Thin-Walled Structures 129 (2018) 166–182

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Thin-Walled Structures
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Numerical analysis and design of thin-walled RECFST stub columns under T

axial compression
⁎
Jingfeng Wanga,b, , Qihan Shena
a
School of Civil Engineering, Hefei University of Technology, Anhui Province 230009, China
b
Anhui Civil Engineering Structures and Materials Laboratory, Anhui Province 230009, China

A R T I C LE I N FO A B S T R A C T

Keywords: Round-ended elliptical concrete-filled steel tube (RECFST) column is a novel type of composite member which is
Round-ended elliptical concrete-filled steel gradually used in engineering practices (i.e. piers and arches) because of its low flow resistance coefficient and
tube (RECFST) reasonable distribution of major-minor axis. However, little attentions to the structural behavior of RECFST
Axial compressive behavior columns have been paid. This paper makes an attempt to conduct a numerical analysis on the axial compressive
Equivalent constitutive model
performance of RECFST stub columns. Firstly, an equivalent constitutive model for the confined round-ended
Finite element (FE) modeling
concrete of the RECFST column was proposed. Following this, a nonlinear finite element (FE) modeling con-
Simplified design method
sidering contact interactions of the type of thin-walled CFST column was developed and verified by the test
results in terms of axial load (N) - longitudinal shortening (δ) curves and failure modes. The influence of ex-
tensive parameters, including diameter-to-thickness ratio, aspect ratio and cross-section area etc., on the per-
formance of thin-walled RECFST stub columns under axial compression was estimated as well. The analytical
results demonstrated that the axial compressive strength of thin-walled RECFST stub columns was substantially
improved with the increase of the steel strength, the concrete strength and the cross-section area, and the trend
of the N-δ curves was obviously affected by the confinement factor. Finally, two simplified design methods to
predict the axial compressive strength of thin-walled RECFST stub columns were established on the basis of the
simple superposition approach and the unified theory. The studies may provide a considerable reference for
designing this type of structures in engineering practice.

1. Introduction
Concrete-filled thin-walled steel tube (CFST) members were popu-
larly used in multi- and high-rise buildings, and they were sincerely
favored and recommended by many engineers and scholars due to their
excellent combination action provided by outside steel tube and infill
concrete. Over the past decades, normal sections of CFST members,
including square, rectangular and circular sections of CFST members,
have been studied by a lot of researchers (such as Hassanein [1], Aslani
et al. [2–4], Ellobody [5], Schneide [6], Chang et al. [7], Uenaka [8],
Tao et al. [9], Ren et al. [10], Tu et al. [11], Han et al. [12], Huang et al.
[13], Wang et al. [14] etc.). However, the above mentioned CFST
members may not satisfy the demands for some novel or special
buildings with the development of composite structures. Hence, in-
vestigations on the special-shaped CFST columns are receiving in-
creasing attentions.
The round-ended elliptical concrete-filled steel tube (RECFST)
column studied in this paper is a novel type of CFST column, which is
comprised of a steel hollow section with round ends and a core concrete
infill (illustrated in Fig. 1). It holds all advantages of conventional CFST
columns including high strength, excellent ductility, convenient con-
struction, high economic benefit, good earthquake and fire resistant
feature. Moreover, the RECFST column also has better architectural
aesthetics appearance, small fluid resistance coefficient as well as
structural efficiency because of its reasonable distribution of major-
minor axis, which are similar to the characteristics of the elliptical CFST
column [15,16]. On the condition of the abovementioned merits, some
architects and engineers showed a lively favor to use the RECFST
members in steel and composite structure projects. For instance, the
round-ended elliptical composite members were respectively used in
Weihe bridge and Houhu cable stayed bridge in China (seen in Fig. 2).
During the last several years, a few scholars played their interests in
exploring the structural performance of RECFST members, while at-
tentions were mainly focused on the engineering application and ex-
perimental analysis of RECFST columns. Xie et al. [17–19] revealed the
response of coupled RECFST columns during the building process of
Houhu cable stayed bridge. Wang et al. [20] investigated the behavior
of RECFST stub columns under axial compression. Ding et al. [21]

