• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.29 no.6
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• pp.689-701
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• 2018

Corrosion of steel reinforcement is a principal cause of deterioration of RC columns. Making these corrosion-damaged columns conform to new safety regulations and functions is a tremendous technological challenge. This study presented an experimental investigation on steel-concrete jacketed corrosion-damaged RC columns. The influences of steel jacket thickness and concrete strength on the enhancement performance of the strengthened specimens were investigated. The results showed that the use of steel-concrete jacketing is efficient since the stub strengthened columns behaved in a more ductile manner. Moreover, the ultimate strength of the corrosion-damaged RC columns is increased by an average of 5.3 times, and the ductility is also significantly improved by the strengthening method. The bearing capacity of the strengthening columns increases with the steel tube thickness increasing, and the strengthening concrete strength has a positive impact on both bearing capacity, whereas a negative influence on the ductility. Subsequently, a numerical model was developed to predict the behavior of the retrofitted columns. The model takes into account corrosion-damage of steel rebar and confining enhancement supplied by the steel tube. Comparative results with the experimental results indicated that the developed numerical model is an effective simulation. Based on extensive verified numerical studies, a design equation was proposed and found to predict well the ultimate eccentric strength of the strengthened columns.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.13-25
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• 2019

Reactive powder concrete (RPC) is a type of ultra-high strength concrete that has a relatively high brittleness. However, its ductility can be improved by confinement, and the use of RPC in composite RPC filled steel tube columns has become an important subject of research in recent years. This paper aims to present an experimental study of axial capacity calculation of RPC filled circular steel tube columns. Twenty short columns under axial compression were tested and information on their failure patterns, deformation performance, confinement mechanism and load capacity were presented. The effects of load conditions, diameter-thickness ratio and compressive strength of RPC on the axial behavior were further discussed. The experimental results show that: (1) specimens display drum-shaped failure or shear failure respectively with different confinement coefficients, and the load capacity of most specimens increases after the peak load; (2) the steel tube only provides lateral confinement in the elastic-plastic stage for fully loaded specimens, while the confinement effect from steel tube initials at the set of loading for partially loaded specimens; (3) confinement increases the load capacity of specimens by 3% to 38%, and this increase is more pronounced as the confinement coefficient becomes larger; (4) the residual capacity-to-ultimate capacity ratio is larger than 0.75 for test specimens, thus identifying the composite columns have good ductility. The working mechanism and force model of the composite columns were analyzed, and based on the twin-shear unified strength theory, calculation methods of axial capacity for columns with two load conditions were established.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.501-511
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• 2018

Concrete-filled steel tubular (CFT) columns are commonly used in engineering structures and always subjected to torsion in practice. This paper is thus devoted to investigate the mechanical behavior of circular CFT columns under pure torsion.3D finite element models based on reasonable material constitutive relation were established for analyzing the load-strain ($T-{\gamma}$) curves of circular CFT columns under pure torsion. The numerical simulation indicated that local bulking of the steel tube in CFT columns was prevented and the shear strength and ductility of the core concrete were significantly improved due to the confinement effect between the steel tube and the core concrete. Based on the results, formulas to predict the torsional ultimate bearing capacity of circular CFT columns were proposed with satisfactory correspondence with experimental results. Besides, formulas of composite shear stiffness and the overall process of the $T-{\gamma}$ relation of circular CFT columns under pure torsion were proposed.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.241-256
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• 2010

The interaction between steel tube and concrete core is the key issue for understanding the behavior of concrete-filled steel tube columns (CFTs). This study investigates the force transfer by natural bond or by mechanical shear connectors and the interaction between the steel tube and the concrete core under three types of loading. Two and three-dimensional nonlinear finite element models are developed to study the force transfer between steel tube and concrete core. The nonlinear finite element program ABAQUS is used. Material and geometric nonlinearities of concrete and steel are considered in the analysis. The damage plasticity model provided by ABAQUS is used to simulate the concrete material behavior. Comparisons between the finite element analyses and own experimental results are made to verify the finite element models. A good agreement is observed between the numerical and experimental results. Parametric studies using the numerical models are performed to investigate the effects of diameterto-thickness ratio, uniaxial compressive strength of concrete, length of shear connectors, and the tensile strength of shear connectors.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.527-552
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• 2014

The development of modern concrete technology makes it much easier to produce high-strength concrete (HSC) or ultra-high-strength concrete (UHSC) with high workability. However, the application of this concrete is limited in practical construction of traditional reinforced concrete (RC) structures due to low-ductility performance. To further push up the limit of the design concrete strength, concrete-filled-steel-tube (CFST) columns have been recommended considering its superior strength and ductility performance. However, the beneficial composite action cannot be fully developed at early elastic stage as steel dilates more than concrete and thereby reducing the elastic strength and stiffness of the CFST columns. To resolve this problem, external confinement in the form of steel rings is proposed in this study to restrict the lateral dilation of concrete and steel. In this paper, a total of 29 high-strength CFST (HSCFST) columns of various dimensions cast with concrete strength of 75 to 120 MPa concrete and installed with external steel rings were tested under uni-axial compression. From the results, it can be concluded that the proposed ring installation can further improve both strength and ductility of HSCFST columns by restricting the column dilation. Lastly, an analytical model calculating the uni-axial strength of ring-confined HSCFST columns is proposed and verified based on the Von-Mises and Mohr-Coulomb failure criteria for steel tube and in-filled concrete, respectively.

