Experimental investigation on concrete-filled stainless steel stiffened tubular stub columns

This paper presents an experimental investigation on concrete-filled normal-strength stainless steel stiffened tubular stub columns using the austenitic stainless steel grade EN 1.4301 (304). The stiffened stainless steel tubes were fabricated by welding four lipped angles or two lipped channels at the lips. Therefore, the stiffeners were formed at the mid-depth of the sections. In total, five hollow columns and ten concrete-filled columns were tested. The longitudinal stiffener of the column plate was formed to avoid shrinkage of the concrete and to behave as a continuous connector between the concrete core and the stainless steel tube. The behavior of the columns was investigated using two different nominal concrete cubic strengths of 30 and 60 MPa. A series of tests was performed to investigate the effects of cross-section shape and concrete strength on the behavior and strength of concrete-filled stainless steel stiffened tubular stub columns. The measured average overall depth-to-width ratios (aspect ratio) varied from 1.0 to 1.8. The depth-to-plate thickness ratio of the tube sections varied from 60 to 90. Different lengths of columns were selected to fix the length-to-depth ratio to a constant value of 3. The concrete-filled stiffened stainless steel tubular columns were subjected to uniform axial compression over the concrete core and the stainless steel tube to force the entire section to undergo the same deformations by blocking action. The column strengths, load–axial strain relationships and failure modes of the columns are presented. Several comparisons were made to evaluate the test results. The results of the experimental study showed that the design rules, as specified in the European specifications and the ASCE, are highly conservative for square and rectangular cold-formed concrete-filled normal-strength stainless steel stiffened stub columns.