⁎
Corresponding author at: School of Civil Engineering, Hefei University of Technology, Anhui Province 230009, China.
E-mail address: jfwang008@163.com (J. Wang).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tws.2018.03.024
Received 19 December 2017; Received in revised form 5 March 2018; Accepted 27 March 2018
Available online 25 April 2018
0263-8231/ © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
J. Wang, Q. Shen
Fig. 1. Detail of RECFST cross-section. Note; "B" and "D" represent the major
and minor axis length of RECFST column, respectively; "t" represents the
thickness of steel tube.
conducted an experimental analysis on the axial compressive perfor-
mance of RECFST stub columns with various aspect ratios (B/D) ran-
ging from 1 to 4. Han et al. [22] completed a test on the round-ended
stainless steel-concrete-carbon steel double-skin stub column subjected
to axial compression. All of the test results demonstrated that the type
of composite columns behaved high strength and excellent ductility
properties. In some extent, numerical analysis would be an extremely
powerful and effective way for in-depth study to better understand the
performance of RECFST members with respect to the experimental
study. However, finite element (FE) modeling for analyzing the RECFST
members seems a little difficult due to their absence of stress-strain
models for the confined round-ended elliptical core concrete. Hence, to
explore the structural behavior of the RECFST column efficiently, the
necessities of making a discussion on its constitutive relationship and
developing a FE modeling on the type of composite column were
emerged.
The main objective of this study is to investigate the performance of
thin-walled RECFST columns under axial compressive pressure. An
equivalent constitutive model for the confined round-ended elliptical
core concrete was provided for establishing the FE modeling of RECFST
stub columns under axial compression. After the FE model was devel-
oped by ABAQUS software and was verified in terms of axial force (N)
-longitudinal shortening (δ) relationship and failure modes, an ex-
tensive parametric analysis was conducted to explore the effect of the
steel strength, the concrete strength, the diameter-to-thickness ratio,
the aspect ratio and the cross-section area etc. on the axial compressive
behavior of RECFST stub columns. Finally, simple empirical formulas
for the axial compressive capacity of the RECFST stub column respec-
tively based on the superposition approach and the unified theory were
suggested in this paper. The analytical results will be helpful to promote
the application of the RECFST columns in engineering practice.
Fig. 2. Engineering practice using RECFST members in China.
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Thin-Walled Structures 129 (2018) 166–182
Fig. 3. Original assumption of equivalent method.
2. Origin of equivalent method
Before establishing the FE modeling of RECFST stub column, it was
absolutely important to figure out the stress-strain model for various
materials components. However, it should be noted that the con-
stitutive relationship of the confined round-ended elliptical core con-
crete was still unclear because of the scarce investigation on RECFST
stub columns. Therefore, an equivalent method for the confined core
concrete was proposed in accordance with the round-ended elliptical
characteristic of the RECFST column.
2.1. Assumption of equivalent cross-section
The equivalent method of round-ended elliptical cross-section ori-
ginated from studies conducted by Ruiz-Teran and Gardner [23], Zhao
and Packer [24]. The elliptical section of the column was considered as
a circular one to substitute for its actual constitutive relationship. And it
was turned out to be a simple and powerful approach to effectively
study the performance of elliptical CFST columns. Hence, similar
thoughts on equaling round-ended elliptical cross-section into normal
cross-section (i.e. circular or rectangular cross-section) came up due to
the absence of constitutive relationship for the confined round-ended
elliptical core concrete.
According to the characteristic of the RECFST column, its cross-
section could be divided into three parts, including two semi-circular
parts and one rectangular part. It could be found that the cross-section
of the RECFST column was similar to a circular one when the major axis
length (B) was approximate to the minor axis length (D). Similarly,
when the major axis length was much larger than the minor axis length,
the cross-section of the RECFST column was more like a rectangular
J. Wang, Q. Shen
Fig. 4. Comparison between test results [20,21] and FE analytical results on basis of various equivalent methods.
cross-section because of the plate edges along the major axis. Therefore,
the original assumption of equivalent method considering round-ended
elliptical section into circular or rectangular section was developed.
Detailed description of the assumption can be seen in Fig. 3.
2.2. Discussion on equivalent division
After the assumption of equivalent method was finalized, it was of
great importance to figure out the equivalent division of aspect ratio
(B/D) determining when the round-ended elliptical section equaled to a
circular or rectangular section. In order to resolve this problem, nu-
merous experimental data conducted by Wang et al. [20] and Ding et al.
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Thin-Walled Structures 129 (2018) 166–182
[21] were used to verify the FE analytical results whose constitutive
relationships of round-ended elliptical core concrete were respectively
treated as circular and rectangular one. In addition, it was worth noting
that both the area and steel ratio of the cross-section remained constant
from equaling round-ended cross-section to circular or rectangular
cross-section.
Fig. 4 and Table 1 depict the comparison between experimental and
numerical analysis results on the basis of two equaling approaches. For
the aspect ratio (B/D) of the RECFST stub column which was more than
1.44 (1.44 ≤B/D < 4), the predicted axial force (N) - longitudinal
shortening (δ) curves coincided better with the tested N-δ curves when
the round-ended elliptical section equaled to a rectangular cross-
J. Wang, Q. Shen Thin-Walled Structures 129 (2018) 166–182

Fig. 4. (continued)

section. While opposite results were observed when the aspect ratio (B/ stand for the major and minor axis length of the RECFST stub column
D) of RECFST stub column was smaller than 1.44 (1 < B/D < 1.44). (Fig. 5).
Therefore, the equivalent method for calculating the confinement effect
can be expressed as follows: 3. Finite element modeling

De =
⎧ ( )
π D
⎪ D − 1 − 4 β 1.44 ≤ β < 4 rectangular Compared to the experimental tests, the numerical analysis method
for studying the axial compressive performance of RECFST stub column
⎨ 1 + 4(β − 1) D 1 < β < 1.44 circular
⎪ was an effective approach to cut down time and money consumed on
⎩ π (1)
further investigations. Although the equivalent method provided a
where De represents the equivalent diameter of circular section or simple and powerful way to substitute the constitutive model for con-
equivalent minor axis length of rectangular section; β is the aspect ratio fined round-ended elliptical core concrete, FE modeling for RECFST
of the round-ended elliptical section, β = B/D; B and D respectively stub columns subjected to axial pressure load was still a little difficult as

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J. Wang, Q. Shen Thin-Walled Structures 129 (2018) 166–182

Table 1
Comparison between test data and FE results calculated by various equivalent constitutive models.
Reference Specimens Dimensions B×D×t × h (mm) Aspect ratio (B/D) fcu (Mpa) fy (Mpa) Nu,t (kN) Nue,r (kN) Nue,r/Nu,t Nue,c (kN) Nue,c/Nu,t

Wang et al. [21] RCFST− 1 168.5 × 117.0 × 2.86 × 540 1.44 38.1 324.6 925 936 1.01 1043 1.13
RCFST− 2 229.0 × 118.0 × 2.86 × 721.9 1.94 38.1 324.6 1215 1216 1.00 1347 1.11
RCFST− 3 349.5 × 116.5 × 2.86 × 1080 3.00 38.1 324.6 1635 1702 1.04 1956 1.20
RCFST− 4 237.5 × 156.5 × 2.86 × 719.6 1.52 38.1 324.6 1658 1708 1.03 1716 1.03
RCFST− 5 317.0 × 158.5 × 2.86 × 962.3 2.00 38.1 324.6 2091 2118 1.01 2220 1.06
Ding et al. [22] WST1-A 299 × 252 × 3.75 × 750 1.19 40.4 327.7 3429 3276 0.96 3326 0.97
WST1-B 302 × 249 × 3.75 × 750 1.21 40.4 327.7 3338 3286 0.98 3335 1.00
WST2-A 299 × 255 × 5.84 × 750 1.17 40.4 299.5 4162 3814 0.92 3929 0.94
WST2-B 300 × 251 × 5.80 × 750 1.20 40.4 299.5 4168 3802 0.91 3915 0.94
WST3-A 350 × 255 × 3.72 × 900 1.37 40.4 327.7 3929 3884 0.99 3883 0.99
WST4-A 352 × 251 × 5.90 × 900 1.40 40.4 299.5 4492 4404 0.98 4469 0.99

Note: Nue,r and Nue,c represent the results predicted by the FE models.

it needed to respond to nonlinear behavior of confined concrete, local

bugles of steel tube and complex contact interaction, etc. Therefore,
literatures on FE analysis of RECFST stub columns were scarce. In order
to resolve these problems, numerical modeling of this type of CFST
columns were developed in this section.

