Engineering Structures 216 (2020) 110742

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Engineering Structures
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/engstruct

Rectangular double-tube concrete columns with an internal elliptical high- T

strength steel tube: Concept and behavior
Yu-Yi Yea, De-Hua Zhua, Jun-Jie Zenga,b,c, , Guan Linb, , Wei-Qiang Wangd
⁎ ⁎

a
School of Civil and Transportation Engineering, Guangdong University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, China
b
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, China
c
Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory, Guangzhou, China
d
School of Architecture, Building and Civil Engineering, Loughborough University, Leicestershire, UK

ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT

Keywords: This paper presents a novel form of rectangular fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP)-concrete-high strength steel
Fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) (HSS) hybrid columns referred to as rectangular double-tube concrete columns (DTCCs). These columns consist
Double-tube concrete column of a rectangular FRP tube filled with concrete and an elliptical HSS tube as internal reinforcement. The inner
Rectangular columns elliptical steel tube encloses most of the concrete in the rectangular section and therefore most of the concrete in
Elliptical steel tube
the section is effectively confined. The high susceptibility of the HSS elliptical tube to local buckling is expected
High strength steel
Confinement
to be suppressed by the confined concrete, leading to full utilization of the high strength of HSS. This paper
Stress–strain model demonstrates the excellent performance of the new columns due to the above beneficial interactions between
different components in the column through an experimental study. In the experimental study, twelve rectan-
gular DTCCs covering different FRP tube thicknesses and aspect ratios were tested under axial compression.
Finally, an existing stress–strain model for FRP-confined concrete in rectangular columns is modified to be
applicable to the concrete in the new column by accounting for the confinement effect from the inner elliptical
HSS tube. It is found that the modified model provides more accurate predictions on the stress–strain curves of
confined concrete in the rectangular DTCCs than the original model.

1. Introduction columns (FCSCs) [14,32–34].

FRP composites have recently been widely used in structural en-
gineering, both in strengthening existing structures [1–12] and con-
structing new structures [13–21]. A very attractive and efficient ap-
plication of FRP composites is to use them as a confining material for
concrete, which can be achieved by means of jacketing/wrapping resin-
impregnated fiber sheets around an existing column for strengthening
or utilizing FRP tubes in constructing new hybrid structures. In the
latter case, FRP tubes also serve as a permanent formwork and act as a
protection layer against corrosion. FRP tubes can be designed to have
fibers oriented only in the column hoop direction, and therefore the
confinement effectiveness will not be affected by possible buckling of
the FRP tube due to axial compression. A significant amount of research
has been conducted to explore the use of FRP tubes in various forms of
new constructions, such as concrete-filled FRP tubes (CFFTs) [22–28],
hybrid FRP-concrete-steel double-skin tubular columns (DSTCs)
[13,15–17,29–31], and FRP-confined concrete-encased steel composite
As an emerging form of columns, hybrid DSTCs, firstly proposed at
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University [13], have attracted extensive
research attention [13,15–17,29–31]. DSTCs consist of an outer FRP
tube, an inner steel tube and the concrete filled between the two tubes.
Hybrid DSTCs have been shown to possess excellent structural perfor-
mance and durability due to an optimal use of the three constituent
materials [15–17,29–31]. Later, Teng et al. [18] among other re-
searchers [18–19,33,34] proposed to fill the inner steel tube of a DSTC
with concrete (referred to as the core concrete hereafter) to form a so-
called double-tube concrete column (DTCC). The core concrete in a
DTCC can effectively suppress the inward buckling of the steel tube,
leading to fuller utilization of the steel strength and thus better column
performance [18,33]. Existing studies on DTCCs have generally been
focused on circular or square columns with an inner circular steel tube
[18–19,27]. Teng et al. [18] and Zeng et al. [33–34] also investigated
the use of high-strength steel (HSS) tubes in DTCCs. It is particularly
attractive to use thin HSS tubes in DTCCs as the in-filled concrete can

⁎
Corresponding authors at: School of Civil and Transportation Engineering, Guangdong University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, China (J.-J. Zeng);
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, China (G. Lin).
E-mail addresses: jjzeng@gdut.edu.cn (J.-J. Zeng), guanlin@polyu.edu.hk (G. Lin).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.engstruct.2020.110742
Received 29 December 2019; Received in revised form 25 March 2020; Accepted 2 May 2020
0141-0296/ © 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Y.-Y. Ye, et al. Engineering Structures 216 (2020) 110742

Fig. 1. Effective confinement area in rectangular CFFT and DTCC.

Table 1
Details of test specimens.
Specimen FRP tube High strength steel tube Concrete

h (mm) b (mm) t f (mm) 2as (mm) 2bs (mm) ts (mm) f c' (MPa) Ec (GPa) co

C-1.0-2-1 210 210 0.334 180 180 3 32.5 28.3 0.0025

C-1.0-2-2 210 210 0.334 180 180 3
C-1.0-4-1 210 210 0.668 180 180 3
C-1.0-4-2 210 210 0.668 180 180 3
C-1.5-2-1 258 172 0.334 220 147 3
C-1.5-2-2 258 172 0.334 220 147 3
C-1.5-4-1 258 172 0.668 220 147 3
C-1.5-4-2 258 172 0.668 220 147 3
C-2.0-2-1 298 149 0.334 255 128 3
C-2.0-2-2 298 149 0.334 255 128 3
C-2.0-4-1 298 149 0.668 255 128 3
C-2.0-4-2 298 149 0.668 255 128 3
CFFT-1.0-2 210 210 0.334 N.A. N.A. N.A.
CFFT-1.0-4 210 210 0.668 N.A. N.A. N.A.
CFFT-1.5-2 258 172 0.334 N.A. N.A. N.A.
CFFT-1.5-4 258 172 0.668 N.A. N.A. N.A.
CFFT-2.0-2 298 149 0.334 N.A. N.A. N.A.
CFFT-2.0-4 298 149 0.668 N.A. N.A. N.A.

Note: h – Inner depth of the FRP tube; b – Inner width of the FRP tube; t f – Thickness of the FRP tube; 2as – Outer length of the major axis of the steel tube; 2bs – Outer
length of the minor axis of the steel tube; ts – Thickness of the steel tube; f c' – Unconfined concrete cylinder strength; Ec – Elastic modulus of concrete; co – Axial strain
of unconfined concrete at peak stress; N.A. – Not applicable.

