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Static behaviors of reinforcement-stiffened square concrete-filled steel

tubular columns

Article in Thin-Walled Structures · September 2012

DOI: 10.1016/j.tws.2012.04.015

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Thin-Walled Structures 58 (2012) 18–31

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Thin-Walled Structures
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/tws

Static behaviors of reinforcement-stiffened square concrete-filled steel

tubular columns
Yuyin Wang a,n, Yuanlong Yang b, Sumei Zhang a
a
School of Civil Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150090, China
b
Key Laboratory of Mechanics on Disaster and Environment in Western China of China Ministry of Education, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Square concrete-filled steel tubes (CFSTs) are gaining increasing usage in modern construction practice,
Received 9 November 2010 offering improved mechanical properties and increased material efficiency compared with the
Received in revised form individual steel and core concrete components. However, the cross-section slenderness of the encasing
3 April 2012
steel is, although more inflexible than a comparable hollow steel tube, restrained due to local buckling.
Accepted 23 April 2012
A number of innovative kinds of reinforcement stiffeners have been put forward particularly for the
square CFSTs with slender sections of encasing steel. To investigate the mechanical effect of the
Keywords: reinforcement stiffeners and compare them with traditional ones in practice, four square CFSTs welded
Concrete-filled steel tube with various reinforcement stiffeners and one reference CFST have been tested, and are presented in
Reinforcement stiffener
this paper. The mechanical behaviors such as the resistance, ductility and failure modes investigated
Cross-section slenderness
during the test were also studied in the theoretical research, which was carried out to predict and
Local buckling
Resistance further summarize the comprehensive properties of the specimens. A numerical analysis program was
Ductility written and verified with related scholars’ experimental data, and extensive parametric analysis was
Failure modes conducted to investigate the influencing parameters on mechanical properties. Design recommenda-
tion for the cross-section strength has been put forward based on the test results and previous research.
& 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction following years. To aim at the reconstruction after the Hyogo-

Compared with circular concrete-filled steel tubular columns,
square columns provide prominent architectural function and
regular indoor space. The cross-sections are more spreading,
gaining greater moment resistance and stability efficiency. In
addition, joint construction is facilitated. However, the constraint
effect provided by square steel tube to core concrete, which is
substantial and uniform in the circular cross-section, is generally
weaker and unevenly distributed in the square cross-section —
the confinement near the webs of the encasing steel is weaker
than that at the corners. On the other side, the steel tube is prone
to buckle, especially when the depth-to-thickness ratio is large.
To intensify the interaction between the steel and concrete, some
scholars (mainly from China, Japan and Korea) introduced stiffen-
ers into square CFSTs to delay the tube’s buckling, and enhance
the constraint effect on concrete.
With regard to stiffened square CFST columns, earliest
research can be traced back to the experimental study on ribs in
square CFSTs (Fig. 1(a)) by Ge and Usami [1] in 1992. Similar
research on ribs was conducted by some other scholars in the
n
Corresponding author. Tel./fax: þ 86 451 86282083.
E-mail address: wangyuyin@hit.edu.cn (Y. Wang).
kenNanbu earthquake, two new types of stiffeners: the rib and
the male pin (shown in Fig. 1(b) and (c)), respectively for bridge
piers and frame columns, were proposed by Kitada [2] in 1998.
Years later, the steel plate ribs (shown in Fig. 1(a)) in square CFST
piers were focused on by Kwon, Song and Kon [3] and in thin-wall
CFST columns by Tao and Han [4]. The research on ribs mentioned
above reveals that ribs are capable of delaying the local buckling
of steel tubes, improving the constraint effect for concrete, and
increasing the stiffness, bearing capacity and ductility of overall
columns.
Since 2002, studies on improved performance of square CFST
members, by utilizing pairs of tie rods, also known as binding bars
(shown in Fig. 1(d)), at possible plastic hinge locations were
conducted by Hsu and Juang [5] in 2000 and Cai and He [6] in
2006. Besides, a constitutive relationship was put forward by
Cai and He [7] for square CFSTs with binding bars and the model
was verified well with the test results, in which, the concrete
constitutive relationship took a similar form to that of Mander
model. Similarly, an alternative stiffened method, introducing
oblique tie bars (shown in Fig. 1(e)) suggested by Huang et al.
[8] and tension sheets (shown in Fig. 1(h)) by Chen [9] were
proposed to enhance the steel tube of square CFST columns.
Such stiffeners, which make better use of the steel tension
property mentioned above, restrain the development of plate

0263-8231/$ - see front matter & 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tws.2012.04.015
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Y. Wang et al. / Thin-Walled Structures 58 (2012) 18–31 19

Notation Pco Resistance of non-constraint concrete

Pr of reinforcement
Ac Concrete cross-sectional area Ps Resistance of steel tube
Ack Non-constraint area in the cross-sections 1-1 Pu Ultimate test resistance
A0ck Non-constraint area in the cross-sections 2-2 Py Resistance corresponding to steel tubes yielding
Ar Sectional area of stiffener q Uniform effective lateral confining pressure
As Tube cross-sectional area S Longitudinal spacing of stiffener’s welds
Asc Total cross-sectional area t Steel tube thickness
a0, b0 Enhancement ratios tr Diameter of reinforcement
B Cross-sectional depth u Axial shortening of specimen
Bc Depth of concrete cross section ub Average data value of the bottom four sensors
Ec Elastic modulus of concrete ur Effective displacement
Er Elastic modulus of reinforcement ut Average data value of the top two sensors
Es Elastic modulus of steel tube Vc Concrete volume
Esec Secant modulus of concrete corresponding to peak Vr Reinforcement volume
resistance wi Spacing of starting point and end point of boundary
F Axial load between constraint and non-constraint regions
fc Stress of constraint concrete ar Steel ratio of stiffener
fc
0
Stress of non-constraint concrete as Steel ratio of tube
fcc Peak stress of constraint at Total steel ratio
fck Value of concrete compressive prismatic strength e Axial strain
fl Effective lateral confining stress e0c Strain of non-constraint concrete
fscy Composite strength for non-stiffened CFST eck Peak strain of non-constraint concrete
0
f scy Composite strength for stiffened CFST er Stress of stiffeners
fu Ultimate strength of steel tube ect Transverse strain of concrete
fur Ultimate strength of reinforcement ecc Peak strain of constraint
fy Yielding strength of steel tube ec Strain of constraint concrete
fyr Yielding strength of reinforcement m Ductility factor
Ke Initial stiffness of specimen mc Poisson ratio of concrete
ke Constraint effective coefficient x Constraint factor
L Specimen length s Axial stress
P of specimen ss Circumferential stress of steel tube
Pb Resistance corresponding to the first tube buckling su Ultimate test composite stress
Pcc Resistance of constraint concrete

