Cyclic behaviours of concrete-filled steel tubular columns with pre-load after exposure to fire

This paper reports experimental results of cyclic behaviours of eight concrete-filled steel tubular (CFT) columns after exposure to fire under sustained axial load. The specimens were heated by a stackable electrical furnace and blowing liquefied petroleum gas fire into the furnace simultaneously in order to simulate the real fire attack. The furnace heating can be controlled easily and safely in such a hybrid heating method using gas and electricity that the average temperature in the furnace followed as closely as possible the ISO-834 standard fire curve. After the CFT columns had been axially loaded and heated for a specified duration of time, the specimens were cooled down to room temperature according to the ISO-834 fire standard while the axial load was kept constant. Finally, the columns were subjected to lateral cyclic loading under constant axial load. The sustained pre-load led to significant residual deformations of CFT columns during the cooling phase. Two columns were found to have suffered local buckling of steel tube and three columns have suffered steel weld rupture during the fire exposure. Therefore, it is recommended that more than two vent holes or vent holes with larger diameter should be used in a CFT column and engineers should pay much attention to reasonable selection and construction of steel sections. Compared with the fire-damaged columns without pre-load and that at room temperature, the post-fire ductility and energy absorption capacity of CFT with pre-load had no obvious deterioration and the axial load level had no obvious influence on the residual strength of fire-damaged CFT. The experimental results can provide a basis for fire-damage assessment of CFT columns.

Research highlights
► A stackable electrical furnace with hybrid heating was developed.
► More attentions should be paid to details of vent holes in steel tube.
► Fire-damaged CFT with pre-load had good ductility and energy absorption capacity.
► The recommended retrofitting scheme was validated.
► It is sufficient to restore a structure’s load when repairing fire-damaged CFT.