DESIGN OF STEEL-CONCRETE COMPOSITE COLUMNS

SUBJECT TO AXIAL COMPRESSION

Mostefa Mimoune
Constantine University Algeria
[email protected]

1. Abstract loads, depending on the thickness of the steel section,

the strength of the concrete and the area of
In recent years, the use of concrete-filled steel tube reinforcement used. It is possible to keep the same
columns has been interests of many structural column dimensions over several storeys of a building,
engineers. The present study is an attempt to study the which provides both functional and architectural
monotonic behaviours of concrete filled steel tubes advantages.
(CFT) under axial load. The effect of steel tube section, In the case of concrete-filled hollow sections, the steel
the bond between the concrete and the steel tube, and provides a permanent formwork to the concrete core.
the confinement of concrete are examined. Column This allows, for example, the steel frame to be erected
strengths are compared with the values predicted by and the hollow column sections subsequently to be
Eurocode 4, with different D/L ratios. filled with pumped concrete. This leads to appreciable
The calculation of the axial strength using other codes savings in the time and cost of erection. In addition,
provides an excellent prediction with experiments for the confinement provided by the closed steel section
different variants. This paper is limited to theoretical allows higher strengths to be attained by the concrete.
calculations. In the case of circular concrete-filled tubes the steel, in
providing confinement to the concrete, develops a
2. Introduction hoop-tension which increases the overall load-carrying
capacity, although this is often ignored in design.
Steel members have the advantages of high tensile
Creep and shrinkage of concrete, are also generally
strength and ductility, while concrete members have
neglected in the design of concrete-filled tubes, which
the advantages of high compressive strength and
is not the case for concrete-encased sections. On the
stiffness. Composite members combine steel and
other hand, complete encasement of a steel section
concrete, resulting in a member that has the beneficial
usually provides enough fire protection to satisfy the
qualities of both materials. Composite columns may be
most stringent requirements without resorting to other
classified into two principal types:
protection systems. For partially encased sections, and
• Open sections partially or fully encased in for concrete-filled hollow sections, codes of practice on
concrete, fire resistance require additional reinforcement.
• Concrete-filled hollow steel sections. Partially encased sections have the advantage of acting
Partially encased columns are based on steel I- or H- as permanent formwork; the concrete is placed in two
sections, with the void between the flanges filled with stages with the section aligned horizontally, turning the
concrete. In fully encased columns the whole of the member 24 hours after the first pour. In order to
steel section is embedded within a minimum cover- ensure adequate force transfer between the steel and
depth of concrete. concrete it is sometimes necessary to use stud
The two main types of composite column are the steel- connectors or reinforcement connected directly or
reinforcement concrete (SRC) column (fig.1.a), which indirectly to the metal profile. Another significant
consists of a steel section encased in reinforced or advantage of partially encased sections is the fact that,
unreinforced concrete, and the concrete-filled steel tube after concreting, some of the steel surfaces remain
(CFT) columns (fig.1.b), which consists of a steel tube exposed and can be used for connection to other
filled with concrete. CFT columns have many beams.
advantages over SRC columns.
Concrete-filled hollow sections may be circular or
rectangular. The concrete fills the section, and its
compressive strength is enhanced by its confinement.
This is an additional advantage for the compression
resistance of the column.
Composite columns can provide considerable
advantages compared to open steel columns. For
example, a cross-section of slender exterior dimensions
can resist high axial loads. Different cross-sections of
the same exterior dimensions can carry very different
 Figure 1 (a): Concrete-encased composite columns concrete. Medium length columns behave inelastically
and fail by partial yielding of steel, crushing of
concrete in compression and cracking of concrete in
tension [5] [6]. The use of connectors may be
necessary in certain circumstances in which the
limiting bond stress is likely to be exceeded for
example in the presence of shear on the column, and
also in the case of dynamic and seismic loading. For a
smooth steel surface of tube, the mechanical resistance
is of less importance than for surface roughness. The
load has to be transferred in some way directly over the
surface of the concrete core and the steel tube; it is of
great practical and economic interest not to have any
mechanical shear connectors in the interface between
the concrete and the steel tube. For relatively short
concrete-filled tubes, the confined concrete can act as a
diagonal compression strut together with tension field
action on the steel side walls to resist limiting shear
that are significantly greater than the shear capacity of
the steel sidewalls alone[7] [8] [9]. This study treats
only completely concrete-filled circular hollow steel
sections with no use of mechanical shear connectors to
Figure 1(b). Concrete-filled composite columns improve the bond in the concrete-steel interface.

