Strength analysis of concrete-filled thin-walled steel box columns

Abstract An elasto-plastic finite displacement analysis of concrete-filled thin-walled steel stub-columns of box shape is presented. In the analysis, a hardening-softening model is used to describe rationally the elasto-plastic behavior of concrete. A contact element for the interface combined with a bilinear constrained shell element for the plate and a cubic element for the concrete is employed. Both initial geometrical imperfections and residual stresses are also considered in the plate elements. Analytical results are then compared with previous experimental results. In addition, a parmetric study is conducted to investigate the effects of various parameters such as the plate aspect ratio, the plate width-thickness ratio and the concrete strength on the column strength. Finally, a design formula for concrete-filled stub-columns in compression is proposed.