deformations, therefore delaying local buckling, improving the
stiffness, strength and energy dissipation capacities of specimens.
Curling ribs (shown in Fig. 1(f)) and oblique curling ribs
(shown in Fig. 1(g)) were shaped by welding cold-formed chan-
nels or isosceles angle irons with curling edges and were
researched in experiment by Chen [9] and Xu [10]. Results
showed that curling ribs and oblique curling ribs effectively
improved the static ultimate test resistance and seismic behaviors
under low axial compression ratio.
The previous research reveals that the stiffeners in Fig. 1
possess the anti-buckling properties and the mechanical advan-
tages on strength and ductility of square CFST columns. However,
the existing stiffeners may have limitations in material efficiency
or construction practice: plate ribs in Fig. 1(a) and (b) tend to
unreliably embed in concrete; oblique tie bars and tension sheets
give rise to welding difficulty; tie rods show limitations with
more steel consumption, bolt exposure, and concrete leak during
casting construction.
An innovative type of stiffener – reinforcement stiffener – has
been proposed in this paper in order to acquire economical
efficiency. Four different arrangements of reinforcement stiffener
have been tested. According to buckling theory, the reinforcement
stiffeners were properly set in steel tubes (showed in Figs. 2 and
3), accordingly increasing the post-buckling properties and
enhancing the constraint effect for concrete.
The study herein was performed on the static behaviors of
square CFST cross-sections with reinforcement stiffeners. Both
experimental and analytical researches were carried out to get
comprehensive assessment of the proposed reinforcements. The
investigation not only focused on the essential compressive
behaviors of the stiffened composite sections, but also assessed
the failure modes and confinement effect. Ultimate strength was
compared across a range of strengths of concrete. steel tube and
reinforcement, arrangments of stiffener and diameters,. The
results of the tests were combined with those from previous
studies to put forward unified design recommendation for stif-
fened square CFST cross-sections.
2. Experimental study
2.1. Details of the specimens
Five stub specimens were tested, 1 reference non-stiffened
specimen and 4 stiffened specimens with reinforcement stiffen-
ers. Two nominal cross-sectional depths B – 150 mm and 200 mm
and two nominal steel tube thicknesses t – 1.5 mm and 2 mm
were decided upon. The basic geometric properties of the speci-
mens are summarized in Table 1. The cross sections of hollow
tubes with stiffeners are listed in Fig. 2. The longitudinal arrange-
ment of stiffeners on steel tubes is showed in Fig. 3.
In Table 1, the steel ratio of tube as is the ratio of steel tube
cross-sectional area As to concrete cross-sectional area Ac; the
steel ratio of stiffener ar is the ratio of reinforcement volume Vr to
concrete volume Vc.
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20 Y. Wang et al. / Thin-Walled Structures 58 (2012) 18–31

Fig. 1. Patterns of stiffeners in square CFSTs. (a) with ribs, (b) with ribs for piers, (c) with male pins for piers, (d) with tie rods (binding bars), (e) with oblique tie bars,
(f) with curling plate ribs, (g) with oblique curling ribs and (h) with tension sheets.

Fig. 2. Cross sections of hollow steel tubes with stiffeners. (a) F1, (b) F2, (c) F3, (d) F4 and (e) F5.
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Y. Wang et al. / Thin-Walled Structures 58 (2012) 18–31 21

Fig. 3. Longitudinal arrangement of reinforcement stiffeners (a) F2, (b) F3, (c) F4 and (d) F5.

Table 1
Parameters of specimens.

Specimen Stiffener pattern Dimensions Tube thickness t Longitudinal spacing Steel ratio of Steel ratio of Total steel
B  L (mm) (mm) of stiffener’s weld S tube as (%) stiffener ar ratio
(mm) (%) at ¼ as þ ar (%)

F1 None 152  505 1.50 – 3.9 – 3.9

F2 Longitudinal and 151  500 1.51 75 4.0 1.3 5.3
indented-shaped
reinforcements
F3 Triangular indented- 151  501 1.49 75 3.9 0.2 4.1
shaped reinforcements
F4 Welded circular stirrups 202  600 2.02 100 4.0 0.4 4.4
F5 Oblique indented- 202  605 2.03 100 4.0 0.4 4.4
shaped reinforcements

The details of the stiffeners in each specimen are prescribed as Table 2

follows: Material properties of the steel tubes.

