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Seismic behavior of thin-walled circular and stiffened square steel

tubed-reinforced-concrete columns
1,2* 1,2 1,2 1,2
GAN Dan , ZHOU XuHong , LIU JiePeng & LI Jiang
1
Key Laboratory of New Technology for Construction of Cities in Mountain Area (Ministry of Education), Chongqing University,
Chongqing 400045, China;
2
School of Civil Engineering, Chongqing University, Chongqing 400045, China

Received December 20, 2017; accepted September 27, 2018; published online December 21, 2018

Steel tubed-reinforced-concrete (TRC) columns have been gradually used in the construction of high-rise buildings recently
because of their high axial load-carrying capacities and excellent seismic behavior. Existing studies about their seismic behavior
were focused on columns with relatively thick tubes, i.e., diameter-to-thickness/width-to-thickness (D/t) ratios were below 100,
while little is known about thin-walled TRC columns, especially for square TRC columns. Considering the infilled concrete of
square TRC columns is non-uniformly and non-effectively confined, accordingly, stiffened square TRC columns are usually
adopted in practice. Thus, two thin-walled circular TRC columns (D/t=120) and two stiffened square ones with diagonal
stiffeners in plastic hinge regions (D/t=106) were tested under a constant axial compression combined with cyclic lateral loading.
Both the circular and stiffened square TRC columns had the same cross sectional area, tube thickness, reinforcing bar ratio and
column height. Flexural failure occurred for all the four specimens. Test results showed the strengths of the stiffened square TRC
columns were a little higher in comparison to their circular counterparts; the ductility and energy dissipation capacities were
excellent for both the stiffened and circular TRC columns, indicating very good confinement was gained from the yielded steel
tubes of the plastic hinge regions at the peak loads. And shear stresses (35–90 MPa) in the sheared plates showed their moderate
contribution of carrying lateral loads. Finally, cross sectional capacity analysis results demonstrated the method for TRC
columns is acceptable for the stiffened square TRC columns.
steel tubed-reinforced-concrete column, concrete filled steel tube, composite column, cyclic behavior, steel jacket

Citation: Gan D, Zhou X H, Liu J P, et al. Seismic behavior of thin-walled circular and stiffened square steel tubed-reinforced-concrete columns. Sci China
Tech Sci, 2018, 61, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11431-017-9365-0

1 Introduction flexural moments in practice. TRC columns are also similar

Tubed-reinforced-concrete (TRC) columns shown in Figure
1(a) and (b) are a kind of special concrete-filled tube (CFT)
columns, in which the outer thin-walled steel tube does not
pass through the beam-column joint and thus can avoid the
direct transfer of an axial load and maximize the confinement
effect from the steel tube [1,2]. Besides, TRC columns are
different from CFT columns that reinforcement embedded in
the in-filled concrete is a must to sustain tensile forces and
*Corresponding author (email: gandan@cqu.edu.cn)
to steel-jacketed RC columns which have become popular in
retrofitting concrete structures. Besides, they have been
gradually used in constructing new building structures and
bridge piers [3–5]. Recently, serving as columns of the
basement and the lower stories, the TRC columns have been
successfully applied in some high-rise buildings including
Tokyo Towers, Japan [6] and Harbin Poly Technology
Building, China (Figure 1(c)).
Extensive experimental studies have been conducted to
investigate the structural behavior of circular TRC beam-
columns with relatively thick tubes, i.e., diameter-to-thick-