3.1. Steel property

For the round-ended elliptical steel tube, an elastic-plastic stress-

Fig. 5. Equivalent diagram of RECFST section.
strain (σ)-(ε) curve model suggested by Han [25] was used to describe
its constitutive behavior. The σ-ε curve model contains five stages, in-
cluding the elastic stage, the elastic-plastic stage, the plastic stage, the
strain-hardening stage and the final plastic deformation, as illustrated
in Fig. 6. The dashed line represents the constitutive relationship of a
measured σ-ε curve, whereas the solid line is the idealized one for
simplifying calculation. The σ-ε curve for the steel is expressed as fol-
lows:

⎧ Es ε ε ≤ εe
⎪ − Aε 2 + Bε + C εe < ε ≤ εe1
⎪ fy εe1 < ε ≤ εe2
σ=
⎨ ε − εe2
f
⎪ y [1 + 0.6 εe3 − εe2
] ε e2 < ε ≤ εe3
⎪ 1.6fy ε > εe3
⎩ (2)

where A = 0.2fy /(εe1 − εe)2 , B = 0.2Aεel , C = 0.8fy + Aεe2 − Bεe . Es is the

elastic modulus of the steel; fy is the yield strength of steel. εe is the
strain corresponds to proportional limit of the steel, which is taken as
εe = 0.8fy / Es . εe1, εe2 and εe3 are various strains in the plastic and strain-
Fig. 6. Stress (σ) - strain (ε) curve of steel.
hardening ranges, where εel = 1.5εe , εe2 = 10εel and εe3 = 100εel .

3.2. Concrete property

For the round-ended elliptical core concrete, the equivalent method

defined in Eq. (1) was used to approximately describe its constitutive
relationship. Through transferring the round-ended elliptical geometry
of the core concrete into a circular or rectangular one, the plastic-da-
mage confined core concrete model proposed by Han et al. [13,25] for
circular and rectangular CFST columns was applied to analyze the
mechanical behavior of RECFST columns. The stress-strain (σ-ε) model
of confined core concrete in Refs. [13,25] is expressed as follows:

Fig. 7. Typical FE model of RECFST stub column under axial compression.

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Fig. 8. Effect of Coulomb friction factor between steel tube and core concrete.

Fig. 9. Validation on failure modes of tests and FE modeling.

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Table 2
Parametric analysis of RECFST stub columns under axial compression.
Parameters Specimens Dimensions B×D× t × L/(mm) fy (N/mm2) fcu (N/mm2) ξ NFE (kN) δu (mm) Ki (kN/mm)

Steel strength RECFST1–1 400 × 200 × 5 × 800 335 50 0.81 4817.1 3.12 3700.9
RECFST 1–2 400 × 200 × 5 × 800 245 50 0.55 4164.6 3.12 3700.9
RECFST 1–3 400 × 200 × 5 × 800 420 50 0.99 5262.1 3.12 3700.9
RECFST 1–4 400 × 200 × 5 × 800 550 50 1.30 6025.6 3.12 3700.9
Concrete strength RECFST1–1 400 × 200 × 5 × 800 345 50 0.81 4817.1 3.12 3700.9
RECFST 2–1 400 × 200 × 5 × 800 345 30 1.31 3680.1 2.84 3140.9
RECFST2–2 400 × 200 × 5 × 800 345 80 0.52 6178.0 2.84 4369.6
RECFST2–3 400 × 200 × 5 × 800 345 100 0.42 7176.0 3.03 4729.7
Diameter-to-thickness RECFST1–1 400 × 200 × 5 × 800 345 50 0.81 4817.1 3.12 3700.9
RECFST3–1 400 × 200 × 3 × 800 345 50 0.48 4011.1 2.84 3296.0
RECFST3–2 400 × 200 × 8 × 800 345 50 1.35 5750.9 3.22 4365.1
RECFST3–3 400 × 200 × 10 × 800 345 50 1.73 6404.0 3.22 4791.1
Aspect ratio RECFST1–1 400 × 200 × 5 × 800 345 50 0.81 4817.1 3.12 3700.9
CCFST4–1 301.6 × 301.6 × 5.4 × 800 345 50 0.81 5041.0 4.36 3702.0
RCFST4–2 267.2 × 267.2 × 4.8 × 800 345 50 0.81 4095.9 2.73 3448.2
RECFST4–3 353.6 × 235.7 × 5.3 × 800 345 50 0.82 4840.3 3.22 3723.2
RECFST4–4 441.9 × 176.8 × 4.7 × 800 345 50 0.81 4673.5 2.84 3720.3
RECFST4–5 480.3 × 160.1 × 4.5 × 800 345 50 0.82 4482.4 2.28 3730.3
Cross-section area RECFST1–1 400 × 200 × 5 × 800 345 50 0.81 4817.1 3.12 3700.9
RECFST5–1 200 × 100 × 2.5 × 400 345 50 0.81 1145.7 1.15 1719.6
RECFST5–2 300 × 150 × 3.8 × 600 345 50 0.82 2691.9 2.46 2786.9
RECFST5–3 500 × 250 × 6.3 × 1000 345 50 0.82 7051.8 2.84 4663.5

Note: NFE represents the results calculated by the FE models; δu is the longitudinal shortening corresponding to the ultimate axial compressive strength; Ki denotes the
axial initial stiffness.