suppress the high susceptibility of the HSS tube to local buckling
[18,33]. In addition, HSS tubes provide effective confinement to the
core concrete due to the large elastic range of HSS.
Compared with columns with a circular or square cross section,
rectangular columns are more versatile in design due to their different
resistances in the two major directions [35]. However, all the DTCCs in
existing studies have circular or square column shape. For a rectangular
DTCC, the inner steel tube can be either a rectangular or an elliptical
steel tube. Compared with a rectangular tube, the confinement pro-
vided by an elliptical tube is expected to be more effective. It has been
confirmed that the lateral confinement to the concrete in a rectangular
column is non-uniform and is less effective than that in its circular
counterpart. Indeed, a common method to enhance the confinement
effectiveness in a rectangular column is modifying the column section
into a circular or elliptical one [36]. In addition, it is known that in
concrete-filled rectangular FRP tubes, only a portion of the concrete is
effectively confined (Fig. 1) and the concrete near the flat side regions
receives negligible confinement because of the small flexural stiffness of
the FRP jacket/tube. An inner elliptical steel tube, however, can enclose
most of the concrete near the flat side regions and thus is expected to
enhance the uniformity of confinement in the concrete over the whole
rectangular section. The present study aims to investigate the structural
performance of such rectangular DTCCs with an inner elliptical HSS
tube to provide more effective confinement to the inner concrete.
This paper, therefore, presents the results of a first-ever
experimental study on the new rectangular DTCCs to study their axial
compression behavior. The key test variables were the FRP tube
thickness and the cross-sectional aspect ratio. The inner elliptical HSS
tubes were designed to have the same aspect ratio as the rectangular
column section and the tube size was maximized so that most of the
concrete can be enclosed by the steel tube (Fig. 1). A minimum gap of
10 mm was adopted between the inner steel tube and the outer FRP
tube to ensure the flowability and integrity of the concrete. An existing
stress–strain model for FRP-confined concrete in rectangular columns
was then modified to include the confinement effect from the inner
elliptical steel tube so as to accurately predict the behavior of the
concrete in the proposed rectangular DTCCs.
2. Experimental program
2.1. Specimen design
Totally eighteen specimens including twelve rectangular DTCC
specimens and six rectangular CFFT specimens were fabricated and
tested. The test specimens all had an identical concrete cross-sectional
area (but different aspect ratios) and a height of 450 mm. The corners of
the columns were all rounded with a radius of 30 mm, namely, the
inner corner radius of the FRP tubes was 30 mm. The effects of the FRP
tube thickness and the column aspect ratio (i.e., h/ b , where h and b are
the depth and width of the rectangular concrete section, respectively)

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Y.-Y. Ye, et al. Engineering Structures 216 (2020) 110742

were investigated. A pair of specimens were tested for each column Table 2
configuration. The aspect ratio of the internal elliptical HSS tube (de- Tensile test results of HSS coupons.
fined as as / bs , where as and bs are the external lengths of the major and Specimen Es (MPa) f y (MPa) y fu (MPa) u µs
minor axes, respectively) was equal to that of the concrete section, as
well as the outer collocated FRP tube. Three aspect ratios (i.e., 1.0, 1.5, E10-1 186.2 782 0.0042 853 0.0387 0.24
and 2.0) were examined. The nominal thickness per layer of the FRP E10-2 179.7 772 0.0043 844 0.0361 0.26
E10-3 182.6 788 0.0043 837 0.0351 0.26
tubes was 0.167 mm. The detailed specimen information is given in
Average 182.9 781 0.0043 845 0.0366 0.26
Table 1. E15-1(a) 189.8 801 0.0042 838 0.0235 0.25
For ease of reference, each specimen is labeled by a name, which E15-2(a) 190.4 790 0.0042 819 0.0124 0.27
starts with a letter “C” representing a rectangular DTCC or “CFFT” E15-3(a) 195.8 792 0.0040 814 0.0173 0.26
denoting the corresponding rectangular “concrete-filled FRP tubular E15-1(b) 201.3 785 0.0039 846 0.0359 0.27
E15-2(b) 187.5 777 0.0041 829 0.0358 0.26
column” without an internal steel tube. The following number (i.e., 1.0,
E15-3(b) 181.9 805 0.0044 843 0.0310 0.27
1.5 or 2.0) represents the aspect ratio of the column section, and an- Average 191.1 792 0.0041 832 0.0260 0.26
other integer (2 or 4) denotes the layer quantity of the FRP tube. The E20-1(a) 179.3 761 0.0042 797 0.0189 0.27
last number (1 or 2) is utilized to differentiate the two nominally E20-2(a) 184.2 806 0.0044 823 0.0119 0.23
identical specimens in each pair. For instance, “C-1.0-2-1” refers to the E20-3(a) 202.6 793 0.0039 824 0.0184 0.26
E20-1(b) 200.3 783 0.0039 832 0.0287 0.32
rectangular DTCC with an aspect ratio of 1.0 (i.e., a square column) E20-2(b) 215.8 790 0.0037 855 0.0341 0.29
confined with a two-layer FRP tube. E20-3(b) 178.2 760 0.0043 830 0.0402 0.28
Carbon FRP (CFRP) tubes were used, which were manufactured in Average 193.4 782 0.0041 827 0.0254 0.28
the laboratory by winding a unidirectional high tensile strength epoxy-
impregnated carbon fiber sheet around a rectangular wooden mold. Note: “E10”, “E15”, and “E20” denote aspect ratios of 1.0, 1.5, 2.0, respectively;
the number followed is to differentiate nominally identical specimens; “a” and
However, it should be pointed out that FRP tubes prefabricated by fi-
“b” represent coupons cut from the major vertices and the minor vertices, re-
lament winding process are more favorable in practice. An overlapping
spectively; Es – Elastic modulus of steel; fy – Yield stress of steel; y – Yield strain
zone (150 mm length) was prepared in each FRP tube to avoid pre-
of steel; fu – Tensile strength of steel; u – Tensile strain of steel at fu ; µs –
mature FRP debonding. The fibers in the FRP tubes were oriented only
Poisson’s ratio of steel.
in the transverse direction, aiming at alleviating the longitudinal re-
sistance of the FRP tubes so that they served predominantly as a con-
fining device. The two ends of each FRP tube were further strengthened
with a 50-mm-wide CFRP strip to avoid premature localized rupture
there. The width of the CFRP strips was about one-tenth of the column
height, similar to those widely used by other researchers for strength-
ening the column ends (e.g., [5,24,37–40]).

2.2. Material properties

All the specimens were cast with ready-mixed concrete and cured at
room temperature for at least 28 days in the laboratory. Several stan-
dard concrete cylinders were also cast for axial compression test to
obtain the cylinder strength of unconfined concrete based on ASTM
C469 [41]. As shown in Table 1, the average cylinder strength fc' , elastic
modulus Ec , axial strain at peak stress co of unconfined concrete were
32.5 MPa, 28.3 GPa and 0.0025, respectively.
Material properties of the FRP were obtained via standard coupon
tensile tests in accordance with ASTM D3039 [42]. The coupon test
results showed that the average elastic modulus of FRP was 234.9 GPa
based on the nominal thickness of 0.167 mm/layer of the carbon fiber Fig. 3. Tensile stress–strain curves of HSS coupons.
sheet, while the average rupture strain was 1.40%.
Cold-formed elliptical HSS tubes with three aspect ratios (i.e., fu , tensile strain u at fu , and Poisson’s ratio µs of steel obtained from
as / bs = 1.0, 1.5, and 2.0 ) were used in the rectangular DTCCs, all of HSS coupons of steel tubes with different aspect ratios are listed in
which had a guaranteed yield stress of 690 MPa and a thickness of Table 2. Fig. 3 shows the tensile stress–strain curves of the HSS based on
3 mm. A total of six coupons were cut from an elliptical HSS tube [with the coupon tests. It is observed from Table 2 and Fig. 3 that the aspect
three cut from the end of the major axis and the other three cut from the ratio of elliptical HSS tubes had slight influence on the ultimate tensile
end of the minor axis of the steel tube] and tested under uniaxial ten- strain (a larger aspect ratio leads to a smaller strain at tensile strength)
sion in accordance with BS 18 (1987) [43]. Fig. 2 shows the shape and while it had little influence on the other tensile properties. This in-
dimensions of the flat HSS coupons for tensile tests. The average values dicates that the curvature variation along the perimeter of an elliptical
of the elastic modulus Es , yield stress fy , yield strain y , tensile strength HSS tube has only a marginal effect on the material properties of the
steel.
R2
5 To further understand the mechanical properties of HSS tubes, six
hollow HSS tubes (two duplicated specimens for each aspect ratio) with
5 10 5

the same height (i.e., 450 mm) as the rectangular DTCCs were also
20

prepared and tested under axial compression. Four linear variable dis-
placement transducers (LVDTs) at 90° apart were installed to measure
50 15 70 15 50 the mid-height (covered a mid-height region of 200 mm) shortenings of
each HSS tube, another two LVDTs at opposite sides were installed to
Fig. 2. Shape and dimensions of HSS coupons for tensile tests. measure the full-height shortenings of each HSS tube and four pairs of