Nominal Yielding Ultimate Elastic

F1: non-stiffened specimen, shown in Fig. 2(a), designed as
thickness t strength fy strength fu modulus Es
reference specimen for the stiffened specimens. (mm) (N/mm2) (N/mm2) (N/mm2)
F2: stiffened specimen with longitudinal and indented-shaped
reinforcement bars, shown in Fig. 2(b) and Fig. 3(a). The 2.0 162 283 202,100
diameter of the longitudinal and indented-shaped reinforce- 1.5 168 289 202,000

ment bars are 8 mm and 6 mm, respectively. The indented-

shaped reinforcement with bending height of 60 mm, were
welded tangentially on longitudinal bars, and each reinforce-
ment combination was later welded onto the interior surface
of the steel tube.
F3: stiffened specimen with triangular indented-shaped rein-
forcements, shown in Fig. 2(c) and Fig. 3(b). The reinforce-
ments were folded into isosceles triangles of 60 mm high, and
the longitudinal spacing between two adjacent welds is
75 mm.
F4: stiffened specimen with welded circular stirrups, shown in
Fig. 2(d) and Fig. 3(c). Six stirrups made of plain bars with a
diameter of 6 mm were uniformly-spaced welded onto the
interior surface of the steel tube. The stirrups were expected to
confine the core concrete and restrain at welds the possible
outward deformation of the encasing steel.
F5: stiffened specimen with oblique indented-shaped reinfor-
cements, shown in Fig. 2(e) and Fig. 3(d). Indented-shaped
were arranged near the corner of tube and welded on the two
adjacent steel plates. The reinforcements behave as tie rods at
welds, which separate one plate in horizon into three sections
with depths of 70 mm, 60 mm and 70 mm.
During processing of stiffened specimens, the steel plates were
folded into L shape, the interior sides of which were welded with
reinforcement stiffeners. Then two L-shaped parts were welded to
form a hollow square tube, and the tubes were welded afterwards
with an end plate on the bottom. This fabrication procedure
reduced adverse influence caused by welding residual stress
compared to traditional treatments. Four steel plate end ribs with
the dimensions of 50 mm  20 mm  2 mm were welded at each
end of the tubes, to reinforce the tubes’ end regions.
Layered concrete pouring process was adopted. The hollow
tube was put vertically and the concrete was vibrated with an
electric vibrator until the concrete was close-grained. During the
28-day’s curing, top concrete was stricken off with high-strength
cement mortar to complement the shrinkage and another series
of end plates were welded on to seal the top ends of the
specimens.
2.2. Material properties
According to the Chinese National standard, Metallic materi-
als-tensile testing at ambient temperature (GB/T 228-2002) [11],
mechanical properties of the steel plate and reinforcement bars
were tested. Ordinary carbon cold-rolled steel of Q190 grade (the
characteristic value of yielding strength is 190 N/mm2) was
employed, with two nominal thicknesses t of 1.5 mm and 2 mm.
The material properties are collected in Table 2. Hot-rolled plane
reinforcement of HPB235 grade (the characteristic value of yield-
ing strength is 235 N/mm2) and hot-rolled ribbed reinforcement
of HRB335 grade (the characteristic value of yielding strength is
335 N/mm2) were employed, respectively for the reinforcement
stiffeners and the longitudinal reinforcements, of which details
showed in Table 3. The concrete denoted C40 in the Chinese
National concrete standard, Code for design of concrete structures
(GB50010-2002) [12], with the mix proportion shown in Table 4,
was poured into hollow tubes, along with 15 prismatic standard
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test blocks with dimensions of 100 mm  100 mm  100 mm. Test
specimens’ curing lasted to the day of trial and the test cube
blocks were tested to get the equivalent value of concrete
compressive prismatic strength fck ¼43.7 N/mm2.
2.3. Experimental devices
Experiment was carried out at the Structural and Seismic Test
Research Center of Harbin Institute of Technology. A 500t com-
puter OSD hydraulic pressure press was used as loading device,
with two articulated rigid plates to simulate fixed boundary
conditions. The axial load was measured with a load censor on
the top end plate of the specimen and a 20 mm-thick padding
plate was sandwiched between them in order to get even axial
loads, shown in Fig. 4.
Three independent methods were employed for axial displace-
ment of the specimens: displacement censors (LVDT) for overall
axial displacement; dial gauges for displacement increment prior
to local buckling; vertical strain gauges for local axial strain at the
center of tube surfaces during elastic stage. Four displacement
sensors (1,2,3,4) were placed at bottom and two sensors (5 and
6 in parenthesis) were at top (in Fig. 5), so the effective displace-
ment ur after the specimen and devices established close-contact,
is calculated with Eq. (1):
ur ¼ ub ut
Four dial gauges were symmetrically arranged within 20 mm
gage length at middle part of each steel plate (in Fig. 5). Twenty-
eight strain gauges (including vertical ones and transverse ones)
for the non-stiffened specimen and forty-two strain gauges
(including vertical ones and transverse ones) in total for each
stiffened specimen, were employed on the outer surfaces of each
tube (Figs. 6 and 7). The dial gauges and strain gauges were also
used for the physical centering adjustment before actual loading.
The data from the load censor and LVDTs were input into the
Beijing spectrum instrument so that the axial load-displacement
curves were real-time monitored.
2.4. Test phenomenon
2.4.1. Steel buckling and stiffener behaviors
Both the non-stiffened and stiffened specimens buckled locally
before peak strength. Table 5 lists the resistance corresponding to
the first tube buckling Pb, the resistance corresponding to steel
tubes yielding Py, the ultimate test resistance Pu and the buckling
resistance to yielding resistance ratio (BI).
It should be mentioned that the tube buckling defined as
cross-sectional buckling appeared in the middle of the tube,
ð1Þ

where ub is the average data value of the bottom four sensors; ut

is the average data value of the top two sensors.

Table 3
Material properties of the reinforcement stiffeners.

Diameter tr Yielding Ultimate Elastic

(mm) strength fyr strength fur modulus Er
(N/mm2) (N/mm2) (N/mm2)

6.0 290 455 210,000

8.0 390 650 209,000

Table 4
Mix proportions of concrete (kg/m3).

Water Portland cement Sand Gravel Water reducing agent

152 400 662 1178 4

Fig. 5. Layout of dial gauges and displacement sensors.