⎧ 2x − x
2
x ≤ 1 of 1 × 1012 N/mm2 were set up at the top and bottom of the RECFST
y= x column. The vertical load and boundary conditions were employed to
⎨ β0 (x − 1) η + x x > 1
⎩ the rigid end plate through reference nodes. After then, the displace-
7 0.5
⎧ (2.36 × 10−5)[0.25 + (ξ − 0.5) ]⋅f c ≥ 0.12 Circular CFST column
ment and rotation in six directions of the bottom rigid end plate were
β0 = f c0.1 fixed, whereas the top rigid end plate was restrained in five directions
⎨ Rectangular CFST column
and only displacement in the z axis was allowed. The "tie" option was
⎩ 1.2 1+ξ
taken as the contact behavior between the rigid end plate and end
2 Circular CFST column
η=⎧ surface of the column.
⎨ 1.6 + 1.5/ x Rectangular CFST column
⎩ In an attempt to explore the contact interaction between the inner
A sf y
ξ= core concrete and the steel hollow section (SHS), surface-to-surface
A c f ck
contact option was used in the FE model. Based on the test results of the
(3) specimens RCFST1 [20] and WST1A [21], the influence of friction
In which, x = ɛ/ɛ0, y = σ/σ0, σ0 =fc′, ε0 = εc + 800ξ 0.210−6 , coefficients along the tangential direction on the axial compressive
εc = (1300 + 125fc′ )⋅10−6 ; ξ represents the confinement coefficient of the behavior of RECFST stub columns was investigated. Different friction
column; As, Ac are the cross sectional area of the round-ended elliptical coefficients taken as 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4, 0.5 and 0.6 were discussed in this
steel tube wall and inner core concrete, respectively; fy is the yield section. The comparison demonstrated that the friction coefficient
strength of the steel tube wall; fck is the characteristic compressive taken as 0.3 coincided better with the test results (seen in Fig. 8). The
strength of core concrete and fck is taken as 0.67 fcu, where fcu is the same friction coefficient was also employed in Refs. [27,28].
cube compressive strength of unconfined concrete; The initial elastic
modulus of the confined core concrete is taken as 4700 fc′ (N/mm2)
(the unit of fc' is N/mm2) and the Poisson's ratio is taken as 0.2; both of 3.5. Test validation
them are determined according to the specification ACI Committee 318
[26]. To evaluate the accuracy of numerical modeling, FE analytical re-
sults were compared with the experiments in terms of failure modes and
3.3. Element type N-δ curves. Failure patterns including local buckling on steel tube and
shear failure of the column were respectively reflected in FE models
Because of the solid characteristic of the round-ended elliptical core (seen in Fig. 9) and they behaved a good consistent with the test phe-
concrete, 8-node reduced integration brick elements with three degrees nomena.
of freedom per node (C3D8R) would be an effective element type to Fig. 4 displays the N-δ curves observed by the experiments and
simulate its deformation features. For the thin-walled steel tube wall, numerical modeling. The results indicated that the predicted N-δ curves
both solid element type and shell element type were appropriate to behaved good agreement with the test curves. Table 1 showed that only
reflect the deformation and local buckling characteristic. While using a maximum difference of 6% was discovered between the predicted and
C3D8R would make the steel tube meshes follow the curved contacting observed results when the equivalent method was used for the analysis
boundary and express the deformation of round-ended elliptical steel modeling. The difference between the FE analytical and experimental
tube. Typical FE modeling of the axially-loaded RECFST stub column is results was possibly arisen from the difference in site condition and
shown in Fig. 7. material properties between the test specimens and FE models. Gen-
erally speaking, the prediction had a tendency to safety in regard to the
3.4. Boundary condition and contact interaction test results. Therefore, the FE modeling proposed in this paper could be
used as an accurate and efficient way for further study.
Two rigid plates with a Poisson's ratio of 0.0001 and elastic modulus

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J. Wang, Q. Shen Thin-Walled Structures 129 (2018) 166–182

Fig. 10. The effect of various parameters on the axial compressive strength of RECFST stub column.

4. Parametric analysis and

• Geometric parameters: diameter-to-thickness ratio (B/t), aspect
Based on the study in providing the FE modeling of RECFST stub ratio (B/D) and cross-section area (Asc).
columns under axial compression, an extensive parametric analysis on
the performance of thin-walled RECFST stub columns was conducted. The detailed information is shown in Table 2.
Steel tubes with diameter-to-thickness ratios (B/t) ranging from 40～
133 were specially analyzed to explore the behavior of thin-walled
4.1. Steel strength (fy)
RECFST columns according to specification AS 4100 [29] and GB
50018 [30]. The parameters included:
Four kinds of steel tubes with yield strength of 235, 345, 420 and

• Material parameters: steel tube strength (fy), concrete strength (fcu);

550 MPa were conducted in the parametric analysis, and the effect of fy
on the axial force (N) - longitudinal shortening (δ) curves of thin-walled