© Science China Press and Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2018 tech.scichina.com link.springer.com
2 Gan D, et al.
Figure 1 (Color online) Tubed RC columns. (a) Circular shape; (b) square shape; (c) TRC columns in Harbin Poly Technology Building, China.
ness/width-to-thickness (D/t) ratios were below 100 [7,8].
Test results showed that the load-carrying capacities, de-
formational behavior and energy dissipation capacity of the
columns were superior. The circular steel tubes were effec-
tive in preventing a brittle shear failure of short RC columns
under earthquake actions.
However, little is known about the seismic behavior of
columns with larger D/t ratios (>100). As for square/rec-
tangular TRC columns, the infilled concrete is non-uni-
formly confined and the effectiveness of confinement is
much reduced when comparing with their circular counter-
parts. When square/rectangular columns were subjected to
severe earthquake actions, the deterioration of performance
was inevitable unless thick steel tubes were used, particularly
for columns subjected to high axial load levels [9]. Improved
seismic behavior of square/rectangular TRC columns using
steel jackets stiffened by crossed inner stiffeners [10], par-
tially thick plates [11] and diagonal stiffeners [12] in plastic
hinge regions demonstrated their enhancement of confine-
ment effect. Besides, square/rectangular CFT columns, stif-
fened with binding bars and stirrups, were proposed and
tested under axial and cyclic loading [13–15]. The above test
results showed that the stiffened square/rectangular steel
tubes were effective in improving the strength, ductility, and
energy dissipation capacity of both the TRC and CFT col-
Sci China Tech Sci
umns.
To enhance confinement on the infilled concrete, a stif-
fening method, as illustrated in Figure 1(b), using diagonal
stiffeners welded at adjacent interior sides of the square steel
tube at the flexural plastic hinge regions, was proposed by
the authors’ research group [12]. The test results showed the
stiffened method could improve the seismic behavior and
shear strength of square TRC columns.
By adopting the stiffened method, the concrete in the
plastic hinge regions can be well confined and the composite
response of stiffened square TRC columns can be sig-
nificantly improved. Besides, the stiffened tubes can provide
confinement to column longitudinal reinforcing bars, so the
use of stirrups may be avoided. Shop-fabricated steel tubes
can be used as formwork for casting the concrete and hence
ease the construction work. Furthermore, cold-formed thin-
walled steel tubes usually have certain cost advantages
comparing with hot rolled tubes.
To this date, information pertaining to cyclic behavior of
the TRC columns with larger D/t ratios (>100) is limited and
further investigation on the flexural behavior of square TRC
columns with diagonal stiffeners is still needed. Thus, to
facilitate the use of cold-formed circular and square steel
tubes with high D/t ratios (>100), two circular TRC columns
and two stiffened square ones, with the same cross sectional
 Gan D, et al.
area, tube thickness, longitudinal rebar ratio and column
height, were tested under a constant axial compression
combined with quasi-static cyclic lateral loading. The in-
vestigation in this paper is intended to (1) acquire in-depth
knowledge on the cyclic behavior of circular TRC columns
with large D/t ratio (>100); (2) to provide cyclic experi-
mental test results about thin-walled stiffened square TRC
columns; (3) to compare the cyclic behavior of thin-walled
circular and stiffened square TRC columns. Specifically, the
flexural failure mechanisms, the stress state under cyclic
loading, the effect of axial load level on the composite re-
sponse, deformation capacity and energy dissipation were
discussed.
2 Experimental program and results
2.1 Details of specimens
As shown in Figure 2, each column was rigidly supported by
the rigid beams at the top and bottom, thus simulating the
column in a real frame. The steel tubes were terminated at
15 mm away from each end of the column to avoid the direct
bearing of loads. The largely spaced stirrups in the circular
TRC column were expected to erect the longitudinal re-
inforcement only, although they might contribute a little to
the seismic performance. And no stirrup was used for the
stiffened square specimens because the tube stiffeners have
Figure 2 (Color online) Details of specimens (unit: mm).
Table 1 Parameters, nomenclature, and failure modes of the specimens
Group Specimens D (mm)
C-55-1.8-120-4
C-55-1.8-120 226
C-55-1.8-120-6
S-55-2-106-4
S-55-2-106 200
S-55-2-106-6
a) α is the steel ratio of the steel tube.
Sci China Tech Sci 3
the potential of replacing stirrups by providing effective
confinement and hence ease the construction work. The
stiffeners were welded at the trisection points of each side at
a height of 200 mm.
A summary of the specimens is presented in Table 1. In the
group designation, the first letter represents circular (C) or
square (S) TRC specimens; the second number represents the
nominal cubic strength of concrete (150 mm×150 mm×
150 mm) was 55 MPa, noting that in Chinese standards, the
concrete strength grade is stipulated by nominal concrete
cubic strength. And the concrete compressive prismatic
strength fco (150 mm×150 mm×300 mm) when the speci-
mens were tested was 39.6 MPa; the third number (1.8 and 2)
represents the aspect ratio λ=H/2D; and the fourth number
(120 and 106) means the D/t ratio of steel tube. The specimen
designation has the fifth number implying the axial load level
n0 (40% or 60%) defined as n0=N/(fcoAg), where N is the axial
load applied during the test and Ag is the gross cross sectional
area. The properties of steel tubes and reinforcing bars are
listed in Table 2.
2
Because of the same cross sectional area (40000 mm ),
tube thickness (1.89 mm), and column height (800 mm) of
the circular and square columns, the diameter and width of
the cross sections were 226 and 200 mm, respectively. Thus,
D/t ratios of the circular and square steel tubes were 120 and
106 respectively, and the aspect ratios of the circular and
square specimens were 1.8 and 2, respectively.
a)
λ D/t α fco (MPa) n0 Failure mode
0.4
1.8 120 3.3% 39.6
0.6
Flexural
0.4
2.0 106 3.8% 39.6
0.6
4 Gan D, et al. Sci China Tech Sci