This paper describes the outline of the CFT column 5. Use of the simplified calculation method
system, discuses research and then present the
provisions adopted in different design standards The Simplified Method is subject to the following
published by different institutions [1], [2], [3], [4]. limitations:
• The column cross-section must be prismatic and
3. Concrete-filled steel tubes symmetric about both axes over its whole height,
with its ratio of cross-sectional dimensions in the
Circular tubular columns have an advantage over other range 5,0 > hc/bc > 0,2.
sections when used in compression members, for a
given cross-sectional area, they have a large uniform • The relative contribution of the steel section to the
flexural stiffness in all directions. Filling the tube with design resistance of the composite section, given
concrete will increase the ultimate strength of the by δ = ( Aa f y / γ a ) / N pl.Rd , must be between 0,2
member without significant increases in cost. The main and 0,9;
effect of concrete is that it delays the local buckling of
the tube wall and the concrete itself, in the restrained • The relative slenderness λ of the composite
state, is able to sustain higher stresses and trains that column must be less than 2,0;
when is unrestrained.
The use of CFTs provides large saving in cost by • For concrete-encased sections, the area of
increasing the lettable floor area by a reduction in the longitudinal reinforcement must be at least 0,3%
required cross-section size. This is very important in of the concrete cross-section area, and the concrete
the design of tall buildings in cities where the cost of cover must satisfy the following limits:
letting spaces are extremely high. These are ! In the y-direction: 40 mm ≤ cy ≤ 0,4 bc ;
particularly significant in the lower storey of tall
buildings where stubby columns usually exist. ! In the z-direction: 40 mm ≤ cz ≤ 0,3 hc,
CFTs can provide an excellent monotonic and seismic It is often necessary to specify concrete cover on the
resistance in two orthogonal directions. Using basis of a more significant criterion, for example to
multiples bays of composite CFT framing in each ensure sufficient fire resistance, but even in such
primary direction of a low-to medium-rise building cases it is expedient to be aware of how the cover
provides seismic redundancy while taking full thickness specified compares to the maximum
advantage of the two-way framing capabilities of values given above.
CFTs.
The cross-sectional area of the longitudinal
4. Failure modes reinforcement can only be included in the calculation
of cross-sectional resistance if it is less than 6% of the
Short composite columns exhibit a failure mechanism area of the concrete. To ensure sufficient fire
characterized by yielding of steel and crushing of resistance it is sometimes necessary to use more
reinforcement than this, but the area of reinforcement
 considered in the calculation of the resistance of the
composite section is limited to 6% of the concrete area. T able 3 Formula

6. Comparative study 1200

European code complete international standard in steel- 1000

concrete construction, this code covers concrete-filled
sections with or without reinforcement. It uses limit 800
state concepts to achieve the aims of serviceability and

Npl.Rd
safety by applying partial safety factor to loads and 600
material properties and only treats the effect of long-
term loading separately. 400
The ultimate axial force of a column is obtained by:
200
fy f  t fy  f sk
N pl. Rd = Aa .η a . + Ac . ck 1 + η c .  + As .
γ Ma γc  d f ck  γs 0
2,6 5,3 7,9 10,5 13,2 15,8
(1)
L/D

η a = 0,25(3 + 3λ )
η c = 4,9 − 18,5λ + 17λ 2 Fig.3. Ultímate axial resistance vs L/D

Table 1: Coefficient values of η a and η c from EC4. EC4

λ 0 0,1 0,2 0,3 0,4 ≥ 0,5 90000

80000
ηa 4,9 3,22 1,88 0,88 0,22 0,00
70000
ηc 0,75 0,80 0,85 0,90 0,95 1,00 60000
Ncr (KN)

50000
We present in Table 3, the values of and, the 40000
coefficient of confinement for concrete and the 30000
predicted strength for each specimen. 20000
10000
Table2: Results of calculation with Eurocode 4. 0
2,6 5,3 7,9 10,5 13,2 15,8
λ ηa ηc ηa ηc Npl.Rd(formula) Npl.Rd(table3)
L/D
(KN) (KN)
Table Table
a a
0,09 0,824 3,372 0,75 4,9 925,2 1096
0,1 0,88 2,12 0,85 1,88 780,3 732,7 Figure 4: Critical load vs column slenderness
0,2 0,95 1,14 0,90 0,88 677,9 619,7
0,3 1,02 0,44 0,95 0,22 614,1 552,6
0,4 1,08 0,01 0,95 0,22 584,9 552,6
0,5 1,15 0,13 1,00 0,00 612,3 544,8
 lk
Table 3 Formula N cu1 = c N cu + (1 + η )s N cu when ≤4
D
1,4 (3)
1,2
It is assumed that confining factor k = 4,1 and the
Confinement index