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Y.-Y. Ye, et al. Engineering Structures 216 (2020) 110742

Fig. 4. Layouts of strain gauges and LVDTs.

Table 3
Compression test results of hollow HSS tubes.
Specimen as /bs Es _t (MPa) f y _t (MPa) y _t µ s _t

HSS-1.0-1 1.0 207.8 715 0.0055 0.25

HSS-1.0-2 1.0 187.0 705 0.0058 0.22
Average 197.4 710 0.0057 0.24
HSS-1.5-1 1.5 200.5 682 0.0054 0.25
HSS-1.5-2 1.5 203.0 673 0.0053 0.27
Average 201.8 678 0.0054 0.26
HSS-2.0-1 2.0 187.4 627 0.0054 0.23
HSS-2.0-2 2.0 182.7 629 0.0055 0.29
Average 185.1 628 0.0055 0.26

Note: Es _t – Elastic modulus of steel tube; fy _t – Yield stress corresponding to a

0.2% residual strain; y _t – Yield strain of steel tube; µs _t – Poisson’s ratio of steel
tube.

tubes, where the yield stress refers to the stress which corresponds to a
Fig. 5. Typical failure modes of hollow HSS tubes.
0.2% residual strain (i.e., 0.2% proof stress) as there are no obvious
yield plateaus for the stress-strain curves (see Fig. 6). It is noted that the
yield stress of the HSS tubes is smaller than the yield stress from the
coupon tests and the yield stress decreases as the aspect ratio increases.
The reason could be that the HSS tubes having a larger aspect ratio are
more susceptible to local buckling failure, leading to a decreased peak
stress before the yielding of the steel. Similar results have also been
found by other researchers [44–49].

2.3. Instrumentations and test Set-up

Fig. 6. Stress–strain curves of hollow HSS tubes under axial compression.
strain gauges (SGs) with a gauge length of 5 mm (one longitudinal SG
and one hoop SG for each pair) at 90° apart were installed at the mid-
height of each HSS tube. All the hollow HSS tubes exhibited typical
local buckling failure modes as shown in Fig. 5. The axial stress–strain
curves of all the tested hollow HSS tubes are plotted in Fig. 6. Table 3
lists the measured dimensions and the test results of the hollow HSS
Six LVDTs were utilized for each column specimen, among which
four were applied at the centers of the four flat sides to measure the
shortening of the 200 mm mid-region (mid-height LVDTs) and the other
two were located at the middle of the two longer flat sides of the rec-
tangular section to measure the overall shortenings of each specimen
(full-height LVDTs) (Fig. 4). A total of sixteen SGs (with 20 mm gauge
length) were mounted on the column surface at the mid-height section,
including eight SGs installed at the centers of the flat sides to measure
the axail strains and hoop strains (i.e., four of them were axial SGs and
the other four were hoop SGs) and another eight hoop SGs installed at
the transition points between the four round corners and their adjacent
flat sides (Fig. 4). In addition, eight SGs with 5 mm gauge length were
mounted at the vertices and the co-vertices of the elliptical HSS tube in
each rectangular DTCC specimen, four of which were axial SGs and the
other four were hoop SGs (Fig. 4).
Waterproof coating and anti-collision tape were applied on the SGs
on the steel tube to protect them from damage. Additionally, high
strength gypsum were used to level the specimen ends to ensure uni-
form loading on the column cross-section. The specimens were axially

4
Y.-Y. Ye, et al.
Fig. 7. Test set-up.
loaded on a 1000-ton compression testing machine with a displacement
loading rate of 0.5 mm/min (Fig. 7). The specimens were firstly pre-
loaded to around 0.2f c' A ( A is the concrete cross-sectional area of the
specimen) to check vertical alignment and subsequently loaded until
the occurance of FRP rupture or the axial load reducing to 80% of the
peak load, whichever occurred first. All the test data were logged si-
multaneously by an automatic data acquisition system.
3. Experimental results and discussions
3.1. Failure modes
Figs. 8 and 9 show the typical failure modes of CFFT and DTCC
specimens. Both the CFFT and DTCC specimens experienced FRP tube
rupture accompanied with an explosive sound, resulting in a sharp
decrease of axial load. It was found that the rupture of FRP in the CFFT
specimens generally occurred close to one of the round corners near the
mid-height due to stress concentrations near the corners (Fig. 8), which
is consistent with the observations reported by other researchers on
FRP-confined rectangular concrete columns [35]. All rectangular DTCC
specimens also experienced FRP rupture near the rounded corners
(Fig. 9). The inclusion of an inner HSS steel tube in CFFT specimens did
not have an obvious effect on the failure modes. Two DTCC specimens
(e.g., C-1.0-2-1, C-1.0-4-1) experienced slight FRP debonding in the
overlapping zone, accompanied with FRP rupture, which may be
(a) CFFT-1.0-4 (b) CFFT-1.5-2 (c) CFFT-2.0-4
Fig. 8. Typical failure modes of CFFT specimens.
5
Engineering Structures 216 (2020) 110742
Fig. 9. Typical failure modes of DTCCs.
attributed to the combination of axial compressive and hoop tensile
stresses in the FRP. The concrete filled between the outer FRP tube and
the inner steel tube (referred to as the sandwiched concrete) of the
DTCC specimens spalled after FRP ruptured.
The inner HSS tubes were manually exposed by removing the
sandwiched concrete after the tests as shown in Fig. 10. It can be ob-
served that the inner HSS tubes experienced local buckling failure and
the buckling occurred along the height of the tube. This is apparently
different from the observations for the hollow steel tubes (Fig. 5). Also,
the buckling mode of the elliptical HSS tube in DTCCs is different from
that of concrete-filled elliptical steel tubes as can be seen in Fig. 10d.
The two concrete-filled elliptical steel tubes in Fig. 10d were made with
the same concrete and steel tube as those for the DTCCs in the present
study. The details of the concrete-filled elliptical steel tubes are not
reported herein due to the length limit of this paper. It is interesting to
see that buckling deformations appeared on several places of the el-
liptical HSS tube in DTCCs while the buckling deformations of concrete-
filled elliptical steel tubes were generally localized [47,48,50–52] (see
Fig. 10).
3.2. Axial load-axial strain responses of rectangular DTCCs
The axial deformations of each rectangular DTCC specimen were
simultaneously measured by the mid-height LVDTs (denoted by LVDT-
200), the full-height LVDTs (denoted by LVDT-450), the SGs mounted
on the surface of outer FRP tube (denoted by FRP-SG), and the SGs
installed on the inner HSS tube (denoted by HSS-SG). The axial strains
obtained by the four methods for specimen C-1.5-2-1 are compared in
Fig. 11. The horizontal axis represents axial strains calculated from the
overall specimen shortening (measured by LVDT-450), while the ver-
tical axis represents axial strains obtained from one of the other three
methods. It can be seen that the axial strains obtained from the four
different methods are close to each other until the failure of the strain
gauges. It is also seen that the axial strains based on the full-height
shortenings are generally larger than the others at an early stage of
loading (with axial strains smaller than 0.005). It can be explained by
the fact that the deformations recorded by the full-height LVDTs
Y.-Y. Ye, et al. Engineering Structures 216 (2020) 110742

Fig. 10. Failure modes of inner steel tubes in rectangular DTCCs and concrete-
filled elliptical steel tubes.