Table 2 Properties of steel tubes and reinforcing bars

Type Thickness (or diameter) t (mm) Yield strength fy (MPa) Ultimate strength fu (MPa)
Tube 1.89 309.2 399.0
Longitudinal reinforcing bars 16.36 357.0 554.5
Stirrups 8.02 316.4 458.3

Figure 3 (Color online) Test setup and instrumentation layout. (a) Schematic of column test-up; (b) instrumentation layout.

2.2 Test set-up and loading regime loading was then switched to the displacement control mode
where the controlling horizontal displacement was set equal
The schematic of the test set-up is shown in Figure 3(a). The to 1, 2, 3, 4, … times the measured yield displacement until
test rig consists of a lateral reaction system supporting the the specimen failed. Two loading cycles were repeated at
lateral hydraulic actuator and a vertical system supporting each displacement level. In each loading cycle, a pull (po-
the vertical hydraulic actuator. The lateral reaction system sitive loading) was exerted first followed by a push (negative
has a rigid reaction wall, a 630 kN hydraulic actuator, and a loading), as shown in Figure 5.
stiff L beam. The vertical reaction system includes reaction
racks, two rollers, a 2500 kN hydraulic jack, a 2000 kN load
2.3 Damage and failure mode
cell, and distribution beams.
Figure 3(b) depicts the instrumentation layout. Two Flexural failure mode was observed for all the four speci-
LVDTs were used to measure the horizontal displacement at mens and the failure patterns were similar. As shown in
the column tip. Three strain gages were placed at the mid- Figure 6(a), the specimens did not show a clear failure pat-
height of both sheared plates of the tube: one transverse, one tern during the test due to the existence of the tube. When the
longitudinal and one 45° diagonal strain gage. The transvers
strain gages were placed at both ends of a column at a 90°
interval around the column perimeter because flexural failure
was anticipated (Figure 4).
The specimens were pre-loaded to 300 kN which was then
decreased to zero before the test, and then an axial load was
applied again to reach the designated axial load N=n0fcoAg.
During the test, the constant axial load was maintained by re-
adjusting the hydraulic jack.
Figure 4 (Color online) Strain gages layout. (a) C-55-1.8-120; (b) S-55-
Because the force-deformation relation of RC members 2-106.
and TRC members does not have a well-defined yield point,
difficulty in reaching consensus within the communities
existed as to the appropriate definition of a yield point [16].
In this paper, the yield load was defined as 75% of the peak
load which was calculated by a preliminary finite element
analysis before the test. Before yielded, the applied lateral
load was force-controlled and one loading cycle was per-
formed at each force level. A total of four force magnitudes
were considered: 50, 100 and 150 kN, and the yield load
(Note: 50 kN is about 0.20–0.25 times the yield load). The Figure 5 Sheared plate of the tube.
 Gan D, et al. Sci China Tech Sci 5