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J. Wang, Q. Shen
Fig. 11. Effect of cross-sectional area on axial compressive strength of RECFST
columns. Note: N is the axial compressive strength of the RECFST columns; N0 is
the axial compressive strength of the column RECFST1-1; A is the cross-sec-
tional area of the RECFST column; A0 is the cross-sectional area of the column
RECFST1-1.
RECFST stub columns was shown in Fig. 10a. The results demonstrated
that the axial compressive strength of the RECFST stub column was
improved with the increasing of steel strength while the axial initial
stiffness almost remained constant. Compared to the RECFST column
with a fy of 345 MPa, the axial compressive strength of the column with
Fig. 12. Strain-stress curves analysis of specimen WST6-A [21].
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Thin-Walled Structures 129 (2018) 166–182
a fy of 235 MPa decreased by 13.5%. For the stub columns with fy of
420 MPa and 550 MPa, the axial compressive strength respectively in-
creased by 9.2% and 25.1% when compared with the stub column with
a fy of 345 MPa.
4.2. Concrete strength (fcu)
Different concrete strength (30, 50, 80 and 100 MPa) were studied
in this section. Fig. 10b illustrated the influence of concrete strength
(fcu) on the axial compressive behavior of the CFST columns with round
ends. Both the axial compressive strength and axial initial stiffness were
obviously heightened by the increasing of concrete strength. Compared
with the stub column with a fcu of 50 MPa, the axial compressive
strength and axial initial stiffness of the stub column with a fcu of
30 MPa respectively reduced by 23.6% and 15.1%. When the fcu in-
creased from 50 MPa to 80 and 100 MPa, the axial compressive strength
respectively increased by 28.3% and 49.0%. Similarly, the axial initial
stiffness had improvements of 18.1% and 27.8%, respectively.
4.3. Diameter-to-thickness ratio (B/t)
In the parametric analysis, the diameter-to-thickness ratios (B/t)
taken as 40, 50, 80, and 133.3 (corresponding to the steel tube thick-
nesses of 10, 8, 5 and 3 mm) were investigated. As shown in Fig. 10c,
the axial compressive strength and axial initial stiffness of RECFST stub
columns raised with the decreasing of B/t. The axial compressive
strength of the composite columns with B/t equaling to 133.3 was
J. Wang, Q. Shen
Fig. 13. Analysis of the standard N-δ curve.
16.7% lower than that of the stub column with B/t equaling to 80, while
the initial stiffness was 10.9% lower than that of the latter. When B/t
decreased from 80 to 50 and 40, the axial compressive strength values
of the RECFST stub columns increased by 19.4% and 32.9%, respec-
tively; whereas the improvements of the axial initial stiffness were re-
spectively found to be 17.9% and 29.5%.
4.4. Aspect ratio (B/D)
Five different (B/D)-values ranging from 1 to 3 with almost the
same cross-section areas and steel ratios were observed in the para-
metric analysis. When B/D equaled to 1, both the circular and square
cross-section were analyzed to investigate the effect of section type.
Fig. 10(d) shows the effect of the aspect ratio on the N-δ curves. It
seemed that the axial initial stiffness of the RECFST stub column had
little relation with the aspect ratio. However, the axial compressive
strength of the column increased with decreasing of aspect ratio, in-
dicating an improved concrete confinement due to the change of the
section shape. Moreover, it should be noted that both the axial com-
pressive strength and axial initial stiffness of the square CFST stub
column were lower than those of the RECFST stub column or circular
CFST stub column at the same cross-section area and steel ratio.
4.5. Cross-section area (Asc)
To investigate the scale effect on the axial compressive strength of
RECFST stub columns, the columns with dimensions ranging from
200 × 100 × 2.5 × 400 mm to 500 × 250 × 6.3 × 1000 mm were
analyzed (seen in Fig. 10e). Results concluded that the axial compres-
sive strength and axial initial stiffness of the thin-walled RECFST stub
columns were significantly enhanced with the increasing of the cross-
section area when the steel ratios remained constant. In comparison
with the thin-walled stub column in a dimension of
400 × 200 × 5.0 × 800 mm, the axial compressive strength of the thin-
walled RECFST stub columns with scales of
200 × 100 × 2.5 × 400 mm, 300 × 150 × 3.8 × 600 mm and
500 × 250 × 6.3 × 1000 mm were respectively 0.24, 0.56 and 1.46
times of that of the RECFST stub column with a dimension of
400 × 200 × 5.0 × 800 mm. Similarly, the axial initial stiffness was
respectively 0.46, 0.75 and 1.26 times of the latter. In addition, more
evidence had emerged that the load-carrying capacity of RECFST stub
column subjected to axial compression was approximately linear with
the cross-sectional area of the composite section (seen in Fig. 11).
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Thin-Walled Structures 129 (2018) 166–182
5. Discussion
5.1. Failure modes
Typical failure modes of RECFST stub columns under axial com-
pression were respectively displayed in Fig. 9 and they were governed
by: (1) the local buckling of steel tube; (2) the shear failure; (3) concrete
crumbling. Based on the experimental [20,21] and numerical analysis,
various failure patterns of axially-loaded RECFST stub columns were
attributed to the influence of the length, the diameter-to-thickness ratio
and the aspect ratio of the column. For the thin-walled RECFST stub
column under axial compression, the shear failure was occurred with a
large diameter-to-thickness ratio which was for the reason of weak
confinement deriving from the thin walled steel tube to the core con-
crete. With the increase of steel tube thickness, the SHS would provide
adequate confinement to the core concrete and restrict the shear failure
of the core concrete, and only local buckling was observed. In addition,
the location of the shear failure region was correlated to the aspect
ratio. The outward bugles and shear crack at the shear failure region
would take place around the mid-height of the RECFST stub column,
when the aspect ratio was smaller than 2. With the aspect ratio in-
creasing from 2 to 3 and 4, the shear failure region would be adjacent to
the top and bottom ends of the column. Other failure modes were found
to be related with the length and diameter-to-thickness ratio of the
RECFST stub column. The analytical results showed that the failure
mode was characterized by the local buckling and concrete crumbling
at the mid-height of the column rather than the shear failure when the
length of the column was larger than two times of its major-axis length
or the thick-walled steel tube was used.
5.2. Stress-strain analysis
To figure out the development law of stress-strain of the RECFST
stub column, the longitudinal and transverse stress-strain response of
thin-walled steel tube and core concrete at the bottom end, mid-height
and top end of the column were observed in Fig. 12. Stress-strain re-
sponses at key points of the round-ended elliptical cross-section, such as
the middle point of the plate edge (point 1), the end (point 2) and
middle points (point 4) of the semi-circle, were distinguishingly re-
corded.
For the stress-strain responses of infill concrete, the longitudinal
strains at the top and bottom end of the core concrete column were
basically symmetrical and were smaller than the strain at the mid-
height of the core concrete. Therefore, the concrete crumbling was
J. Wang, Q. Shen
Fig. 14. Stress distribution of RECFST stub column at differ stages. Note: S33 is the stress in z axis which represents the compressive stress of the RECFST stub
column; S13 is the shear stress on longitudinal section along the major diameter direction.
mainly located at the mid-height of the RECFST stub column. Moreover,
the longitudinal stress at point 2 of each cross-section was larger than
that at point 1 but lower than that at point 4 due to the stronger con-
strained effect around the semi-circular part. In transverse direction,
the transverse strains at the mid-height of the column were much larger
than the strains at the top and bottom ends indicating that the cracking
and damage of the concrete mainly took place at the mid-height of the
column. The ultimate transverse stresses at the top and bottom ends of
the core concrete column were much higher than those at the mid-
height section because of the constrained effect of welded steel plates.
For the regularity of transverse stress at same cross-section, point 4
behaved the highest stress which was similar to that of the longitudinal
stress.
For the stress-strain responses of steel tube, the longitudinal stresses
at the mid-height, top and bottom end of the column were almost the
same before reaching their ultimate stresses. However, during the
failure stage of the specimen, the longitudinal stresses at the mid-height
were smaller than those at the top and bottom end resulting from the
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Thin-Walled Structures 129 (2018) 166–182
stress redistribution which was caused by local buckling on steel tube.
Similar conclusion can be drawn from the transverse steel stress reg-
ularity as well. Fig. 12(b2) illustrates the responses of the transverse
steel stress. It can be seen that the transverse steel stresses at the top
and bottom end of the column were much higher than those at mid-
height of the column before the outward bugles occurred on the steel
tube. Then the transverse steel stress at mid-height of the column ra-
pidly increased due to the appearance of outward local bugles. Hence,
the method employing transverse stiffening at the mid-height of the
thin-walled CFST column was suggested by Refs. [31,32].
5.3. Analysis of N-δ curves
Obviously standard N-δ curves of RECFST stub columns under axial
compression were observed based on amounts of numerical analysis. FE
analysis results indicated that the shape and trend of the N-δ curve were
relative to the confinement coefficient (ξ). Three types of N-δ curves
were discovered, and each curve could be split into four parts (seen in
J. Wang, Q. Shen
Fig. 14. (continued)
Fig. 13). The curve could be divided into four parts:
(1) The elastic stage (OA). During the preceding loading, the round-
ended elliptical steel hollow section and the core concrete were
subjected to the load separately. The axial force would have a linear
relationship with the axial displacement, before the vertical com-
pressive pressure reached the point A (seen in Fig. 13).
(2) The elastic-plastic stage (AB). When the curve entered into the
elastic-plastic stage, damage of the core concrete were developed
under the vertical load. As the lateral deformation coefficient of
core concrete was bigger than the Poisson's ratio of steel tube wall,
the core concrete undertook confinement provided by the lateral
constraint function of the steel tube. The restriction effect would
keep increasing with the development of longitudinal shortening.
The steel stress arrived at its yielding strength, when the N-δ curve
reached point B.
(3) The strain-hardening stage (BC). The axial compressive load of the
RECFST stub column would keep improving before the N-δ curve
arrived at point C. Analysis results indicated that the type of strain-
hardening stage was correlated to the confinement factor (ξ). When
177
Thin-Walled Structures 129 (2018) 166–182
ξ ≤ 2.76, the endpoint of the strain-hardening stage (point C) was
not far from point B. After that, the curve slipped down. Much more
FE analytical results demonstrated that point B and C would be
much close or overlapped, when the confinement coefficient (ξ)
kept decreasing. The curve segment in strain-hardening stage (BC)
would be horizontal, when 2.76＜ξ＜4.20. While the curve in the
strain-hardening stage (BC) would keep increasing, when ξ ≥ 4.20.
(4) The descent stage (CD). Since the type of the N-δ curve was related
to the confinement factors (ξ), the parameter analysis indicated that
the curve had a descent stage only when ξ＜2.76. Moreover, the FE
analysis results expressed that the decrease amplitude of the des-
cent stage related with the confinement factors (ξ). The phenom-
enon of decrease amplitude was more obvious with a smaller con-
finement coefficient.
Fig. 14 displays the stress distribution of the RECFST column at A, B,
C and D points of the N-δ curve. The steel stresses, compressive and
shearing stresses of the concrete were respectively investigated in this
section. The conditions of the analysis model are: B×D× t mm
= 400 × 200 × 5 mm, H= 800 mm, fy = 311 MPa, fcu= 39.3 MPa.
J. Wang, Q. Shen Thin-Walled Structures 129 (2018) 166–182