1 diameter-to-thickness ration D/t = 50, then the value η

0,8 became 0,27.
0,6
CECS, 1990 [4] provides for normal strength concrete
0,4 filled steel tubes, the load bearing capacity of
0,2 concentrically loaded short columns, S’unit, can be
estimated from:
0
300 600 900 1200 1500 1800 S 'unit = Ac f C (1 + 2Φ ) Were f c = 0,67 f 'cu (4)
Column length (mm)
And the confinement index defined as:
A s f ' st
Figure 5 : Confinement index vs column length η a
Φ= (5)
Ac f c
table1. Table 3: Comparative results

fc ACI/AS ACI/AS EC4 EC4 CECS AIJ

MPa Nu Nu* Tab. with γ S’unit Ncu1
Formula T able 3
(KN) (KN) Formula without γ
EC4 (a) EC4(c)
6 EC4(b) EC4(d)
5 20 618,3 691,8 1096 922 544,8 642,8 1111 772,2
Confinement index

2
1 EC4-a EC4-b EC4-c
EC4-d ACI/AS-A ACI/AS-B
0
300 600 900 1200 1500 1800 AIJ CECS
Column length (mm)

Figure 6: Confinement index vs column length

η c table 2.

The ACI [2] standards use the formula for calculation

the squash load. The limiting thickness of steel tube to
prevent local buckling is based on achieving yield E C 4- a E C4- b E C4- c E C4- d A CI / A CI /
A S-A A S-B
AIJ CECS

stress in a hollow steel tube under monotonic axial Codes

loading is not a necessary requirement for an in-filled
composite column.
Figure 7: Comparison of different codes.
The squash load is obtained by:
Figures 5 and 6 show that the difference between the
N pl .rd .o = 0,85. Ac . f c + As . f y (2) calculated values using the table and theses obtained by
using the EC4 formulations is not negligeable. The
Design formulas for CFT columns shown in the 2001 proposed values within table 2 must be approximated
edition of the SRC Standard of AIJ [3] permit to to formulation’s values, in order to simplify the
calculate ultimate compressive strength by equation: calculation. The obtained resistance values using the
EC4 [1] without taking into account neither the
confinement effect nor partial coefficients of security
are comparable to those of the ACI code [2]. However
the AIJ code [3] gives superior values. Taking into
account the confinement effect within the EC4’s defines the introduction length p. The force to be
formulations enhance considerably these resistances transferred within this length is not the total reaction
(reaching a double), rejoining those obtained from the force on the connection, but only the part which is to
formula recommended by the CECS [4]. Comparison be transferred to the concrete of the composite column
with experimental values will allow situating each section. A part of the reaction force must always be
code. carried by the concrete in order for the composite
column to work properly [10].
7. Force transfer between steel and concrete at In the particular case of a concrete-encased composite
beam-column connections column for which the bond strength between steel and
concrete is insufficient for the transfer to the concrete
The forces transmitted from a beam through the beam- part to take place within the allowable length, it is
column connection must be distributed between the possible to use shear connector studs welded to the web
steel and concrete parts of the composite column. The of the steel section. It is then possible to take account
nature of this force transfer from the steel to the of the shear resistance PRd of the studs as an
concrete depends on the structural details and follows a enhancement to the bond between the steel and
load path which must be clearly identified. The concrete. This additional bond strength, acting only on
introduction length p, necessary for full development the internal faces of the flanges, can be taken as µPRd /
of the compressive force in the concrete part of the 2 on each flange. The coefficient µ can initially be
column, is usually less than twice the appropriate taken as 0,50, although its real value depends on the
transverse dimension d, and should not in any event degree of confinement of the concrete between the
exceed 2,5d. flanges of the section. This assumption is only valid if
the distance between the flanges is less than the values
in millimetres.