Fig. 4. Loading devices. (a) Picture of loading and (b) illustrative drawing of loading.
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Y. Wang et al. / Thin-Walled Structures 58 (2012) 18–31
Fig. 6. Layout of strain gauges in non-stiffened specimen. (a) Cross-sectional layout, (b) vertical layout on S1/S2 and (c) vertical layout on S3/S4.
Fig. 7. Layout of strain gauges in stiffened specimens. (a) Cross-sectional layout, (b) Vertical layout on S1/S2 and (c) Vertical layout on S3/S4.
Table 5
Characteristic resistances of specimens.
Specimens F1 F2 F3 F4
Pb (kN) 350 200 550 1400
Py (kN) 650 700 650 900
Pu (kN) 1153 1320 1208 2280
BI 0.54 0.29 0.85 1.56
where the buckling is only influenced by cross-sectional slender-
ness and concrete support, rather than end tube’s buckling, which
is caused by end concrete shrinkage resulting in the end tube
bearing the load prior to the concrete.
As listed in Table 5, the non-stiffened specimen (F1) buckled
before reaching steel yielding strength, due to its flexible cross-
sectional slenderness, which indicates the cross-section of F1
belongs to the Class 4 grade in classification in Euro code 4
(EN1994-1-1: 2004) [13]. By adding stiffeners, the buckling was
delayed in most of the stiffened specimens. The buckling loads are
closer to or even over the yielding loads of the stiffened speci-
mens except for F2. The BI of F4 and F5, 1.56 and 1.27, indicate
that without thickening the tubes, the cross-sections of the
specimens have been updated to the Class 3 grade, in which the
stress in the extreme compression fiber of the steel components
assuming an elastic distribution of stresses can reach the yield
strength. The BI of F2 being 0.29, although is illogical but is a real
result according to the test records, reflects a very early tube
buckling occurring in the test and may be attributed to imperfec-
tion of the steel tube caused by the initial welding of stiffeners.
Although not all the patterns of the reinforcement stiffeners
can fully restrain the buckling of steel tube, the buckling occur-
rence was much later in the stiffened specimens than in the non-
stiffened specimen, and the out-of-plane deformation was greatly
decreased. Due to the absence of stiffeners’ hold, the steel tube of
the non-stiffened specimen buckled outward, separated from core
concrete, presenting a multi-wave buckling mode. This adverse
mechanism was noticeably improved by reinforcement stiffeners
23
in the stiffened specimens. The deformation at welds was almost
completely restrained so that the overall deformation was smal-
ler. For F2 and F3 (shown in Fig. 3(a) and (b)), the indented-
F5
shaped part vertical to tube effectively restrained the tube at
1400
welds to change its buckling modes, while the part parallel and
1100 the longitudinal reinforcement, mainly bear the axial load. So the
2202 vertical part of reinforcement stiffeners were a more efficient
1.27 influence than the parallel part on the buckling of steel tube. For
the F4 specimen, the reinforcement stirrups restrained the out-of-
plane deformation of the tube at welds except for its stirrup
function. For F5 specimen, mechanical improvement came from
closer horizontal spacing of stiffeners’ welds.
2.4.2. Concrete crushing and failure modes
Concrete in the non-stiffened tube appeared to be in shear
failure mode (in Fig. 8). Several diagonal cracks could be seen in
the top and bottom, and small-area neighboring concrete was
crushed to a little depth, which revealed the concrete compres-
sive strength was not fully used. These brittle fractural cracks
were due to little confinement from steel tube after premature
local buckling.
The concrete in the stiffened tubes was damaged in local
concrete crushed mode (in Fig. 9), i.e., no obvious diagonal cracks
but local trivial cracks. The crushed concrete located between two
adjacent stiffener welds, while concrete near welds showed little
damage, which indicates that stiffeners restrain the neighboring
steel tube to provide confinement for concrete. The crushed area
and depth (30 mm) were more than those of the non-stiffened
specimen. In addition, end concrete was crushed owing to end
tube’s buckling and the reason may be attributed to compara-
tively weak end stiffeners.
The development of stiffener’ advantages can be guaranteed
only if it is fully fixed in the concrete. In the study, the key factor
for reinforcement stiffeners is embedment depth. Results from
the experiment may reveal a reference value (60 mm) on the
embedment depth for the indented-shaped reinforcement stiffen-
ers, regarding the crushing depth of concrete of the specimens (at
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24 Y. Wang et al. / Thin-Walled Structures 58 (2012) 18–31

Fig. 8. Failure mode of F1 specimen. (a) S1, (b) S2, (c) S3, (d) S4, (e) crushed concrete after tube desquamation of surface 2 (whole) and (f) crushed concrete after concrete
desquamation of surface 2 (partial).

Fig. 9. Failure mode of F4 specimen. (a) S1, (b) S2, (c) S3, (d) S4, (e) crushed concrete after tube desquamation of surface 3 (whole) and (f) crushed concrete after tube
desquamation of surface 3 (partial).
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Y. Wang et al. / Thin-Walled Structures 58 (2012) 18–31 25

