High strength steel-concrete composite columns: applications and design

The theme of this conference is Metropolis and Beyond and this paper provides a state of the art review of practical applications, research and design into the use of high strength steel in buildings, which may provide guidance for multistory and tall building designs of the future. Many current international standards and codes of practice do not cater for the use of high strength steel and thus much needed research is required to give structural engineers the confidence to use this new and innovative material in a safe and efficient manner in construction. Previous research on the use of high strength structural steel for composite columns is outlined herein and a summary of previous applications in multistory buildings is provided. This paper provides a comprehensive summary of experimental results on the uses of high strength structural steel in composite columns specifically for multistory building construction. The results and outcomes of short and slender columns tested concentrically, uniaxially and biaxially are summarized in this paper. Calibration of these experiments with theoretical models and the various international codes such as the American Institute of Steel Construction-LRFD, Australian Standards and Eurocodes have highlighted some of the differences that need to be implemented in order to design building structures safely with this material. Suggested design recommendations as well as further research are therefore summarized in this paper.