8. Shear transfer at the interface of steel tube and

concrete

The design “bon strength” given in EC4 is based on

p < 2,5d push out tests [9], [11]. Tests reveal a stiff initial part
and a peak load that is highly dependent on the surface
quality of the steel section. It has been shown that the
concrete compressive strength does not increase the
bond strength. It has also been argued whether and how
the bond strength in column filled tube depends on the
section shape, length of steel-concrete interface and
d
dimensions d/t. Average bond stress is greater in
circular than rectangular CFT columns. Design is
Fin plates welded to the column section usually based on the mean shear stress found by
dividing the shear force by an assumed shear transfer
Figure 8: Force transfer in a composite beam-column interface area. The design shear stress is given by
connection
N c , Sd
For the purposes of calculation it is recommended that τ Sd = (5)
the shear resistance at the interface between steel and p.l
concrete is not assumed to be greater than the
following (indicative) values: Where Nc,Sd is the design concrete force given by
2
• 0,3 N/mm for sections completely encased in
concrete; N c , Sd
2 =1−δ (6)
• 0,4 N/mm for concrete-filled hollow sections; N Sd
• 0,2 N/mm2 for the flanges of partially encased The maximum transferable shear stress τSd must not
sections; exceed the design bond strength τRd = 0, 4 MPa.
According to the EC4 [1], the friction shear resistance
• 0 N/mm2 for the webs of partially encased may be limited to 0,4 MPa, since the liaison between
sections. the steel tube and concrete is not guaranteed. The
The detailed design of the beam-column connection calculation of this resistance for different values of the
has a considerable influence on this shear resistance, reduced slenderness ration shows that is valuable for
and the effects of hoop-stress, confinement and friction slender columns only (figure 8).
are intimately linked to the connection layout used.
Figure 8 shows a typical beam-column connection, and
Table 4: Shear stress for L/D ratio [4] CECS. (1990). “Design and construction regulation
of CFST structures.” China Engineering Construction
L (mm) L/d Npl.Rd τSd (MPa) Association Standard.
(KN) [5] K. Tan, J.M. Nichols and X. Pu. “Mechanical
300 2,6 1096 2,28 properties of high strength concrete filled tubular
600 5,2 1096 1,14 columns: Part 1- Concentrically loaded. Submited to
900 7,9 1096 0,76 ACI Journal in April 2003.
1200 10,5 1096 0,57 [6] Georgios Giakoumelis and Dennis Lam. Axial
1500 13,2 1096 0,46 capacity of circular concrete-filled tube columns. J. of
1800 15,8 1096 0,38 Con. Steel Res. 60(2004) 1049-1068.
2100 18,4 1096 0,32 [7] Shanmugam N.E. and Lakhami B. State of the art
2400 21,0 1096 0,28 report on steel-concrete composite columns. J. of Con.
Steel Res. 57(2001) 1041-1080.
[8] Suzuki H, Kato B. Shear strength of concrete filled
box elements. In: ProC. Conference on joints in
structural steelwork, Middlesborough, 1981.
[9] Johansson M., “Composite action in connection
2,5
regions of concrete-filled steel tube columns”
2 Submitted to Steel and composite structure.
Shear stress (MPa)

[10] Structural Steelwork Eurocodes. APK N°29.

1,5 [11] Mimoune F.Z, Mimoune M. and Tahi A.
“Behaviour analysis of of concrete-filled tub columns
1 under axial loading”. Interbuild Egypt. June 2006.
0,5

0
0

00

00

00

00

00
30

60

90

12

15

18

21

24

Column length (mm)

Figure 8: Shear bond Vs column length

9. Conclusions

This paper presents the findings of short circular

columns calculated under axial loading. The obtained
results show a non negligible difference between
different codes of practice, and the introduction of
confinement coefficients has a great influence on the
ultimate calculated resistances. Coefficients values
must be adjusted, especially those given by the EC4
table. It is also noticeable that the effect of the shear
stress decreases with the increase of the column length.

10. References

[1] Eurocode 4 ENV 1994-1-1, Design of composite

steel and concrete structures. Part 1.1. General Rules
and Rules for Buildings.
[2] ACI Committee 318, Building code requirements
for structural concrete (ACI 318-95). Detroit:
American Concrete Institute; 1995.
[3] Architectural Institute of Japan (AIJ). (2001).
Standard for Structural Calculation of steel Reinforced
Concrete Structures, 5th Ed. Obtained from paper: S.
Morino and K. Tsuda. Design and Construction of
Concrete-Filled Steel Tube Column System in Japan.