• International Journal of High-Rise Buildings
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.223-232
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• 2018

Two novel types of construction detailings, including using the distributive beam and the inner ring diaphragm in the joint between large-section CFT columns and outrigger truss to enhance the transferring efficiency of huge vertical load, and using the T-shaped stiffeners in the steel tube of large-section CFT columns to promote the local buckling capacity of steel tubes, were tested to investigate their working mechanism and design methods. Experimental results show that the co-working performance between steel tube and inner concrete could be significantly improved by setting the distributive beam and the inner ring diaphragm which can transfer the vertical load directly in the large-section CFT columns. Meanwhile, the T-shaped stiffeners are very helpful to improve the local bulking performance of steel tubes in the column components by the composite action of T-shaped stiffeners together with the core concrete under the range of flange of T-shaped stiffeners. These two approaches can result in a lower steel cost in comparison to normal steel reinforced concrete columns. Finally, a practical engineering case was introduced to illustrate the economy benefits achieved by using the two typical detailings.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.47 no.1
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• pp.121-134
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• 2023

This paper tested 11 concrete-encased concrete-filled steel tube (CFST) composite columns and one reinforced concrete column under combined axial compression and lateral loads. The primary parameters, including the loading system, axial compression ratio, volume stirrup ratio, diameter-to-thickness ratio of the steel tube, and stirrup form, were varied. The influence of the parameters on the failure mode, strength, ductility, energy dissipation, strength degradation, and damage evolution of the composite columns were revealed. Moreover, a two-parameter nonlinear seismic damage model for composite columns was established, which can reflect the degree and development process of the seismic damage. In addition, the relationships among the inter-story drift ratio, damage index and seismic performance level of composite columns were established to provide a theoretical basis for seismic performance design and damage assessments.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.323-337
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• 2017

This paper presents the results of a comprehensive experimental investigation on the compressive behaviour of steel tube-confined concrete (STCC) stub columns with active and passive confinement. To create active confinement in STCC columns, an innovative technique is used in which steel tube is laterally pre-tensioned while the concrete core is simultaneously pre-compressed by applying pressure on fresh concrete. A total of 135 STCC specimens with active and passive confinement are tested under axial compression load and their compressive strength, ultimate strain capacity, axial and lateral stress-strain curves and failure mode are evaluated. The test variables include concrete compressive strength, outer diameter to wall thickness ratio of steel tube and prestressing level. It is shown that applying active confinement on STCC specimens can considerably improve their mechanical properties. However, applying higher prestressing levels and keeping the applied pressure for a long time do not considerably affect the mechanical properties of actively confined specimens. Based on the results of this study, new empirical equations are proposed to estimate the axial strength and ultimate strain capacity of STCC stub columns with active and passive confinement.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.309-322
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• 2017

This paper conducted both numerical and theoretical studies to investigate the composite action of notched circular concrete-filled steel tubular (CFT) stub columns under axial compression and established a theoretical method to predict their ultimate bearing capacity. 3D finite element (FE) analysis was conducted to simulate the composite action and the results were in good agreement with experimental results on circular CFT stub columns with differently oriented notches in steel tubes. Parametric study was conducted to understand the effects of different parameters on the mechanical behavior of circular CFT stub columns and also the composite action between the steel tube and the core concrete. Based on the results, a theoretical formula was proposed to calculate the ultimate bearing capacity of notched CFT stub columns under compression with consideration of the composite action between the steel tube and the core concrete.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.13 no.5
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• pp.451-471
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• 2012

Concrete filled steel tube (CFST) structures have been used widely in high-rise buildings and bridges due to the efficiency of structurally favourable interaction between the steel tube and the concrete core. In the current design codes only one loading condition in the column members is considered, i.e., the load is applied on the steel tube and concrete core at the same time. However, in engineering practice the tube structures may be subjected to various loading conditions such as loading on the concrete core only, preloading on the steel tube skeleton before filling of concrete core, and so on. In this research, a series of comparative experiments were carried out to study the structural performance of concrete filled circular steel tube columns subject to four concentric loading schemes. Then, a generalized prediction method is developed to evaluate the ultimate load capacity of CFST columns subject to various loading conditions. It is shown that the predictions by the proposed method agree well with test results.