most 40 mm for F2). Restricted to a narrow variation of para-
meters (such as cross-sectional dimension, concrete strength and
steel tube thickness) in this paper, a comprehensive regulation of
reinforcement embedment depth considering parameters men-
tioned above needs further investigation.
2.5. Comparison of experimental results
The axial load F versus axial shortening u relation curves of all
the specimens were acquired in the experiment. The axial short-
ening u of the specimens was obtained by modifying the dis-
placement transducer readings on the basis of the vertical strain
gage and dial gauges readings. To facilitate the comparison
between specimens with different dimensions, the axial load F
versus axial shortening u relation curves was conversed into axial
stress s versus axial strain e relation curves (Fig. 10), in which the
axial stress is the ratio of the axial load F to the total cross-
sectional area Asc (Asc ¼As þAc), with its maximum value defined
as ultimate test composite stress su. The axial strain is the ratio of
the axial shortening u to the specimen length L.
The quantifications of axial stress-strain relation curves,
defined as some derived behavioral indices, are summarized in
Table 6. Comparisons and analysis of mechanical properties of all
specimens are conducted as follows, combined with the results in
Fig. 10 and Table 6.
During the elastic stage, the interaction between concrete and
steel tube is not in operation, the specimens’ performance is the
superposition of individual concrete and steel tube. The initial
stiffness Ke of specimens in Fig. 10 is nearly equal, among which
the F2 specimen exhibits a slightly higher stiffness (listed in
Table 6) due to its longitudinal reinforcements’ contribution.
Although all the steel tubes began to buckle before reaching
ultimate resistances for all the specimens, the ultimate resis-
tances Pu of all specimens are increased compared with their
nominal ultimate resistances Pn, the definition of which are
60
50
40
s (M Pa)
calculated by superimposing the resistances of individual steel
and concrete with Eq. (2):
Pn ¼ As f y þAc f ck ð2Þ
Where, fy is the measured value of steel tube’s yielding strength;
fck is the equivalent value of concrete compressive prismatic
strength deduced from measured compressive cube strength,
according to the China national concrete standard, Code for
design of concrete structures (GB50010-2002).
The ultimate test strength enhancement index (SI) reflects the
positive interaction between concrete and steel tube, and can be
described in Eq. (3). The SI of specimens ranges from 1.09 to 1.24,
in which stiffened specimens give larger values.
SI ¼ P u =Pn ð3Þ
Furthermore, the ultimate test resistances of the stiffened
specimens are improved to different extents compared with the
non-stiffened specimen, which reveals that the stiffeners con-
tribute to the confinement for concrete. The improvement can be
described with the stiffener strength enhancement index (SSI), in
Eq. (4), where the suF1 is the ultimate test resistance of the F1
specimen. The F2 specimen gives the biggest SSI with 1.14, for its
extra bearing function of longitudinal reinforcements; and fol-
lowed by the F4 specimen with SSI of 1.11 due to additional
confinement by circular stirrups.
SSI ¼ su =suF1 ð4Þ
The ductility factors (m) of the stiffened specimens are
increased, compared with the non-stiffened specimen. m is
defined as the ratio of axial strain corresponding to 85% ultimate
test stress during descending stage e0.85 to the yielding strain ey,
in Eq. (5).
m ¼ e0:85 =ey ð5Þ
To investigate the enhancement of ductility by the stiffeners
F1
over that of the non-stiffened specimen, ductility enhancement
F2
index DI (listed in Table 6) was employed and defined in Eq. (6),
F3
where mF1 is the ductility factor of the F1 specimen. The F3, F4 and
F4
F5 specimens are provided with higher increase in DI, while the
F5

F2 specimen has a mild increase in value.

30
DI ¼ m=mF1 ð6Þ
20
To sum up, the F2 specimen exhibits the most strength
10 improvement as it benefits from its longitudinal reinforcements’
contribution. On the other hand, owing to its large initial
imperfection, the buckling load and post-buckling mechanical
0
properties such as ductility are in fact negative. The F3 specimen
0 2000 4000 6000 8000 10000 12000
e (10-6) exhibits a mild enhancement in strength and ductility, the reason
of which is the triangular indented-shaped reinforcement well
Fig. 10. Axial stress-strain relation curves. restrained the tube but has no extra axial load bearing function.
The F4 and F5 specimens possess comprehensive advantages in
strength enhancement and ductility improvement, which benefit
Table 6 from the confinement provided by the additional circular stirrups
Test results. and closer horizontal spacing of stiffeners’ welds, respectively.
However, the F4 and F5 specimens present fabrication difficulty
Specimens Ke Pu Pn SI su SSI m DI
because the stiffeners can only be welded after the formation of a
(N/mm2) (kN) (kN) (N/mm2)
steel tube.
F1 30,913 1153 1062 1.09 51.20 1.00 1.94 1.00 One point that should be mentioned is, that the steel tubes in
F2 32,590 1320 1062 1.24 58.32 1.14 1.72 0.88 this experiment are fairly thin with a steel proportion as of 4%,
F3 30,868 1208 1062 1.14 53.55 1.05 2.19 1.13 shown in Table 1, reaching the lower limit of CFST steel propor-
F4 29,658 2280 1878 1.21 57.00 1.11 2.9 1.49
F5 30,854 2202 1878 1.17 55.06 1.08 2.46 1.27
tions (normally as ¼4%–20%), so a promotion in performance may
be expected with thicker steel tubes.
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26 Y. Wang et al. / Thin-Walled Structures 58 (2012) 18–31

