Behaviour of tapered concrete-filled double skin steel tubular (CFDST) stub columns

Recently, tapered concrete-filled double skin steel tubular (CFDST) columns have been applied in electricity transmission towers in China. However, there is still lack of information on the behaviour of such kind of members. This paper thus carried out the investigation on axially loaded tapered CFDST stub columns. The parameters included the tapered angle and the sectional profile. A finite element analysis (FEA) model was developed to predict the behaviour of the tapered member as well. The results showed that the steel tubes and the sandwiched concrete could work together well despite the tapered angle. The failure mode of the tapered CFDST stub column was similar to that of the straight one, and the failure occurred near the smallest section. The confinement effect of the tapered member was discussed by using the stress analysis. Finally, formulas were suggested for the calculation on the ultimate strength of the tapered CFDST stub column.

► We provided a new set of test data on tapered CFDST stub columns under compression.
► We investigated confinement effect variation of tapered CFDST stub columns.
► We suggested design formulas for the ultimate strength of such columns.