Fig. 11. Comparison of axial strains recorded by four measurement methods

(Specimen C-1.5-2-1).

included displacements of the two end loading platens into tight contact Fig. 12. Effect of FRP-layer on the axial load-axial strain curves of rectangular
with the column ends. In addition, it is obviously observed from Fig. 11 DTCCs.
that the mid-height LVDT readings and the strain gauge readings were
not reliable due to local non-uniform deformations of the column.
(abbreviated as the AL-AS curves for ease of discussion) of all the test
Consequently, the axial strains adopted in the subsequent sections were
rectangular DTCC specimens. It can be seen that the AL-AS curves of
those calculated from the full-height LVDT readings and the axial
each pair of nominally identical specimens are close to each other,
strains at the early loading stage were based on the mid-height LVDTs.
suggesting a satisfactory reliability of the test results.
Fig. 12 presents the comparisons of the axial load-axial strain curves

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Y.-Y. Ye, et al. Engineering Structures 216 (2020) 110742

As shown in Fig. 12, the curves of all the DTCC specimens with an
aspect ratio of 1.0 or 1.5 have a monotonically ascending bilinear shape
(Fig. 12a and 12b). For specimens with an aspect ratio of 2.0, the
second branch is close to being horizontal due to the reduced FRP
confinement caused by the large aspect ratio (Fig. 12c). It is apparent in
Fig. 12 that for specimens having the same aspect ratio, both the ulti-
mate load (i.e., peak load) (upon FRP rupture) and the corresponding
axial strain (ultimate axial strain) tend to increase with the FRP tube
thickness. Fig. 13 demonstrates the effect of aspect ratio on the AL-AS
curves of DTCCs. As expected, a DTCC specimen having a smaller aspect
ratio possesses a higher ultimate load, a larger slope for the second
branch, and a slightly larger ultimate axial strain. Table 4 shows the
ultimate axial loads (Pu ) and the ultimate axial strains ( cu ) of all the test
specimens. It is evident that the ultimate loads of DTCCs are sig-
nificantly larger than that of the CFFT columns having the same aspect
ratio and FRP tube thickness. The deformation capacities of the col-
umns can be evaluated using the ultimate axial strain ratio cu/ co . The
maximum value of cu/ co is 22.8 for specimen C-1.0-4-1, while the
minimum value is 9.7 for specimen C-2.0-2-1. It is interesting to find
that the average value of cu/ co for specimens C-2.0-2-1/2 with a re-
latively small FRP confinement stiffness is 1.57 times that of specimen
CFFT-2.0-2; however, when a stronger FRP confinement is used, the
deformation capacity of a DTCC becomes closer to that of the corre-
sponding CFFT column (comparing specimens C-2.0-4-1/2 with CFFT-
2.0-4). This implies that the inner steel tube has a more positive effect
in enhancing the deformation capacity of a DTCC confined with a
weaker FRP tube.

3.3. Mechanisms of interaction of different components

Fig. 14 presents the AL-AS curves of two representative rectangular

DTCC specimens, together with the following five other AL-AS curves:
(1) an AL-AS curve of the inner HSS tube obtained from compression
tests on hollow HSS tubes (denoted by ‘‘HSS”); (2) an AL-AS curve of
the inner HSS tube based on tensile tests on steel coupons (denoted by
‘‘Coupon”); (3) an AL-AS curve of the corresponding CFFT specimen;
(4) the sum of (1) and (3) (denoted by ‘‘CFFT + HSS”); (5) the sum of
Fig. 13. Effects of cross-sectional aspect ratio on the axial load–strain curves of
(2) and (3) (denoted by ‘‘CFFT + Coupon”). All the above curves ter-
DTCCs. minate at the same axial strain which is equal to the ultimate axial
strain of the corresponding CFFT specimens for ease of comparison.
As can be seen from Fig. 14, the initial slopes of the “CFFT + HSS”

Table 4
Key test results of confined concrete in rectangular DTCCs and CFFTs.
Specimen Pu (kN) '
f cc (MPa) cu h, rup fl, frp (MPa) fl, steel (MPa) '
f cc cu SI
co
'
f co

C-1.0-2-1 3551 56.5 0.0311 −0.0107 5.7 4.6 1.74 12.4 1.25
C-1.0-2-2 3729 60.7 0.0313 −0.0111 6.0 4.6 1.87 12.5 1.33
C-1.0-4-1 4610 82.7 0.0571 −0.0137 14.7 4.6 2.54 22.8 1.38
C-1.0-4-2 4353 75.9 0.0457 −0.0135 14.6 4.6 2.34 18.3 1.26
C-1.5-2-1 3298 49.9 0.0262 −0.0092 4.7 4.6 1.54 10.5 1.31
C-1.5-2-2 3271 49.3 0.0255 −0.0101 5.2 4.6 1.52 10.2 1.28
C-1.5-4-1 3986 66.6 0.0527 −0.0132 13.6 4.6 2.05 21.1 1.48
C-1.5-4-2 4096 68.9 0.0511 −0.0130 13.4 4.6 2.12 20.5 1.54
C-2.0-2-1 2828 38.2 0.0243 −0.0090 4.3 4.5 1.18 9.7 1.13
C-2.0-2-2 2927 40.5 0.0283 −0.0083 4.0 4.5 1.25 11.3 1.19
C-2.0-4-1 3239 48.1 0.0481 −0.0094 9.0 4.5 1.48 19.2 1.29
C-2.0-4-2 3196 47.0 0.0426 −0.0088 8.4 4.5 1.45 17.0 1.28
CFFT-1.0-2 1691 39.0 0.0209 N.A. N.A. N.A. 1.20 8.4 N.A.
CFFT-1.0-4 2741 63.3 0.0482 −0.0148 15.6 N.A. 1.95 19.3 N.A.
CFFT-1.5-2 1612 37.0 0.0203 −0.0109 5.5 N.A. 1.14 8.1 N.A.
CFFT-1.5-4 2477 56.8 0.0499 −0.0106 10.7 N.A. 1.75 20.0 N.A.
CFFT-2.0-2 1327 30.4 0.0168 −0.0087 4.1 N.A. 0.94 6.7 N.A.
CFFT-2.0-4 2082 47.7 0.0458 −0.0125 11.8 N.A. 1.47 18.3 N.A.