3. Theoretical analysis The constraint concrete employs the modified Mander con-
crete model (in Fig. 11) proposed by Mander, Priestley and Park
3.1. Introduction of numerical analysis program [14] in 1988. The favorable influence of transverse confinement
on the axial stress-strain relation is taken into consideration in
Compaq Visual Fortran language was employed to compose the constraint concrete. The constitution of steel tube and
the numerical analysis program of square CFST cross-sections on reinforcement adopts the uniaxial perfect elastic-plastic model
axial compressive performance. As per previous research, the (shown in Fig. 12), with Young’s modulus, respectively referred to
concrete in the square CFST is divided into non-constraint regions Table 2 and Table 3. The resistance of specimen is the super-
and a constraint region. The non-constraint concrete is described position of non-constraint concrete, constraint concrete, steel
with constitution of plain concrete referred to as GB50010-2002, tube and reinforcements (longitudinal reinforcements and paral-
the constitution equations of which are lel part), and can be calculated by Eq. (10).
when
P ¼ Pc þP s þ Pr ð10Þ
e0c o eck , f 0c ¼ f ck ½aa ðe0c =eck Þ þ ð32aa Þðe0c =eck Þ2 þ ðaa 2Þðe0c =eck Þ3  ð7Þ where P is the resistance; Pc is the resistance of constraint
when concrete; Ps is the resistance of steel tube; Pr is the resistance of
reinforcements.
e e
0
c = ck Related research reveals that, in the non-stiffened square CFST,
e0c 4 eck , f 0c ¼ 2
f ck ð8Þ
ad ðe e
0=
c ck 1Þ e e
þ 0c = ck constraint region distributes at the corners of composite tube
0 and the center of concrete, and carries out the transition to the
where, f c and e0c are the stress and strain of non-constraint
non-constraint region adjacent to middle steel plates.
concrete; eck is the peak strain of non-constraint concrete, in
Fig. 13(a) displays the constraint region (shaded area) and non-
Eq. (9)(GB50010-2002); aa and ad are the coefficients (GB50010-
constraint regions (blank area) for non-stiffened square CFST. wi
2002).
and wj are the spacing of starting point and end point; Bc is the
eck ¼ 1  107 f 2ck þ 2  105 f ck þ0:0011 ð9Þ depth of concrete, Bc ¼B  2t.
To investigate constraint region of stiffened square CFST, the
buckling modes of stiffened steel tube were reviewed and
analyzed. To stiffened specimens, the vertical part of reinforce-
ment stiffeners restrain the steel tube’s local buckling at welds,
thus the number and locations of the welds influence the
constraint region. To the F2 and F3 specimens, similar stiffeners
were employed except for longitudinal reinforcement in F2.
Longitudinal reinforcement stiffeners play a greater role in bear-
ing axial load and a small role in restraining buckling, thus they
have little influence on the constraint region. So the F2 and F3
specimens present similar constraint region distribution (in
Fig. 13(b)). The middle steel plate is well restrained, in other
words, by adding a stiffener, the weak constraint region is
converted into two smaller parts, with the stiffener weld as the
Fig. 11. Compressive stress-strain relation for non-constraint and constraint concrete. boundary point, and the former weak constraint region is trans-
lated into a strong constraint region near the welds.
To the F4 specimen, extra constraint region benefits from the
circular stirrups which bring uniform circular confinement to
concrete, resulting in the constraint region enclosed by solid lines
in Fig. 13(c).
To the F5 specimen, more horizontal welds and closer hor-
izontal spacing of welds enclose a larger constraint region
(shaded area in Fig. 13(d)).
The F3 specimen is taken as example to carry out following
quantitative analysis. Former related theoretical research with
ABAQUS software (in Fig. 14, the dark shades are low stress
regions and the light shades are high stress regions) reveals that
the boundaries between non-constraint regions and constraint
Fig. 12. Compressive stress-strain relation for steel tube and reinforcement. region are described by second-order parabola curves, with the

Fig. 13. Constraint region distribution of specimens. (a) F1, (b) F2 and F3, (c) F4 and (d) F5.
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Y. Wang et al. / Thin-Walled Structures 58 (2012) 18–31 27

Fig. 14. Stress contour in concrete of F3 specimen.

Fig. 16. Constraint region in cross-Sections 1-1 of F3 specimen.

Fig. 15. Longitudinal distribution of confinement for concrete.

Fig. 17. Equilibrium in Longitudinal cross section.

starting point and end point a 45-degree angle with the steel
plate and 1/6 concrete cross sectional dimension Bc apart from the Effective constraint area Acc of cross Sections 1-1 can be
corners. So the height of second-order parabola curve is calcu- calculated with Eq. (13).
lated as 1/4 wi (in Fig. 13(a) and (b)). Acc ¼ Ac Ack ð13Þ
The confinement distribution regulation may vary with the
parameters of specimens changing. Simplification in this paper is The constraint effective coefficient ke is
proved to be good in the following test verification. However, ke ¼ Acc =Ac ð14Þ
further study is requested especially when the specimens’ para-
meters are beyond the scope of this paper. To give a simple model, the confinement for concrete by tube
Fig. 15 shows the longitudinal distribution of concrete con- is homogenized so that such equilibrium of forces (in Fig. 17) in
straint region (the shaded area) and the non-constraint regions longitudinal cross section can be obtained in form of Eq. (15).
(the blank areas). S is the longitudinal spacing of adjacent welds. Fc ¼ Fs þ Fr ð15Þ
Sections 1-1 is the weakest cross section which determinates the
where Fc, Fs and Fr are the force of concrete, steel tube and
resistance of the specimen. The cross Sections 2-2 with strongest
stiffeners, respectively, and can be calculated in Eqs. (16)–(18):
confinement carries out the transition in second-order parabola
curve to the cross Sections 1-1. Similarly, the slopes at starting F c ¼ qBc S ð16Þ
point and end point with tube are both 45 degrees. Taking the F3
specimen for example, in Fig. 16, cross-sectional constraint region F s ¼ 2ss St ð17Þ
in cross Sections 1-1 is drawn with shaded area, while the dash
lines are the boundary lines for that in cross Sections 2-2, with the F r ¼ Er er Ar ð18Þ
detail dimensions shown in Fig. 16. where q is the uniform effective lateral confining pressure, ss is
The non-constraint area A0ck in the cross-Sections 2-2, is the circumferential stress of steel tube (generally ss ¼0.1fy,
calculated with Eq. (11) proposed in Elremaily’s research [15] in 2002). Ar is the cross-
X
n sectional area of stiffeners. er is the strain of stiffeners, which has
ðwi Þ2
A0ck ¼ ð11Þ interaction with concrete transverse expansion corresponding to
6
i¼1 ultimate resistance. Obviously, the strain of stiffeners and con-
crete coordinate with each other in a transverse direction, the
where n is the number of non-constraint regions.
expression of which is
The non-constraint area Ack of cross Sections 1-1 (in Fig. 16)
can be calculated with Eq. (12): er ¼ ect ð19Þ