peak load was reached, the concrete cover at the gaps be-
tween the tube and rigid beams crushed, and then the con-
crete at the plastic hinges dilated quickly, while the tube did
not buckle (Figure 6(b)). After the test, the tubes were re-
moved and found that the core RC columns were intact ex-
cept the hinge regions (Figure 6(a)–(d)). Fracture of a
reinforcing bar at the top end of Specimen C-55-1.8-120-4
was observed, and buckling of longitudinal reinforcing bars
was observed in the plastic hinge (Figure 6(d)).
2.4 Force-displacement relationship
Figure 7 shows the relationships between the measured lat-
eral force and displacement for all specimens. The hysteresis
loops for all the specimens are stable with only a little
pinching. They are almost even identical beyond the peak
loads at the two same-displacement cycles, indicating the
effectiveness of the confinement of the thin-walled circulars
and stiffening square tubes. Note that because of the defects

Figure 6 (Color online) Failure patterns of the beam-columns. (a) C-55-1.8-120-4; (b) C-55-1.8-120-6; (c) S-55-2-106-4; (d) S-55-2-106-6.

Figure 7 Lateral force versus displacement relationships of all specimens. (a) C-55-1.8-120-4; (b) C-55-1.8-120-6; (c) S-55-2-106-4; (d) S-55-2-106-6.
6 Gan D, et al. Sci China Tech Sci

due to concreting, Specimen C-55-1.8-120-4 showed a

smaller negative lateral load-carrying capacity than that of
the positive direction. Nevertheless, the lateral load-carrying
capacity and ductility were still satisfactory.

3 Analysis and discussion

3.1 Lateral load-carrying capacity and deformation
capacity
Figure 8 depicts the envelope curves of lateral force versus
drift ratio of all specimens. The drift ratio is calculated as
R=Δ/H, where H denotes the height of the specimen. Figure 8 (Color online) Envelope curves of lateral force versus drift ra-
Table 3 lists the yield displacement Δy, yield load Py, peak tio.

displacement Δu, peak load Pu, ultimate displacement Δ0.85,

and ultimate drift ratio R0.85 values for all the specimens.
Averages of absolute values of both push and pull directions
are shown in Table 3 except the values of Specimen C-55-
1.8-120-4 are obtained from the positive envelop curve. Δ0.85
and R0.85 are defined as the post-peak displacement and the
post-peak drift ratio at the instant when the lateral load de-
creases to 85% of the peak lateral load, respectively. The
displacement ductility ratio μΔ of the specimens is calculated
by μΔ=Δ0.85/Δy. Py and Δy values can be determined from the
geometrical method shown in Figure 9.
In the groups with the same cross sectional shape, the
Figure 9 (Color online) Geometrical method for determining the yield
specimens with a higher axial load ratio showed a greater point.
lateral stiffness and load-bearing capacity within the range of
test parameters. The peak load of Specimen C-55-1.8-120-6 ratio shall be no less than 4.0 for medium ductile columns
was 12.6% greater compared with Specimen C-55-1.8-120- (DCM) RC columns, while the Chinese code (GB 50011-
4; the peak load of Specimen S-55-2-106-6 was 17.0% 2010) [18] requires that the ultimate story drift ratio of a
greater compared with Specimen S-55-2-106-4. The yield moment-resisting frame should be greater than 2.0%. Al-
loads of the circular and square specimens with the same though the story drift of the columns cannot be compared
axial load were almost the same according the geometrical with the story drift limit specified in GB 50011-2010 di-
method. However, the peak load of square Specimen S-55-2- rectly, the ultimate value of R0.85 of all the four TRC columns
106-4 was 4.6% higher than that of Specimen C-55-1.8-120- was 2.8–3.0 times of the specified value, indicating very
4, and the peak load of square specimen S-55-2-106-6 with ductile behavior. It can be concluded that the thin-walled
the higher axial load was 9.0% higher than that of its circular circular tubes with D/t=120 and the stiffened square tubes
counterpart C-55-1.8-120-6. with D/t=106 provide superior confinement to both the
The influence of the axial load ratio on strength and concrete and the longitudinal reinforcing bars.
stiffness degradation was not so obvious. The ratio of yield
load to peak load ranged from 0.80 to 0.87. μΔ and R0.85 3.2 Energy dissipation capacity
values decrease with the increase of axial load ratio in both
groups. However, the decrease trend was invisible. The area enclosed by a hysteresis loop is the energy dis-
EuroCode 8 [17] stipulates that the displacement ductility sipated by a specimen. Figure 10 shows the energy dissipa-