Note: Pu – Ultimate axial load of specimens; f cc' – Ultimate axial stress of confined concrete; cu – Ultimate axial strain; Ef – Elastic modulus of FRP tube; t f – Thickness of
FRP tube; h, rup – FRP hoop rupture strain (equal to the values of h, ave in Table 5); fy _t – Yield stress of the steel tube; f co' –Unconfined concrete strength (assumed to be
equal to the unconfined concrete cylinder strength f c' ); SI – Strength index.

7
Y.-Y. Ye, et al.
Fig. 14. Interactions of components of axial load in a DTCC.
curves agree well with the test results; however, after the buckling of
the steel tube, the curve of a DTCC specimen is higher than the corre-
sponding “CFFT + HSS” curve. The ultimate axial loads of the DTCCs
are higher than the summed loads of the CFFTs and HSS tubes by an
average of 64.2 percent and 58.2 percent for the two sets of specimens
(C-1.5-2-1/2 and C-2.0-2-1/2), respectively. This implies that the
buckling of the inner HSS tube in DTCC specimens was effectively re-
strained or delayed and thus the post-yield strength of HSS tubes can be
fully utilized. To further interpret the interaction between the concrete
and the inner HSS tube, the curves of “CFFT + Coupon” in which the
effect of local buckling of HSS tube is eliminated are also compared
with the test results in Fig. 14. It is clearly shown that the resistance of
the DCTT is still significantly larger than the combined resistance of
“CFFT + Coupon”. This can be explained by the positive effect of the
internal HSS tube in alleviating the confinement non-uniformity in
rectangular columns and offering additional lateral confinement to core
concrete. As the inner steel tube provides additional confinement to the
concrete, the axial deformation of a DTCC is larger than the corre-
sponding CFFT, as can be also seen in Fig. 14.
The above discussion suggests that the different components in a
DTCC are optimally combined and the interactions between different
components can evidently benefit the load resistance of DTCCs. It
should be noted that the inner HSS tube is in a compression-tension
biaxial stress state (i.e., axial compressive stress and hoop tensile stress)
which may cause a reduction in the axial load-carrying capacity of the
steel tube (i.e., the Poisson’s effect). However, in the meantime, the
hoop stresses in the HSS tube increase the axial stress of the core con-
crete through confinement. The effect from the latter is significantly
larger than the former, leading to the beneficial effect of interaction
mentioned above.
3.4. Lateral dilation behavior
The lateral dilation behavior of the specimens is illustrated in
Fig. 15 by showing the axial strain-hoop strain curves. Compared with
concrete in circular FRP tubes, concrete in square or rectangular FRP
tubes performs worse owing to the non-uniform FRP confinement. In
the present tests, FRP hoop strains were obtained from four different
locations of the column section: (1) the centers of the longer flat sides
( h, l ); (2) the centers of the shorter flat sides ( h, s ); (3) the round corner-
longer flat side transition points ( h, tl ); (4) the round corner-short flat
side transition points ( h, ts ). It should be noted that h, l is equal to h, s and
h, tl is equal to h, ts for a square DTCC. In Fig. 15, the curves with the
average FRP hoop strains from the four different locations are plotted.
The curves are labelled in the form of “FRP (X-Y)” where “X” represents
8
Engineering Structures 216 (2020) 110742
centers of flat sides (“C”) or transition points (“T”) and “Y” represents
longer sides of the rectangle (“L”) or shorter sides of the rectangle (“S”).
Note that the longer sides are equal to the short sides for square col-
umns (with an aspect ratio of 1). As some strain gauges failed during the
loading process, the axial strain-hoop strain curves terminated before
the FRP ruptured. The terminated points are marked on the curves in
Fig. 15. Beyond the terminated points, a straight curve was used to
smoothly extend the axial strain-hoop strain curve until the measured
FRP hoop rupture strain. Table 5 lists the measured FRP hoop rupture
strains of all test specimens.
Fig. 15(a)–(f) show the axial strain-hoop strain curves of the FRP
tubes of all the CFFT columns and Fig. 15(g)–(l) show the curves for the
DTCC columns. It can be seen from Fig. 15(a)–(f) that at a given axial
strain, the hoop strains in FRP at the side centers are generally larger
than those at the transition points, except for specimen CFFT-2.0-2. As
the lateral expansion of concrete near the flat sides regions is generally
larger than that of concrete near the corners owing to the small flexural
rigidity of the FRP jacket at the flat sides, the FRP jacket near the
corners is subjected to bending in addition to axial compression and
hoop tension. Additionally, Fig. 15(c)–(f) show that the FRP hoop strain
at the centers of longer flat sides are generally slightly smaller than that
at the centers of shorter flat sides for rectangular specimens. It is noted
that previous research also demonstrates that the FRP hoop strain at the
centers of longer flat sides is close to that at the centers of shorter flat
sides for rectangular CFFTs (e.g., [35]). Similar observations have been
made for the dilation behavior of the test DTCCs [Fig. 15(g)–(l)].
Fig. 16 shows the effect of aspect ratio (h/ b) on the dilation behavior
of the test specimens. Fig. 16(a)–(d) show the results for the CFFT
specimens, while the results of DTCC specimens are shown in
Fig. 16(e)–(h). It is interesting to find that the aspect ratio has insig-
nificant effects on the axial strain-hoop strain curves for specimens with
an h/ b of 1.0 and 1.5. The main reason is that a larger aspect ratio leads
to more non-uniform confining stresses in rectangular columns. Similar
observations were made for DTCC specimens as shown in
Fig. 16(e)–(h). However, different shapes of curves were observed for
specimens with an h/ b of 2.0 which exhibit an obvious change of slope
at an axial strain of around 0.01 to 0.02. This also indicates that the
inner elliptical steel tube offers additional lateral confinement to core
concrete so as to alleviate the non-uniformity of confining stress of FRP-
confined concrete in rectangular columns. Fig. 17 shows the effect of
number of FRP layers on the dilation behavior of the test CFFT and
rectangular DTCC specimens. As expected, the FRP hoop strain at a
particular location generally decreases with an increase in the FRP
thickness at a given axial strain and the ultimate axial strain increases
with the number of FRP layers.
Y.-Y. Ye, et al.
Fig. 15. Hoop strain-axial strain curves of CFFT specimens and rectangular DTCCs.
3.5. Axial stress-strain responses of confined concrete in CFFTs and DTCCs
For a certain axial strain, the average axial stress of the confined
concrete in a DTCC can be calculated by dividing the axial load carried
by the concrete by the concrete area. The axial load on the confined
concrete can be obtained as the total load of the specimen subtracting
the load on the inner HSS tube. As discussed in the preceding sections,
the buckling of the steel tube in the DTCCs was effectively suppressed
by the confinement from the concrete and FRP tube. Therefore, when
9
Engineering Structures 216 (2020) 110742
calculating the load on the inner HSS tube, the effect of buckling was
not considered. For the HSS in a DTCC, the elastic modulus and the
yield stress were assumed to be the same as those of the hollow HSS
tubes (Fig. 6) but an elastic-perfectly plastic stress–strain behavior was
adopted. It should be noted that the above treatment does not consider
the biaxial stress effect of the steel tube and the axial load resistance of
the steel tube in a DTCC may be overestimated; therefore, the obtained
axial load on the confined concrete may be underestimated. Some re-
searchers obtained the axial stress–strain response of steel tubes in steel
Y.-Y. Ye, et al.
Fig. 15. (continued)
tubular columns based on the plasticity increment theory using ex-
perimental axial/hoop strains of the steel tube [21]. However, as the
strain gauges on the inner HSS tube easily experienced failure espe-
cially at the later loading stages, the so-obtained stress–strain response
of the steel tube may lead to substantial errors.
The obtained axial stress–strain curves of confined concrete in the
test CFFT and DTCC specimens are shown in Fig. 18. It can be seen that
most stress–strain curves feature an approximately bilinear shape ex-
cept for some weakly confined specimens (e.g., CFFT-2.0-2-1 and C-2.0-
10
Engineering Structures 216 (2020) 110742
2-1/2). The stress–strain curves of confined concrete in a DTCC gen-
erally coincide with that of the corresponding CFFT at an initial stage,
but it had a larger slope of the second portion and a larger ultimate
axial stress/strain than that of the corresponding CFFT owing to the
additional confinement from the inner HSS tube. For some specimens,
the confinement from the HSS tube shifts the behavior of confined
concrete from a softening behavior into a hardening behavior (see
CFFT-1.5-2 and CFFT-2.0-2), indicating the beneficial effect of the inner
HSS tube.
Y.-Y. Ye, et al. Engineering Structures 216 (2020) 110742