Ack ¼ A0ck þ ð1=2ÞA0ck ðS=wi Þ þ nðS=4Þðwi =2Þ ð12Þ where ect is the transverse strain of concrete, and can be
calculated in Eq. (20)
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28 Y. Wang et al. / Thin-Walled Structures 58 (2012) 18–31
ect ¼ ff l mc ½f cc ðEc =Esec Þ þ f l g=Ec
where mc is the Poisson ratio of concrete, and can be calculated in
Eq. (21), proposedpby ffiffiffiffiffiffi Han [16]. Ec is the elastic modulus of
concrete, Ec ¼ 5000 f ck ; Esec is the secant modulus corresponding
to peak resistance, Esec ¼ f cc =ecc ; fcc and ecc are the peak strength
and strain of constraint concrete, defined in the following text.
mc ¼ 0:173 þ 0:7036ðf c =f cc 0:4Þ1:5 ðf ck =24Þ
where, fc is the stress of constraint concrete; fl is the effective
lateral confining stress in Eq. (22)
f l ¼ ke q
Based on confined strength determination from lateral confin-
ing stresses for rectangular sections [14], the relationship Eq. (23)
between x ¼fl/fck and y¼fcc/fck can be regressed:
2 model was conducted to investigate parameters of depth-to-
y ¼ 7:333x þ 6:533x þ 1
So the strength of confined concrete fcc can be obtained, and
then the peak strain ecc corresponding to the peak strength fcc can
be calculated in Eq. (24)
ecc ¼ eck ½1 þ 5ðf cc =f ck 1Þ
The skeleton curve of confined concrete is
f c ¼ f cc xr=ðr1 þ xr Þ
where x and r are coefficients, respectively defined in Eqs. (26)
and (27)
x ¼ ec =ecc
r ¼ Ec =ðEc Esec Þ
where, ec is the strain of constraint concrete.
As can be seen, q, er and fl interact with each other, so an
iteration method is employed to obtain the equilibrium solution.
The numerical model is established by applying axial displace-
ment on top of columns step by step. Then the axial displacement
is translated into sectional strain. Stress-strain relation curves of
the constraint concrete, steel tube and reinforcement stiffener
proposed above, are employed to calculate their stress. In the ith
loading increment of axial load-displacement curve, the stress of
constraint concrete, steel tube and reinforcement are, respectively
denoted as fcci, fyi and fyri, and the axial resistance Pi can be
specifically expressed as Eq. (28):
P i ¼ f cci Ac þf yi As þf yri Ar
where, Ar is the cross-sectional area of stiffeners that bear the
axial load.
Therefore the axial resistance and axial displacement of
columns are collected for the load-displacement relation curves.
When the axial resistance desceded to 85% of the peak load, the
column is considered to be damaged and the iteration procedure
stops.
The numerical analysis program is expected to formulate
square CFST with the following kinds of stiffener patterns of
reinforcements, i.e., the tie bars, binding bars, tension sheets or
plate ribs. Different stiffeners generally result in different stiffener
welds’ locations, specifically speaking, the horizontal spacing and
longitudinal spacing of stiffener welds.
3.2. Verification of numerical program
A numerical analysis program was written to simulate the five
specimens in axial load P versus axial displacement D relationship
curves (shown in Fig. 18). A general good agreement in the initial
stiffness, ultimate strength and ductility from the experiment and
prediction has been reached.
ð20Þ Ultimate strength comparison between the numerical results
and the test results of 55 specimens from Huang [8], Cai [6], Han
[4], Chen [9], Yang [18], and this paper, displayed in Fig. 19. The
cross-sectional depth B ranges from 130 mm to 300 mm; the
thickness of steel tube t from 1.25 mm to 12 mm; the depth-to-
thickness ratio B/t from 37.5 to 240; the steel strength fy from
162 N/mm2 to 382 N/mm2; the concrete strength fck from
ð21Þ 23.94 N/mm2 to 54.8 N/mm2. The mean value and square devia-
tion of the ratio of theoretical strength to experimental strength
are, respectively 0.996 and 0.083 which illustrate that numerical
results have a good agreement with the experimental results.
ð22Þ
3.3. Parametric analysis
An extensive parametric analysis based on the numerical
ð23Þ
thickness ratio B/t (t is the variable), horizontal spacing of
stiffener welds a, longitudinal spacing of stiffener welds S,
strength of concrete fck, strength of steel tubes fy, strength of
stiffeners fyr and diameters of stiffeners tr, while the longitudinal
length L and the cross-sectional depth B are constants. In each
ð24Þ
calculation case, the parameters mentioned above, expect for the
concerned parameters, are taken as constants, i.e., a ¼100 mm,
ð25Þ S¼100 mm, fck ¼30 N/mm2, fy ¼345 N/mm2, fyr ¼335 N/mm2,
tr ¼8 mm, L¼600 mm, and B¼200 mm.
Fig. 20 reveals the influence of parameters mentioned above on
the ultimate resistances of stiffened specimens. In all cases, smaller
ð26Þ depth-to-thickness ratio B/t gives larger ultimate resistance. To a
certain B/t, higher concrete strength, higher steel tube strength and
ð27Þ larger stiffener diameters present positive influences on ultimate
resistance, especially the influence of concrete strength which is
substantial. However, the influences are caused by an increase in
material strength and material consumption. Closer horizontal and
longitudinal spacing of stiffener welds also promotes higher ulti-
mate resistance, and to deserve to be mentioned, this is due to the
improvement of confinement for core concrete, providing more
economical efficiency. However, the improvement has limitations,
for fabrication difficulties may arise when the spacing of stiffener
welds is too small. In addition, the yielding strength of stiffeners has
little influence on ultimate resistance.
3.4. Simplified model
ð28Þ
Based on the simplified model of Han [17] for non-stiffened
square CFSTs, a modified simplified model for stiffened square
CFSTs is regressed from the previous mentioned specimens.
Specimens with different stiffeners can be generalized into the
unified model, in which each stiffener’s influence depends on its
location, specifically speaking, the horizontal spacing and long-
itudinal spacing of stiffener welds.
0
The composite strength for stiffened CFSTs f scy can be calcu-
lated in Eq. (29).
0
f scy ¼ a0 b0 f scy ð29Þ
where, a0 and b0 are the strength enhancement ratios and
associated, respectively with horizontal and longitudinal spacing
of stiffener welds, a0 ¼1.54(a/t)  0.12,b0 ¼ 0:10 lnðS=tÞ þ 1:34; fscy
is the composite strength for non-stiffened CFSTs and is modified
from equation of Han [17].
2
f scy ¼ ð1:1 þ Bx þ C x Þf ck ð30Þ
where, B¼0.1381  (fy/235) þ0.7646; C ¼ 0.0727  (fck/20) þ
0.0216; x is the constraint factor, x ¼fyAs/(fckAc).
Ultimate strength comparison between the simplified model
results and test results of the 55 specimens mentioned above is
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Y. Wang et al. / Thin-Walled Structures 58 (2012) 18–31 29

