Seismic behavior and moment strength of tubed steel reinforced-concrete (SRC) beam-columns

The seismic behavior of tubed SRC beam-columns has been investigated by testing six specimens subjected to combined constant axial compression and lateral cyclic load. Two circular tubed SRC columns (CTSRC) and two square tubed SRC (STSRC) columns as well as two common SRC columns as comparison were tested in this paper. Different axial load ratio (n0 = 0.3 and 0.5) have been adopted for the constant axial load. The test results indicated that the flexural strength of a CTSRC column was much higher than that of a common SRC column with the same steel ratio and axial compressive load, whereas there was little difference on the flexural strength of a STSRC columns and a common SRC column. The ductility, plastic deformation capacity and energy dissipation capacity of CTSRC and STSRC columns were much higher than those of common SRC columns with the same steel ratio and axial compressive load. The flexural strength increased as the axial load ratio increased for CTSRC and STSRC columns, while an opposite trend was observed for the plastic deformation capacity. The flexural strength and plastic deformation capacity of CTSRC columns were clearly higher than that of the STSRC beam-columns with the same steel ratio and axial load ratio. A modified EC4 code method has been proposed for the calculation of the moment strength for tubed SRC columns.

Research Highlights
► Six columns were tested under combined constant axial compression and cyclic lateral load.
► The tested columns included four tubed SRC columns and two common SRC columns.
► The flexural strength of a CTSRC column was much higher than that of a common SRC column.
► There was little difference on the flexural strength of a STSRC columns and a common SRC column.
► The anti-seismic capacity of tubed SRC columns was higher than those of common SRC columns. Therefore, a modified method was proposed.