Experimental investigation on octagonal concrete filled steel stub columns under uniaxial compression

Concrete filled steel tubes (CFST) have been widely used in modern constructions. The cross-section shapes of circular and rectangular are mostly used. This paper presents an investigation on CFST with a new cross-section shape - octagonal shape which combines both advantages from circular and square cross-sections. In this study, 21 CFST stub columns were tested accompanying with 9 plain concrete columns under uniaxial compression. Three cross-section shapes, octagonal, circular and square sections were considered. In parallel, 10 associated CFST stub columns with octagonal cross-sections from literature were also complied. The measured steel yield strength was between 383 MPa to 485 MPa. Both normal and high strength concrete were used with measured cylinder compressive strengths ranging from 38 MPa to 112 MPa. The key investigation focuses on the relationship between the cross-section shapes and confinement effectiveness which can provide an understanding on the difference in load bearing capacity of CFST with those three section shapes. Design formulae for the cross-section capacity in the current code of practice were assessed by the experimental results and modification was proposed to the existing formula for circular cross-section which could be adopted for the CFST with octagonal cross-section.