction in terms of efficiency of construction, robustness and aesthetic appearance utilises concrete-filled steel tubular sections as the columns in a moment-resisting frame. These are coupled to rigid or semi-rigid connections to composite steel-concrete beams. This paper includes the results of a pilot experimental programme leading towards the development of economical, reliable connections that are easily constructed for this type of frame. The connections must provide the requisite strength, stiffness and ductility to suit gravity loading conditions as well as gravity combined with the governing lateral wind or earthquake loading. The aim is to develop connections that are stiffer, less expensive and easier to construct than those in current use. A proposed fabricated T-stub connection is to be used to connect the beam flanges and the column. These T-stubs are connected to the column using "blind bolts" with extensions, allowing installation from the outside of the tube. In general, the use of the extensions results in a dramatic increase in the strength and stiffness of the T-stub to column connection in tension, since the load is shared between membrane action in the tube wall and the anchorage of the bolts through the extensions into the concrete.

• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
• /
• v.24 no.6
• /
• pp.725-734
• /
• 2012

A new modular pier system using concrete filled circular steel tubes was suggested to realize modular bridge substructures for accelerated bridge construction. Structural details and connection details were proposed by connection multiple concrete filled tubes (CFT) for standardized products of fabrication, delivery and erection. Static tests were performed for the modular pier with suggested details under lateral load conditions for weak and strong axes. Due to the eccentricity by the bracing system, the modular pier showed 5.23 times higher flexural stiffness and 6 times greater flexural strength from the test. It is proper for the rational design to evaluate stress and deformation by frame modeling of the modular CFT pier. Structural capacity of the pier can be obtained by adjusting the spacing of the CFT columns. Design recommendations were derived from the test.

• Steel and Composite Structures
• /
• v.37 no.5
• /
• pp.533-549
• /
• 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
• /
• v.26 no.4
• /
• pp.485-499
• /
• 2018

In this paper, a hollow steel tube (HST) shear connector is proposed for use in a slim-floor system. The HST welded to a perforated steel beam web and embedded in concrete slab. A total of 10 push-out tests were conducted under static loading to investigate the mechanical behavior of the proposed HST connector. The variables were the shapes (circular, square and rectangular) and sizes of hollow steel tubes, and the compressive strength of the concrete. The failure mode was recorded as: concrete slab compressive failure under the steel tube and concrete tensile splitting failure, where no failure occurred in the HST. Test results show that the square shape HST in filled via concrete strength 40 MPa carried the highest shear load value, showing three times more than the reference specimens. It also recorded less slip behavior, and less compressive failure mode in concrete underneath the square hollow connector in comparison with the circular and rectangular HST connectors in both concrete strengths. The rectangular HST shows a 20% higher shear resistance with a longer width in the load direction in comparison with that in the smaller dimension. The energy absorption capacity values showed 23% and 18% improvements with the square HST rather than a headed shear stud when embedded in concrete strengths of 25 MPa and 40 MPa, respectively. Moreover, an analytical method was proposed and predicts the shear resistance of the HST shear connectors with a standard deviation of 0.14 considering the shape and size of the connectors.

• Computers and Concrete
• /
• v.33 no.6
• /
• pp.643-658
• /
• 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 the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
• /
• v.10 no.4 s.50
• /
• pp.85-94
• /
• 2006

In the design of bridge piers in seismic area, the ductility requirement is the most important factor. In order to enhance the seismic performance of RC columns, it is necessary to make the ductility of columns larger by covering RC columns with steel tubes or confining RC columns by arranging transverse reinforcements such as hoop ties closely. Using core steel composite columns is useful as one of the reinforcing RC columns. In this paper, quasi-static tests on concrete encased composite columns with single core steel or multiple steel elements were performed to investigate the seismic performance of the composite columns. Eight concrete-encased composite specimens were fabricated. The cross-sections of these specimens are composed of concrete-encased H-shaped structural steel columns and a concrete-encased circular tube with partial in-filled concrete. Test parameters were the amount of the transverse reinforcements, type and number of encased steel member. Through the tests, it was evaluated the ductility of SRC composite specimens. It has become clear from the test results that encased steel elements makes the deformation capacity of the columns to be larger. The displacement ductility and lateral strength of specimen with concrete-encased circular tube were indicated the biggest value.

• Steel and Composite Structures
• /
• v.44 no.3
• /
• pp.423-436
• /
• 2022

This paper proposes an innovative thin-walled square concrete filled steel tubular (CFST) column with an octagonal/circular lining steel tube, in which the outer steel tube and the inner liner are fabricated independently of each other and connected by slot-weld or self-tapping screw connections. Twelve thin-walled square CFST columns were tested under quasi-static loading, considering the parameters of liner type, connection type between the square tube and liner, yield strength of steel tube, and the axial load ratio. The seismic performance of the thin-walled square CFST columns is effectively improved by the octagonal and circular liners, and all the liner-stiffened specimens showed an excellent ductile behavior with the ultimate draft ratios being much larger than 1/50 and the ductility coefficients being generally higher than 4.0. The energy dissipation abilities of the specimens with circular liners and self-tapping screw connections were superior to those with octagonal liner and slot-weld connections. Based on the test results, both the finite element (FE) and simplified theoretical models were established, considering the post-buckling strength of the thin-walled square steel tube and the confinement effect of the liners, and the proposed models well predicted the hysteretic behavior of the liner-stiffened specimens.