A review and analysis of circular UHPC filled steel tube columns under axial loading

Ultra high performance concrete (UHPC) has aroused interest around the world owing to superior mechanical and durability properties over conventional concrete. However, the application of UHPC in practice poses difficulties due to its inherent brittleness. UHPC filled in steel tube columns (UHPC-FSTCs) are capable of restricting the brittle failure of non-reinforced UHPC columns and forming a high performance member with enhancement of strength and ductility. Currently, research on UHPC-FSTCs remains very limited and there is relatively little information about the mechanical behavior of these columns. Therefore, this study presents a review of past experimental studies to have a deeper insight into the compressive behavior of UHPC-FSTCs under axial loading on entire section and on concrete core. Based on the test results obtained from Schneider (2006) and Xiong (2012), an analysis was conducted to investigate the influence of the confinement index (xi) and diameter to steel tube thickness ratio (D/t) on the strength and the ductility in short circular UHPC-FSTCs. Furthermore, the appropriateness of current design codes including EC4, AISC, AIJ and previous analytical models for estimating the ultimate loads of composite columns was also examined by the comparison between the predictions and the test results. Finally, simplified formulae for predicting the ultimate loads in two types of loading pattern were proposed and verified.