Table 3 Lateral load-carrying capacities, deformation capacities, and ductility ratios of the specimens
Specimens Py (kN) Pu (kN) Py/Pu Δy (mm) Δu (mm) Δ0.85 (mm) Δu/Δy μΔ R0.85
C-55-1.8-120-4 213.2 253.6 0.84 6.31 18.04 47.7 2.86 7.56 6.0%
C-55-1.8-120-6 248.8 285.1 0.87 7.12 21.08 48.3 3.06 6.78 6.0%
S-55-2-106-4 211.8 265.5 0.80 7.68 25.3 50.0 3.29 6.51 6.0%
S-55-2-106-6 247.1 310.8 0.80 6.98 29.6 45.2 4.24 6.48 5.6%
 Gan D, et al. Sci China Tech Sci 7

Figure 11 Energy dissipation index.

Figure 10 (Color online) Energy dissipation curves.

tion curves for all specimens, in which Etotal is the cumulative

area of the hysteresis hoops, i.e. the cumulative energies
dissipated.
At the same displacement level and in each studied group,
the cumulative energies dissipated by the specimen with
higher axial load ratio, which led to more severe damage,
were larger than those dissipated by the specimen with the
lower axial ratio. At the same displacement level, the cu-
mulative energies dissipated by the stiffened square TRC
columns were higher than those dissipated by their circular
counterpart due to a higher moment-carrying capacity. The
specimens with lower axial load ratio experienced larger
ultimate displacements, resulting in greater cumulative en- Figure 12 (Color online) Equivalent damping ratio heq of the specimens.
ergies dissipated.
The equivalent damping ratio heq is defined as follows
Figure 13 shows the representative load-strain and load-
(Figure 11):
stress curves for all the four TRC columns, in which σv and σh
S ( ABC + CDA ) are the vertical and transverse steel stresses at the mid-height
h eq = . (1)
2 S ( OBE + ODF ) of the tube; τ is the shear stress; σz is the equivalent stress.
Figure 12 shows the development of heq. Before yielding, The tension strains εs and εns are the transverse strains of
the values of heq for all the specimens varied between 0.05 sheared and non-sheared plates of column ends, respectively.
and 0.10. The higher the axial load ratio is, the relatively Only the transverse strain gages are placed at the end of the
lower value of heq obtains. The values heq of Specimens tubes because they were close to the gaps and not bearing an
C-55-1.8-120-4, S-55-2.0-106-4 and S-55-2.0-106-6 at the axial load.
last loading stage even reached about 0.32, indicating an As for the circular specimens, the development trends of
excellent energy dissipation capacity. strains/stresses were similar. Taking Specimen C-55-1.8-
120-6 as an example (Figure 13(a) and (b)), at the axial
3.3 Stress analysis of steel tube loading stage, a small longitudinal stress (about −60 MPa)
was caused by the bond and friction between the steel tube
Strains of steel tube are averaged based on the measurements and the concrete core, while it was reduced because the in-
of the symmetrical plates (Figure 4). The relationship be- creasing lateral displacement broke the bond. At the peak
tween the measured strains εv, εh , ε45°, and shear strain γxy is load, the longitudinal stress further decreased around zero.
expressed as The hoop strain and stress stayed around a relatively low
h+ v xy level till the end of the test, which implies no truss me-
45° = 2
+ ,
2
(2)
chanism was mobilized. The shear strain and stress increased
where εh is the horizontal strain, εv is the vertical strain, ε45° is with the increment of lateral load, showing a composite re-
the diagonal strain, and γxy is the shear strain. An elasto- sponse between the circular tube and the core concrete.
plastic analysis method [19] was adopted to analyze the However, after the peak load, they decreased with decreasing
stress state on a steel tube. lateral loads because of the flexural failure.
8 Gan D, et al.
Figure 13 (Color online) Load-strain and load-stress relationships of tubes. (a) C-55-1.8-120-6 load-strain at mid-height; (b) C-55-1.8-120-6 load-stress at
mid-height; (c) C-55-1.8-120-6 load-strain at the end; (d) S-55-2-106-6 load-strain at mid-height; (e) S-55-2-106-6 load-stress at mid-height; (f) S-55-2-106-6
load-strain at the end.
As shown in Figure 13(c), the strain for the non-sheared
plate εns reached the yield point around the peak load; at the
same load level, the strain of the sheared plate εs was lower
than the one of the non-sheared plate εns because of the much
more dilation of the extreme compressive fiber in the plastic
hinge zone.
As for the square specimens, the development trends of
strains/stresses were also similar. Taking Specimen S-55-2-