Fig. 15. Contact stress between core concrete and steel tube (unit: MPa).

Fig. 16. Simplified confinement effect of core concrete in RECFST column.

The stress distribution of the RECFST stub columns can be described
as follows: (1) In the elastic stage, the steel stress of the steel tube fast
increased up to its linear proportional limit. The high concrete com-
pressive stress was located at the round-ended corner along the major-
axis direction. The high shearing stress of the core concrete was also
closed to that of the corner. (2) In the elastic-plastic stage, the stress of
the steel tube wall got to yielding stress and high-stresses developed to
the total cross-section. The edge of the round-ended elliptical core
concrete along the major diameter reached its cube compressive stress.
And the area of the low compressive stress in the core concrete de-
creased a lot. The shearing stress of the concrete developed further at
point B. (3) In the strain-hardening stage, stress strengthening was
observed across the steel hollow section, and the compressive stress of
the core concrete increased much higher than its cube compressive
strength in unconfined conditions. Therefore, the axial loading force
continued increasing. The high shearing stress area of the concrete was
fuller than ever. When the curve arrived at point C, local buckling on
steel tube was discovered. (4) With the development of the outward
local bugles, the stress redistribution was occurred around the mid-
height of the steel hollow section. Fig. 14(d) shows the local buckling of
the round-ended elliptical steel tube wall. The compressive and
shearing stress of the core concrete presented a sudden descent due to
the cracking and crumbling of the concrete.
5.4. Contact stress
To find out the confinement action provided by steel tube for the
round-ended elliptical core concrete, exploring the contact stress

178
J. Wang, Q. Shen
Fig. 17. Comparison of axial compressive strength between observed and predicted results.
between the steel tube and the core concrete was of inevitable ne-
cessity. Fig. 15 illustrates the contact stress at key points (i.e. point 1
represents the middle point of the plate edge; points 2, 3 and 4 re-
spectively represent the end point, the 1/4 point and 1/2 point of the
semi-circle.) during the four loading stages.
The analytical results demonstrated that the contact stress was
mainly located at the round-ended part of the cross-section, while the
contact action between the steel tube and infill concrete was hardly
observed at the plate part of the core concrete section. Therefore, the
cross-section of the RECFST column could be separated into three parts,
including two fully-confined parts and one partially-confined part.
Moreover, the contact stress in the region of round ends distributed
uniformly before the RECFST stub column was destructed. With the
axial load increasing, the contact stress showed a sustained growth,
indicating that the confinement effect produced by the round-ended
steel tube was enhanced.
5.5. Proper design for RECFST columns
Based on the experimental data in Ref. [21] and analytical results in
Sections 4.4 and 5.4, it can be found that the axial compressive strength
of RECFST stub columns was improved with the decrease of aspect ratio
at the same cross-section area and steel ratio, due to the effective
confinement provided by the semi-circular part, whereas the observed
results showed that the ultimate axial compressive strength was only
slightly reduced with the aspect ratio increasing from 1 to 2. Therefore,
applying the RECFST columns in engineering practice with an aspect
ratio range of 1–2 was suggested in this paper.
On the other hand, for the emergency in building expressway
bridges and heavy haul railways in moderate/strong earthquake re-
gions, using high-strength concrete infills is dramatically effective to
minimize the scales of piers and arches in practical projects according
to Refs. [2,3]. Thus, to satisfy the demands for saving resources and
increasing effective use of space, employing high-strength materials for
the RECFST column is recommended as well.
Last but not least, it should be noted that the RECFST stub column
studied in this text was comprised of seamless steel tube and concrete
infills, while longitudinally welded steel tube and spirally welded steel
tube were commonly used in tall buildings and pipeline constructions
because of the difficult in manufacturing large diameter seamless steel
tubes in production line. However, degeneration in axial compressive
strength of CFST columns, resulting from imperfection in welding lines,
was also observed. Moreover, Aslani et al. [4] discovered that long-
itudinal and spiral weld showed an obvious influence on the strength
and ductility of CFST columns. Hence, further investigations on the
behavior of longitudinal welded and spiral welded RECFST columns are
quite indispensable.
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Thin-Walled Structures 129 (2018) 166–182
6. Prediction of axial compressive strength
Although the specifications EC 4 [33] and GB 50396 [34] have
covered the design method for circular, square and rectangular CFST
columns, the calculating approach for predicting the axial compressive
strength of RECFST stub column is not available. However, the behavior
of RECFST stub column under axial compression is to some extent si-
milar to that of normal CFST stub column in accordance with the above
description. Therefore, the approach for the circular and rectangular
CFST columns recommended in Refs. [33,34] could also provide a re-
ference to predict the axial compressive strength of RECFST stub col-
umns.
According to the analysis on the contact stress of RECFST stub
column and the compressive stress of core concrete, the simplified
confinement effect of infill concrete can be described as shown in
Fig. 16. Hence, the core concrete section can be divided into two parts:
the fully-confined part and the partially-confined part. Based on the
tubed concrete theory, two design approaches for predicting the axial
compressive strength of RECFST stub column were proposed through
the simple superposition approach and the unified theory method in
this paper.
6.1. Simple superposition approach
For the EC4, its simplified design method for normal sectional CFST
columns is based on the simple superposition approach. In accordance
with the simplified method described in Fig. 16, the axial compressive
strength of the RECFST stub column can be described as follows:
Nu1 = Nu, c + Nu, r (4)
where, Nu,c is the axial load carrying capacity of the semi-circular part;
Nu,r is the axial load carrying capacity of the rectangular part.
For the semi-circular part, it was fully-confined by the round-ended
steel tube, as illustrated in Fig. 16. Hence, its axial load carrying ca-
pacity is expressed as follows:
Nu, c = ηa As, c fy + Ac, c fc [1 + ηc (t / D)(fy / fc )] (5)
ηa = 0.25(3 + 2λ ) ≤ 1.0 (6)
ηc = 4.9 − 18.5λ + 17λ2 (7)
Npl.Rk
λ=
Ncr (8)
Npl.Rk = As, c fy + 0.85Ac, c fc (9)
J. Wang, Q. Shen Thin-Walled Structures 129 (2018) 166–182

