Behaviour of recycled aggregate concrete filled stainless steel stub columns

Past research indicates that recycled aggregate concrete (RAC) could be successfully used in concrete-filled steel tubular (CFST) columns. Their yielded performance is almost as good as that of the traditional CFST columns. In addition, as a comparatively new construction material, stainless steel can be used to replace carbon steel for enhancing the durability and ductility of CFST columns. With an aim to combine the advantages of both RAC and stainless steel, RAC is proposed in this paper to be used as a filling material for stainless steel tubes. A test program is introduced in this paper to investigate the behaviour of RAC-filled stainless steel stub columns. For comparison purposes, reference specimens with carbon steel tubes are also tested. In the end, finite element analysis is conducted to simulate the current test results and those reported in the literature.