Analysis of axially loaded concrete filled circular hollow double steel tubular columns exposed to fire

A series of new unified design formulas for calculating the temperature field and fire resistance under axial compressive loading of a circular solid or hollow concrete filled double steel tubular (CFDST) short and slender columns exposed to fire are presented in this paper. The results of the experiments are firstly derived from exploring the fundamental behavior of the CFSDT slender columns under the ISO 834 standard fire and temperature distributions. Failure modes and axial deformation versus time curves are also obtained and discussed. It was realized that a solid or slender CFDST column has different temperature fields, stronger limiting temperature and better fire resistance, as compared to columns filled with plain concrete. Also, the load ratio and steel ratio have no evident difference between the results of the solid and hollow CFDST columns. A three-dimensional finite element analysis (FEA) model is developed to calculate the temperature field of CFDST columns. After calibration of the FE model, the influences of important parameters on the temperature field of the composite columns are investigated and a unified formula for calculating average temperatures of the columns' cross-section is obtained. Combining the average temperature with the “Unified theory” under axial compression, a simplified design method is put forward, which provides a unified formulation for both the plain CFST and CFDST columns relating to the axial bearing capacity at room and elevated temperature. The proposed formulas are calibrated through comparisons with fire tests on the columns, and it was found that the method produces safe results on average.