Table 3
Comparison between predicted and test & FE analytical results.
Reference Specimens Dimensions B×D× t × L/(mm) Nt (kN) NFE (kN) Nu1 (kN) Nu2 (kN) Nu1/Nt&FE Nu2/Nt&FE

Wang et al. RCFST−1 168.5 × 117.0 × 2.86 × 540 925 936 962.0 897.3 1.04 0.97
RCFST−2 229.0 × 118.0 × 2.86 × 721.9 1215 1216 1215.0 1215.0 1.00 1.00
RCFST−3 349.5 × 116.5 × 2.86 × 1080 1635 1702 1716.8 1831.2 1.05 1.12
RCFST−4 237.5 × 156.5 × 2.86 × 719.6 1658 1708 1591.7 1492.2 0.96 0.90
RCFST−5 317.0 × 158.5 × 2.86 × 962.3 2091 2118 2007.4 2028.3 0.96 0.97
Ding et al. CFT1-A 251 × 251 × 3.70 × 750 3023 2986 2902.1 2539.3 0.96 0.84
CFT1-B 250 × 250 × 3.69 × 750 3265 2952 2873.2 2514.1 0.88 0.77
CFT2-A 251 × 251 × 5.51 × 750 3556 3589 3484.9 3093.7 0.98 0.87
CFT2-B 252 × 252 × 5.74 × 750 3661 3651 3587.8 3185.1 0.98 0.87
WST1-A 299 × 252 × 3.75 × 750 3429 3326 3360.4 3223.3 0.98 0.94
WST1-B 302 × 249 × 3.75 × 750 3338 3335 3371.4 3204.5 1.01 0.96
WST2-A 299 × 255 × 5.84 × 750 4162 3929 4162.0 3829.0 1.00 0.92
WST2-B 300 × 251 × 5.80 × 750 4168 3915 4084.6 3824.6 0.98 0.92
WST3-A 350 × 255 × 3.72 × 900 3929 3883 3771.8 3968.3 0.96 1.01
WST3-B 351 × 252 × 3.76 × 900 4158 4097 3783.8 3991.7 0.91 0.96
WST4-A 352 × 251 × 5.90 × 900 4492 4469 4536.9 4761.5 1.01 1.06
WST4-B 349 × 251 × 5.92 × 900 5530 5475 4534.6 5308.8 0.82 0.96
WST5-A 394 × 260 × 3.79 × 1000 5620 5583 4271.2 5339.0 0.76 0.95
WST5-B 396 × 264 × 3.80 × 1000 5500 5408 4345.0 5390.0 0.79 0.98
WST6-A 405 × 197 × 3.75 × 800 3240 3176 3499.2 3304.8 1.08 1.02
WST6-B 302 × 196 × 3.72 × 800 2993 2946 3442.0 3262.4 1.15 1.09
WST7-A 608 × 186 × 3.75 × 1200 4826 4812 4681.2 4777.7 0.97 0.99
WST7-B 605 × 194 × 3.77 × 1200 4944 4894 4845.1 4894.6 0.98 0.99
WST8-A 805 × 190 × 3.74 × 1600 6521 6347 6129.7 6390.6 0.94 0.98
WST8-B 806 × 191 × 3.67 × 1600 6493 6351 6103.4 6363.1 0.94 0.98
WST9-A 405 × 198 × 3.75 × 800 4023 4075 3500.0 4143.7 0.87 1.03
WST9-B 405 × 198 × 3.70 × 1000 4180 4124 3511.2 4305.4 0.84 1.03
WST10-A 610 × 196 × 3.80 × 1200 7201 7128 4896.7 6552.9 0.68 0.91
WST10-B 606 × 189 × 3.77 × 1200 6905 6864 4764.5 6352.6 0.69 0.92
WST11-A 805 × 190 × 3.68 × 1600 9065 8635 6073.6 8430.5 0.67 0.93
WST11-B 805 × 194 × 3.80 × 1600 8799 8721 6247.3 8623.0 0.71 0.98
This paper RECFST1–1 400 × 200 × 5 × 800 —— 4817.1 4479.9 4431.7 0.93 0.92
RECFST 1–2 400 × 200 × 5 × 800 —— 4164.6 3831.4 3914.7 0.92 0.94
RECFST 1–3 400 × 200 × 5 × 800 —— 5262.1 4893.8 4788.5 0.93 0.91
RECFST 1–4 400 × 200 × 5 × 800 —— 6025.6 5603.8 5362.8 0.93 0.89
RECFST1–1 400 × 200 × 5 × 800 —— 4817.1 4479.9 4431.7 0.93 0.92
RECFST 2–1 400 × 200 × 5 × 800 —— 3680.1 3569.7 3275.3 0.97 0.89
RECFST2–2 400 × 200 × 5 × 800 —— 6178.0 6301.6 6116.2 1.02 0.99
RECFST2–3 400 × 200 × 5 × 800 —— 7176.0 7319.5 7247.8 1.02 1.01
RECFST1–1 400 × 200 × 5 × 800 —— 4817.1 4479.9 4431.7 0.93 0.92
RECFST3–1 400 × 200 × 3 × 800 —— 4011.1 3770.4 3770.4 0.94 0.94
RECFST3–2 400 × 200 × 8 × 800 —— 5750.9 5520.9 5463.4 0.96 0.95
RECFST3–3 400 × 200 × 10 × 800 —— 6404.0 6211.9 6211.9 0.97 0.97
RECFST1–1 400 × 200 × 5 × 800 —— 4817.1 4479.9 4431.7 0.93 0.92
CCFST4–1 301.6 × 301.6 × 5.4 × 800 —— 5041.0 3730.3 4385.7 0.74 0.87
RCFST4–2 267.2 × 267.2 × 4.8 × 800 —— 4095.9 —— —— —— ——
RECFST4–3 353.6 × 235.7 × 5.3 × 800 —— 4840.3 4743.5 4453.1 0.98 0.92
RECFST4–4 441.9 × 176.8 × 4.7 × 800 —— 4673.5 4346.4 4393.1 0.93 0.94
RECFST4–5 480.3 × 160.1 × 4.5 × 800 —— 4482.4 4258.3 4437.6 0.95 0.99
RECFST1–1 400 × 200 × 5 × 800 —— 4817.1 4479.9 4431.7 0.93 0.92
RECFST5–1 200 × 100 × 2.5 × 400 —— 1145.7 1122.8 1099.9 0.98 0.96
RECFST5–2 300 × 150 × 3.8 × 600 —— 2691.9 2530.4 2503.5 0.94 0.93
RECFST5–3 500 × 250 × 6.3 × 1000 —— 7051.8 7051.8 6910.8 1.00 0.98