Table 5
FRP hoop strains in test specimens at FRP rupture.
Specimen h, l (1) h, s (2) Average h, tl (4) h, ts (5) Average h, max h, ave
(1) + (2) (4) + (5)
(3) = (6) =
2 2

C-1.0-2-1 0.0115 0.0115 0.0098 0.0098 0.0115 0.0107

C-1.0-2-2 0.0130 0.0130 0.0092 0.0092 0.0130 0.0111
C-1.0-4-1 0.0155 0.0155 0.0118 0.0118 0.0155 0.0137
C-1.0-4-2 0.0145 0.0145 0.0125 0.0125 0.0145 0.0135
C-1.5-2-1 N.A. N.A. N.A. 0.0092 N.A. 0.0092 0.0092 0.0092
C-1.5-2-2 0.0098 N.A. 0.0098 N.A. 0.0104 0.0104 0.0104 0.0101
C-1.5-4-1 0.0141 0.0133 0.0137 0.0124 0.0129 0.0127 0.0137 0.0132
C-1.5-4-2 0.0141 0.0121 0.0131 0.0128 N.A. 0.0128 0.0131 0.0130
C-2.0-2-1 0.0098 0.0104 0.0101 0.0070 0.0088 0.0079 0.0101 0.0090
C-2.0-2-2 0.0092 N.A. 0.0092 0.0073 N.A. 0.0073 0.0092 0.0083
C-2.0-4-1 0.0098 0.0117 0.0108 0.0091 0.0070 0.0081 0.0108 0.0094
C-2.0-4-2 N.A. N.A. N.A. 0.0095 0.0081 0.0088 0.0088 0.0088
CFFT-1.0-2 N.A. N.A. N.A. N.A. N.A. N.A.
CFFT-1.0-4 0.0165 0.0165 0.0131 0.0131 0.0165 0.0148
CFFT-1.5-2 0.0113 0.0125 0.0119 N.A. 0.0098 0.0098 0.0119 0.0109
CFFT-1.5-4 N.A. N.A. N.A. 0.0151 0.0061 0.0106 0.0106 0.0106
CFFT-2.0-2 0.0071 0.0063 0.0067 0.0107 N.A. 0.0107 0.0107 0.0087
CFFT-2.0-4 0.0127 0.0132 0.0130 0.0121 N.A. 0.0121 0.0130 0.0125

Note: h, l – Average hoop strains at the centers of the longer flat sides; h, s – Average hoop strains at the centers of the shorter flat sides; h, tl – Average hoop strains at
the round corner-longer flat side transition points; h, t s – Average hoop strains at the round corner-shorter flat side transition points; h, max – Maximum of all the FRP
hoop strains; h, ave –Average of all the FRP hoop strains; N.A. – Not applicable.

The ultimate axial stress ( fcc' ) and ultimate axial strain ( cu ) of in this section. It is evidently demonstrated in Table 4 that the ultimate
confined concrete in rectangular DTCCs are reported in Table 4, in axial stress ratio ( fcc' / fc' o ) and ultimate axial strain ratio ( cu/ co ) increase
which the axial stress was based on the average axial stress mentioned with the FRP thickness and decrease as the cross sectional ratio

(b) CFFTs with two-layer FRP tube ("T")

Fig. 16. Effect of the cross-sectional aspect ratio on dilation behavior of CFFT specimens and rectangular DTCCs.

11
Y.-Y. Ye, et al. Engineering Structures 216 (2020) 110742

Fig. 16. (continued)

increases. where c is the axial stress and c is the axial strain; Ec = 4730 f co' is the
elastic modulus of concrete; E2 is the second-segment slope of the
4. Stress-strain models for FRP-confined concrete in rectangular stress–strain curve; fco' is the compressive strength of unconfined con-
columns crete; t is the axial strain at the transition point between the two
segments; and fcc' and cu are the ultimate axial stress and ultimate axial
strain of confined concrete, respectively, which are determined from
4.1. Lam and Teng’s model [3] for FRP-confined concrete in rectangular
the following equations:
columns
fcc' fl, frp
A number of stress–strain models [53–60] have been developed for = 1 + k1 ks1
fco' f co' (4)
FRP-confined concrete in square/rectangular columns. Lam and Teng’s
[3] model is a typical one which has been widely used in FRP guide- fl, frp
cu h, rup 0.45
lines/codes of different nations (e.g., [61–62]) due to its simple alge- = 1.75 + k2 ks2 ( )
f co' (5)
braic form and good performance. Lam and Teng’s model [3] was re-
co co

vised from Lam and Teng’s [2] another well-known model originally where
proposed for FRP-confined concrete in circular columns. Lam and
2Ef t f
Teng’s model [3] consists of an initial parabolic segment followed by a fl, frp =
h, rup

linear second segment, which are described by the following equations: D (6)

(Ec E2 )2 2 D= h2 + b2 (7)
Ec c ' c (0 c t)
4f co
c = b A
fco' + E2 ( cu )
ks1 = ( ) 2 e
c t c (1) h Ac (8)

where h A
ks2 = ( )0.5 e
b Ac (9)
2f co'
t =
Ec E2 (2) Ae (b /h)(h 2Rc ) 2 + (h/ b)(b 2R c )2
=1
Ac 3Ag (10)
f cc' f co'
E2 =
cu (3) Ag = bh (4 ) Rc2 (11)

12
Y.-Y. Ye, et al. Engineering Structures 216 (2020) 110742

Fig. 17. Effect of the number of FRP layers on dilation behavior of CFFT specimens and rectangular DTCCs.