1500 1500

Experiment Experiment
Prediction Prediction
1000 1000
P (kN)

P (kN)
500 500

0 0
0 1 2 3 4 5 0 1 2 3 4 5
Δ (mm) Δ (mm)

1500 2500

2000
1000
1500
P (kN)

P (kN)
1000
500
Experiment 500 Experiment
Prediction Prediction
0 0
0 1 2 3 4 5 0 1 2 3 4 5
Δ (mm) Δ (mm)

2500

2000

1500
P (kN)

1000

500 Experiment
Prediction
0
0 1 2 3 4 5
Δ (mm)

Fig. 18. Comparison of experiment and prediction. (a) F1, (b) F2, (c) F3, (d) F4 and (e) F5.

12000 displayed in Fig. 21. The mean value and square deviation of the
Huang (2002) ratio of theoretical resistance to experimental resistance are,
Cai (2006) +10% respectively 0.95 and 0.122, which reveals that the model results
10000 Han (2005) have a good agreement with the experimental results.
Chen (2006)
Yang (2008)
8000 4. Conclusions
Prediction (kN)

-10%
An innovative kind of stiffener, reinforcement stiffener, has
6000 been proposed to enhance the strength and ductility of square
CFSTs. The experimental observation on the stiffened square CFST
specimens reveals that the failure mode of concrete and steel tube
4000 are modified – concrete from brittle shear failure mode (non-
stiffened specimens) to ductile local concrete crushed failure
mode – tube’s buckling being generally delayed. The mechanical
2000
properties indicated by ultimate resistance and ductility of
stiffened CFSTs have improved, as shown by the test results.
A numerical analysis program was written to formulate the
0
0 2000 4000 6000 8000 10000 12000 experiment results. With the model, different confined concrete
Experiment (kN) cross sections can be divided into a constraint region and non-
constraint regions by its stiffeners, and each region described
Fig. 19. Comparison of experiment and prediction in ultimate resistance. with corresponding concrete constitution. The resistance of each
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30 Y. Wang et al. / Thin-Walled Structures 58 (2012) 18–31

3500 3500
a=200mm s=200mm
3000 a=100mm 3000 s=100mm
a=67mm s=67mm
2500 a=50mm 2500 s=50mm
P (kN)

P (kN)
2000 2000

1500 1500

1000 1000
0 50 100 150 200 250 0 50 100 150 200 250
B/t B/t

5000 5000
fck=30MPa fy=235MPa
fck=40MPa
fy=345MPa
4000 fck=50MPa 4000
fck=60MPa
fy=390MPa
fck=70MPa fy=420MPa
P (kN)

P (kN)
3000 3000

2000 2000

1000 1000
0 50 100 150 200 250 0 50 100 150 200 250
B/t B/t

5000 5000
fyr=235MPa dt=6mm
fyr=335MPa dt=8mm
4000 fyr=400MPa 4000
dt=10mm
dt=12mm
P (kN)

P (kN)

3000 3000

2000 2000

1000 1000
0 50 100 150 200 250 0 50 100 150 200 250
B/t B/t

Fig. 20. Parametric analysis. (a) Horizontal spacing of welds a, (b) longitudinal spacing of welds S, (c) strength of concrete, fck, (d) strength of steel tubes fy, (e) strength of
stiffeners fyr and (f) diameters of stiffeners tr.

specimen is the superposition of all components. The numerical

12000
program was reasonably verified and employed to do supple-
Huang (2002)
+10% mentary parametric analysis, which reveals that, depth-to-thick-
Cai (2006)
10000 ness ratio, horizontal and longitudinal spacing of stiffener welds,
Han (2005)
concrete strength, steel tube strength present an apparent posi-
Chen (2006)
tive influence; stiffener diameters present mild positive influence
Yang (2008)
Simplified model (kN)

8000 and the yielding strength of stiffeners has little influence.

A simplified model for stiffened specimens’ resistances based
-10%
on previous research was proposed and reasonably verified.
6000 Specimens with different stiffeners patterns can be generalized
into the unified model, in which each stiffener’s influence
depends on its locations, specifically speaking, the horizontal
4000 spacing and longitudinal spacing of stiffener welds.

2000
Acknowledgments

0
0 2000 4000 6000 8000 10000 12000 The project is supported by National Natural Science Founda-
Experiment (kN) tion of China (51178146) and by Fundamental Research Funds for
the Central Universities ‘‘Research on Static Behavior of L-shaped
Fig. 21. Comparison between experimental and simplified model results. Concrete-filled Steel Tubular Columns’’ (lzujbky-2012-21).
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Y. Wang et al. / Thin-Walled Structures 58 (2012) 18–31
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