Note: Nt is the ultimate axial compressive capacities of tests in this paper; Nt&FE represents the experimental and FE analytical results; Nu1 and Nu2 are the predicted
results provided by the simple superposition approach and the unified theory method, respectively.

π 2 (EI )eff
Ncr =
(k e L)2 (10)
(EI )eff = Es Is, c + Ec Ic, c (11)
where, As,c and Ac,c are the steel tube area and concrete area of circular
part; fc and fy are the compressive cylinder strength of core concrete
infill and the yield strength of steel tube wall, respectively; ke is the
effective length; it is taken as 0.5 when both ends of the RECFST stub
column are "fixed"; Es and Ec are the elastic modulus of steel tube wall
and core concrete, hereinto Es is taken as 2,10,000 MPa and Ec is taken
as 22,000(fc/10)0.3; Is,c and Ic,c are respectively the section inertia of the
SHS and the core concrete section in round-ended part; L is the length of
the column; λ is the relative slenderness; (EI)eff is the effective section
rigidity of the circular part.
For the rectangular part, it was only constrained in one direction,
indicating this part was in a partially-confined condition. Therefore, its
axial load carrying capacity is expressed by:
Nu, r = As, r fy + 0.85Ac, r fc (12)
where, As,r and Ac,r are the steel tube area and the concrete area of
rectangular part.
6.2. Unified theory method
The unified theory of CFST members was commonly adopted in
technical code for tubed concrete in China and was favored by many
scholars. The fundament thought of the unified theory is regarding the
steel and concrete as one composite material. It calculates the axial

180
J. Wang, Q. Shen
compressive capacity by using the overall geometric features and
composite mechanics parameters of CFST columns. According to this
concept, a simplified design method for calculating the axial compres-
sive strength of RECFST stub columns is proposed by the regression
fitting approach.
Nu2 = Asc fscy
(13)
[1.14 + 0.27ξ + 0.75(B/D)ξ]f ck 1 ≤ (B/D) ≤ 1.44
fscy = ⎧
⎨
⎩ (1.18 + 0.85ξ)f ck 1.44 < (B/D) ≤ 4 (14)
where Asc is the total section area of the RECFST stub column.; fscy is the
unified strength of the RECFST stub column.
Fig. 17 and Table 3 display the comparison of experimental and FE
analytical data versus the predicted results calculated by above two
simplified design methods. The analytical results showed that the axial
compressive strength calculated by these formulas coincided well with
those of tests and FE models. Therefore, the two empirical simplified
design methods could be used to predict the axial compressive strength
of the RECFST columns in a proper precision.
7. Conclusions
This paper proposed an equivalent constitutive model for the round-
ended elliptical core concrete due to its absence of stress-strain re-
lationship. Then a detail numerical modeling developed by ABAQUS
software was provided to investigate the performance of RECFST stub
columns under axial compression. Finally, two simplified design
methods for predicting the axial compressive strength of RECFST stub
columns were proposed in accordance with the simple superposition
approach and the unified theory. According to the analytical results in
this paper, the following conclusions can be drawn:
(1) The nonlinear FE modeling established by ABAQUS software,
combined with the equivalent constitutive relationship for confine
core concrete in round-ended elliptical SHS could be used to eval-
uate the axial compressive performance of RECFST stub columns.
(2) From the experimental observations [20,21] and analytical results
presented in this paper, it could be concluded that the major failure
modes of RECFST stub columns under axial compression included
local buckling and shear failure. The assumed equivalent con-
stitutive relationship for the confined concrete infill was to some
extent accurate for estimating the axial compressive behavior of
RECFST stub columns, but further investigations to figure out their
actual stress-strain models were required.
(3) Based on the numerical analysis, the axial compressive strength of
RECFST stub column was obviously enhanced with the increase of
the steel strength, the concrete strength and the cross-section area,
while opposite result was observed with the increasing of the dia-
meter-to-thickness ratio. With the raising of aspect ratio, the axial
compressive strength of RECFST stub columns showed a slow des-
cent; meanwhile, the failure mode of the column changed slightly in
accordance with Ref. [21].
(4) According to the analytical results, the axial initial stiffness of the
RECFST stub column was obviously improved with the increasing of
the concrete strength and the cross-section area, whereas it was
reduced with the increase of diameter-to-thickness ratio.
(5) Two simplified design methods in accordance with the simple su-
perposition approach and unified theory for calculating the axial
compressive strength of RECFST stub columns were proposed and
verified by the test and FE results. These simplified calculating
formulas could be used to predict the axial compressive strength of
the RECFST stub columns in a proper precision.
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Thin-Walled Structures 129 (2018) 166–182
Acknowledgments
This work described in this paper is supported by the National
Natural Science Foundation of China (Project 51478158) and the New
Century Excellent Talents in University (Project NCET-12–0838); the
authors greatly appreciate the support. Particular gratitude is also ex-
tended to Professor Tao at the Western Sydney University.
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