where h and b (h b ) represent the depth and width of the rectangular model in Wu [50], for elliptical steel tube-confined concrete may be
column section, respectively; co is the axial strain at peak stress of used. Therefore, by introducing the confinement effect of the HSS tube
unconfined concrete; fl, frp is the actual confining pressure from the FRP into the relevant equations (i.e., Eqs. (4) and (5)) in Lam and Teng’s
tube at ultimate state (i.e., FRP rupture); Ef and h, rup are the modulus of model [3], new equations are developed to calculate the ultimate axial
elasticity and the actual rupture strain of FRP jacket, respectively; ks1 stress and strain of confined concrete in rectangular DTCCs as follows:
and ks2 are the shape factors; k1 and k2 are the confinement effectiveness
coefficients taken as 3.3 and 12, respectively; D is the diameter of an fcc' fl, frp Ac _elli fl, steel
equivalent circular section; and Ag is the gross cross-sectional area of = 1 + k1 ks1_r + ks1_e
fco' fco' Ag f co' (12)
the column, R c is the corner radius of the column;. It should be noted
'
f cc
that the strength enhancement ratio is equal to 1.0 (i.e., '
= 1) if the
f co
cu
fl, frp Ac _elli fl, steel h, rup 0.45
fl, frp = 1.75 + k2 (ks2_r + ks2_e )( )
actual confinement ratio '
is smaller than 0.07. co f co' Ag f co' co (13)
f co

4.2. Confinement from the internal elliptical HSS tube
The experimental results shown in Fig. 18 illustrate that the
stress–strain behavior of confined concrete in rectangular DTCCs fea-
tures a two-segment behavior. Therefore, Eq. (1) in Lam and Teng’s
model [3] is believed to be applicable to the confined concrete in rec-
tangular DTCCs as long as the ultimate axial stress and strain are well
predicted. As discussed in the preceding sections, the interaction of
different components (i.e., FRP tube, concrete, HSS tube) benefits the
load-carrying capacity of DTCCs and the core concrete is confined by
both the outer FRP tube and the inner HSS tube. To consider the con-
finement from the elliptical HSS tube, an existing model, such as the
where (ks1_r , ks2_r ) and (ks1_e , ks2_e ) are shape factors for rectangular
columns and elliptical columns, respectively; Ac _elli is the area of the
concrete enclosed by the elliptical steel tube; and fl, steel is the effective
confining pressure from the steel tube. The ratio is employed to
Ac _elli
Ag
consider the smaller concrete area enclosed by the steel tube than the
whole concrete cross-sectional area. To be consistent with Lam and
Teng’s model [3], the confinement effectiveness coefficients k1 and k2
are equal to 3.3 and 12, respectively, and the shape factors ks1_r and
ks2_r are calculated in Eqs. (8) and (9), respectively. The shape factors
ks1_e and ks2_e are used to consider the non-uniform confinement in an
elliptical concrete columns and can be calculated using the following
equations in Wu [63]:

13
Y.-Y. Ye, et al. Engineering Structures 216 (2020) 110742

determined from the following equation:

0.19 s fy _t
fl, steel =
2 (16)

where fy _t is the yield stress of HSS tube; ts is the HSS tube thickness;
and s is the volumetric ratio of the steel tube calculated by [1,9]:

1.5(a0 + b0 ) a 0 b0
= ts
s
a 0 b0 (17)

a0 = as ts (18)

b 0 = bs ts (19)

Sakino et al. [64] assumed that the hoop stress of the inner steel
tube at the ultimate stress of confined concrete was taken to be 0.19 fy _t
via a regression analysis of the test results of concrete-filled steel tubes
with a yield stress varying from 262 MPa to 853 MPa. Therefore,
0.19 fy _t was also adopted as the hoop stress of the inner HSS tube at the
ultimate stress of confined concrete in DTCCs in the present study.

4.3. Comparisons

The predictions from the proposed stress–strain models are com-

pared with the test results in this section. In addition to the 12 rec-
tangular DTCCs tested in the present study, 20 square DTCCs with an
inner circular normal/high strength steel tube tested by other re-
searchers [19,28,33] are also included in the comparison. The square
DTCCs were from Fanggi and Ozbakkaloglu [19] and Zeng et al. [33],
and the specimen details are listed in Table 6. All the specimens had the
same batch of concrete for the core concrete and the sandwiched con-
crete, of which the compressive strength varied from 37.2 MPa to
98.2 MPa. It should be noted that some specimens tested by Ozbakka-
loglu [28] (“S-D2-F-NSC-3L-1/2” and “S-D2-F-HSC-8L-1/2”) were ex-
cluded due to either the lack of key information or obviously abnormal
test results.
Fig. 19 presents the comparisons between the experimental values
and predicted values of ultimate axial stresses and ultimate axial strains
of confined concrete in all tested columns (both rectangular DTCCs and
square DTCCs). The predictions from Lam and Teng’s model [3] and the
modified Lam and Teng’s model (labelled as “Lam and Teng & Wu” in
Fig. 19) are compared. It is noted that the “Lam and Teng & Wu” differs
from the model of Lam and Teng [3] only in that the former accounts
for the confinement provided by the inner steel tube. The average ab-
solute error (AAE), the standard deviation (SD) and the mean (M) be-
tween predictions and test results are also provided in Fig. 19. Note that
the AAE represents the average error magnitude of the predictions, the
SD shows the degree of variation or the magnitude of the associated
scatter of the predictions, the M shows the average value of the ratios
between predicted values and test values. Generally, a smaller value of
AAE means a higher agreement between values of two sources (i.e.
experimental results and predictions), and a larger value of SD means a
higher degree of variation. The value of AAE suggests the errors be-
tween the predictions and the test values (An AAE of 0.1 implies that
the predictions have an error of 10% against the test results).
It is evident from Fig. 19 that Lam and Teng’s model [3] sig-
Fig. 18. Axial stress–strain curves of confined concrete in CFFTs and DTCCs.
nificantly underestimates the ultimate axial stresses and strains of the
confined concrete in DTCCs due to the ignorance of the confinement
as
ks1_e = ( ) 1.5
effect of the inner HSS tube. The “Lam and Teng & Wu” model, how-
bs (14)
ever, provides satisfactory predictions for both the ultimate axial
as stresses and strains. The predicted stress–strain curves from both
ks2_e = 1 + 4 ( ) 2
bs (15) models are compared with the test curves in Fig. 20 for the confined
concrete in the tested rectangular DTCCs. It is evident that the modified
Note that Eqs. (12) and (13) degrade to Eqs. (4) and (5) when the model generally performs better than Lam and Teng’s model [3]. It
steel confining pressure equals zero (namely, when there is no steel should be noted that no regression or fitting analysis was carried out in
tube inside). the development of the modified model. The use of “Lam and Teng &
The confining pressure from the inner HSS tube ( fl, steel ) can be Wu” model only serves as an example on how to consider the

14
Y.-Y. Ye, et al. Engineering Structures 216 (2020) 110742

Table 6
Test results of confined concrete in rectangular DTCCs collected from the literature.
Data Specimen Pu (kN) '
f co (MPa) '
f cc (MPa) co cu Ef (MPa) t f (mm) h, rup f y _t (MPa) fl, frp fl, steel '
f cc cu
, co
fco