106-6 as an example (Figure 13(d) and (e)), the shear strain
and stress for the stiffened square tube increased faster than
its circular counterpart, because the stiffened tube and the
core RC column co-carried the lateral load more directly and
deformed compatibly. As shown in Figure 13(f), the trans-
verse strain component at the end of the tube increased
dramatically when the applied lateral load reached the yield
load. The strain for the non-sheared plate εns reached the
yield point at peak load; the strain of the sheared plate εs was
the same lower than the one of the non-sheared plate at the
same load level as the Specimen C-55-1.8-120-6 mentioned
above.
To sum up, steel tubes only yielded at the plastic hinges for
all the TRC columns, which corresponded to the flexural
failure mode; around the peak loads, the shear stresses τ of
the sheared plates of the circular tubes were in the range of
35–75 MPa and τ of the stiffened square tubes were in the
range of 65–90 MPa, showing the tubes’ contribution in
bearing lateral loads. Furthermore, τ of the stiffened square
tubes were greater than their circular counterpart, indicating
the stiffening method was, if not more than, at least as effi-
cient as a circular tube.
Sci China Tech Sci
3.4 Composite response and failure mechanisms
The test results at the peak load are shown in Table 4. The
transverse stresses at the column ends demonstrate that steel
tubes provided superior confinement to the concrete in
plastic hinge regions. Circular and stiffened square steel
jacket acts as the passive confinement reinforcement to re-
strain the dilation of the flexural compression zone. As such,
the crushing and spalling-off of concrete are prevented, thus
enhancing the compressive strength and the ultimate com-
pression strain.
The shear stresses of sheared plates indicate that steel tubes
contributed in resisting external lateral forces. The core
concrete forms an ideal core to withstand the external load-
ing, and it prevents the local buckling of the thin-walled steel
tubes with large D/t ratios.
The benefits from the appropriate diagonal stiffening of a
square tube are threefold. First, the square tube can syn-
chronously carry lateral loads through diagonal stiffeners
with the core concrete column once lateral loads are applied.
This is different from an unstiffened square TRC column
[20], in which the unstiffened square tube almost could not
resisted lateral loads through shear stresses together with the
core RC column until the applied load reached the shear
strength of the RC column. And the shear and transverse
stains increased quickly. However, due to the reduced con-
finement of the unstiffened square tube, the applied lateral
load decreased quickly after the peak load. Second, the
confinement effect on the concrete within the plastic hinge
zone is significantly improved. Third, the tube stiffeners
 Gan D, et al. Sci China Tech Sci 9

have the potential of replacing stirrups by providing effective
confinement on column longitudinal reinforcing bars and
hence ease the construction work.
3.5 Capacity analysis
By assuming a D/2 hinge length, the following simple ex-
pression was reasonably accurate to predict the bending
moment M of the tested column [21]:
L D
M ut = Pu + u,
2 2 2
where N is the applied axial load.
As shown in Table 4, the longitudinal stress at the mid-
height of the steel tube of both the circular and square TRC
columns at the peak load are very small and thus can be
ignored when calculating the sectional capacity. This is due
to the disconnection of the steel tube at the column ends.
Therefore, a TRC column can be treated as a confined RC
column, and the sectional strength curves of circular and
square TRC columns can be obtained by the method pro-
posed in references [22,23]. Axial load-moment interaction
diagrams of both the circular and stiffened square TRC
sections are shown in Figure 14.
Table 5 shows the comparison of the predictions of mo-
ment capacity (Mup) with the test results (Mut) at the given
axial load. The predicted results (Mup) are generally in good
agreement with the test results. The predictions of the stif-
fened square TRC columns are a little conservative espe-
(3) cially at the higher axial load level. It should be noted that the
predicted moment capacity of Specimen C-55-1.8-120-4 is
11% higher than the test result, which might be due to the
defects of concreting.
4 Conclusions
This paper describes the experiment and theoretical analysis