DSTC-3 3080 98.2 136.4 0.0031 0.0250 118,200 1.600 −0.0096 319 17.7 8.2 1.39 8.1
Fanggi DSTC-4 3096 98.2 137.1 0.0031 0.0217 118,200 1.600 −0.0107 319 19.7 8.2 1.40 7.0
and DSTC-7 3134 98.2 137.0 0.0031 0.0190 118,200 1.600 −0.0080 320 14.7 4.7 1.39 6.1
Ozbakkaloglu DSTC-8 3048 98.2 132.9 0.0031 0.0211 118,200 1.600 −0.0072 320 13.2 4.7 1.35 6.8
[19] DSTC-11 3968 98.2 155.0 0.0031 0.0239 118,200 1.600 −0.0088 449 16.6 10.0 1.58 7.7
DSTC-12 3851 98.2 149.1 0.0031 0.0265 118,200 1.600 −0.0083 449 15.7 10.0 1.52 8.5
DSTC-15 2013 47.0 83.3 0.0023 0.0370 118,200 0.600 −0.0088 320 6.1 4.7 1.77 16.1
DSTC-16 1990 47.0 82.2 0.0023 0.0352 118,200 0.600 −0.0074 320 5.1 4.7 1.75 15.3
C260-2–1 6431 60.3 0.0171 239,600 0.668 −0.0118 10.6 7.9 1.62 6.6
C260-2–2 6293 58.1 0.0138 239,600 0.668 −0.0105 9.4 7.9 1.56 5.3
C260-3–1 7021 69.7 0.0163 239,600 1.002 −0.0071 9.5 7.9 1.87 6.3
Zeng et C260-3–2 6890 37.2 67.6 0.0026 0.0149 239,600 1.002 −0.0077 685 10.3 7.9 1.82 5.7
al. [33] G240-4–1 5531 54.7 0.0220 86,900 0.688 −0.0118 4.3 7.9 1.47 8.5
G240-4–2 5364 51.5 0.0205 86,900 0.688 −0.0103 3.8 7.9 1.39 7.9
G260-4–1 5630 47.6 0.0190 86,900 0.688 −0.0099 3.3 7.9 1.28 7.3
G260-4–2 5695 48.6 0.0130 86,900 0.688 −0.0095 3.2 7.9 1.31 5.0

confinement effect from the inner HSS tube. The model of “Lam and in a DTCC, the strength index (SI) of each DTCC specimen, being the
Teng & Wu” can certainly be improved or refined in the future when ratio between the experimental ultimate load of the concrete-filled steel
more test data on rectangular DTCCs are available. tube section in the DTCC (i.e., Pc , CFST _exp =
In order to identify the composite action of the FRP, concrete and Pu (fco + 3.3ks1 fl, frp ) Agap 3.3ks1 fl, frp Ac _elli ) and the theoretical cross-
steel in enhancing the performance of the core concrete-filled steel tube sectional capacity (i.e., Pc , CFST _theo = A c _elli f co' + As f y _t ), is given in

(b) The ultimate axial strain

Fig. 19. Ultimate axial stresses and ultimate axial strains: comparisons between experimental results and predicted results.

15
Y.-Y. Ye, et al. Engineering Structures 216 (2020) 110742

contribution of FPR tube confinement has been deleted. It can be seen

from Table 4 that the values of SI generally have a value of larger than
1.2 and it increases with the increase of FRP thickness. This means that
in DTCCs, the optimum combination of FRP, concrete and steel tube
leads to an increased strength of the core concrete-filled steel tube
section compared with its theoretical cross-sectional capacity, which
demonstrates the expected benifits of combined usage of the three
components that the HSS not only sustains the axial load but also
provides confinement to the core concrete, with its buckling being ef-
ficiently delayed.

5. Conclusions

This paper has presented a first-ever experimental study on a new

(a) Cross-sectional aspect ratio = 1.0
form of rectangular FRP-concrete-steel hybrid columns, referred to as
rectangular double-tube concrete columns (DTCCs), which consist of a
concrete-filled rectangular FRP tube internally reinforced with an el-
liptical HSS tube. The effects of key test variables (including FRP tube
thickness and aspect ratio) were carefully investigated. The test results
and discussions reach the following conclusions:

(1) The axial load-axial strain curves of rectangular DTCCs feature

approximately bilinear behavior, comprising an ascending para-
bolic first segment and an ascending or approximately horizontal
second segment. The presence of an inner elliptical steel tube sub-
stantially enhances the column load resistance and ductility.
(2) The axial load resistance of a rectangular DTCC is larger than the
summation of the resistance of the corresponding CFFT and that of
the hollow HSS tube, which means that the local buckling of inner
HSS tube is effectively delayed in a rectangular DTCC specimen and
the post-yield strength of HSS tube can be fully utilized.
(3) The average axial stress-axial strain curves of confined concrete in
rectangular DTCCs also exhibit a bilinear shape. The inner steel
tube offers additional lateral confinement to core concrete so that
the majority of the concrete in a DTCC is effectively confined by the
steel tube and the FRP tube.
(4) The ultimate axial stress and ultimate axial strain of confined
concrete in CFFT specimens and rectangular DTCCs are sub-
(b) Cross-sectional aspect ratio = 1.5 stantially enhanced by means of enlarging the thickness of FRP tube
and decreasing the aspect ratio.
(5) FRP hoop strains at the centers of flat sides are generally larger than
those at the transition points at a given axial strain; FRP hoop
strains at the centers of longer flat sides are generally slightly
smaller than those at the centers of shorter flat sides for rectangular
specimens.
(6) Existing stress–strain models for FRP-confined concrete in rectan-
gular columns should significantly underestimate the stress of
confined concrete in rectangular DTCCs. After modifying Lam and
Teng’s model [3] by including the confinement effect from the inner
elliptical steel tube, the predicted ultimate axial stresses and strains
are in better agreement with the experimental results for the test
DTCCs.

CRediT authorship contribution statement

Yu-Yi Ye: Investigation, Data curation, Writing - original draft. De-

(c) Cross-sectional aspect ratio = 2.0
Fig. 20. Axial stress–strain curves: experimental results versus predictions.
Hua Zhu: Investigation, Methodology, Data curation. Jun-Jie Zeng:
Conceptualization, Funding acquisition, Supervision, Writing - original
draft, Writing - review & editing. Guan Lin: Conceptualization,
Supervision, Writing - review & editing. Wei-Qiang Wang:
Methodology, Writing - review & editing.

Table 4. Agap is the cross-sectional area of the sandwiched concrete Declaration of Competing Interest
between the FRP tube and the steel tube. Note that in calculating the
experimental ultimate load of concrete-filled steel section, the
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial

16
Y.-Y. Ye, et al.
interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influ-
ence the work reported in this paper.
Acknowledgements
The authors acknowledge the financial support received from the
National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 51908137,
51808134), the Guangzhou Science and Technology Department (No.
201904010163), the Key Special Project for Introduced Talents Team of
Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory
(Guangzhou) (GML2019ZD0503), the Natural Science Foundation of
Guangdong Province (No. 18ZK0183, 2019A1515011637), and the
Scientific and Technological Innovation Fund for Undergraduate
Students in Guangdong Province (pdjh2019b0158). The authors are
also grateful for the help from Miss. Yan-Ting Li, Mrs. Hao-Feng Weng,
Xiao-Dong Liu, Shang Fang, Chang-Peng Chen and Da Teng on the
experimental work.
Appendix A. Supplementary material
Supplementary data to this article can be found online at https://
doi.org/10.1016/j.engstruct.2020.110742.
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