Table 4 Test results at the peak load

Specimens Loading direction Peak load εns (με) εs (με) σv (MPa) σh (MPa) τ (MPa) σz (MPa)
Negative –181.0 862.5 3692.5 1.7 1.2 36.9 63.9
C-55-1.8-120-4
Positive 253.6 716.0 1861.0 2.4 –3.9 53.6 92.9
Negative –272.3 672.0 6296.5 –8.0 –7.4 71.6 124.4
C-55-1.8-120-6
Positive 285.1 565.0 2488.0 –6.7 6.7 62.8 109.4
Negative –270.1 525.8 2710.0 –23.2 –16.2 66.2 117.3
S-55-2-106-4
Positive 259.6 230.3 2267.0 –4.0 24.7 67.3 119.9
Negative –309.3 1162.0 3586.0 –22.7 55.7 73.0 164.8
S-55-2-106-6
Positive 312.3 1060.8 3376.0 –0.2 38.9 87.5 159.8

Figure 14 Comparison of the test results and the predictions. (a) cf. [22]; (b) cf. [23].

Table 5 Comparison of the predictions of moment capacity with tests

Specimen Applied axial load (kN) Pu (kN) Mut (kN m) Mup (kN m) Mup/Mut
C-55-1.8-120-4 635.4 253.6 78.5 87.4 1.11
C-55-1.8-120-6 953.1 285.1 91.9 96.17 1.05
S-55-2-106-4 633.6 265.5 87.7 84.28 0.96
S-55-2-106-6 950.4 310.8 107.3 87.81 0.82
10 Gan D, et al.
on the seismic behavior of thin-walled circular (D/t=120)
and stiffened square (D/t=106) TRC columns. Three im-
portant parameters were studied: the cross sectional shapes
were circular and square; the width-to-thickness ratios of the
tubes were 106 and 120; and the levels of axial load on
columns were 0.4 and 0.6. The major findings of this study
are summarized as follows.
Flexural failure occurred for all the four specimens, and
the ultimate story drift ratios could be as large as 5.6%–6.0%,
demonstrating the effectiveness of the thin-walled circular
tubes and stiffened square tubes in improving the composite
effect.
When subjecting to the same axial load level, the square
specimens and circular specimens had almost the same yield
loads which were obtained from the geometrical method.
However, due to a larger moment of inertia of the square
cross section, the peak load of square Specimen S-55-2-106-
4 was 4.6% higher than that of circular Specimen C-55-1.8-
120-4, and the peak load of Specimen S-55-2-106-6 sus-
taining a higher axial load was 9.0% higher than its circular
counterpart.
The stiffness and lateral strength of both circular and
square TRC columns tended to increase with an increment in
axial load. The ductility index tended to decrease, while in-
visibly. The steel tube only at the plastic hinges yielded for
all the TRC columns, which corresponded to the flexural
failure mode. The stress analysis results demonstrated both
the thin-walled circular and stiffened square tubes con-
tributed in carrying lateral loads due to the co-working of the
tubes and concrete. The cross sectional capacity analysis
method for TRC columns is acceptable for the thin-walled
stiffened square TRC columns.
The stiffening method is, if not more than, at least as ef-
ficient as a circular tube in terms of confining the plastic
hinge regions and improving composite effect. However, to
give more specific design recommendations, further re-
searches are still needed to investigate the composite effect
of intermediate and slender columns under axial and ec-
centric compression loading.
This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of
China (Grant Nos. 51878097 & 51438001), Chongqing Research Program
of Basic Research and Frontier Technology (Grant Nos.
2018CDQYTM0043 & 106112015CDJXY200001) and China Scholarship
Council.
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