Study on strength of reinforced concrete filled circular steel tubular columns

Concrete filled steel tubular columns (CFT) are widely used in civil engineering works, especially in large scale of works because of high strength, deformation, toughness and so on. On the other hand, as a kind of strengthening measure for seriously damaged reinforced concrete piers of viaduct in Hansin-Awaji earthquake of Japan in 1995, reinforced concrete piers were wrapped with steel plate. Then, a new kind of structure appeared, that is, reinforced concrete filled steel tubular column (RCFT). In this paper, compression test and bending-shearing test on RCFT are carried out. The main parameters of experiments are (1) strength of concrete, (2) steel tube with or without rib, (3) width-thickness ratio and (4) arrangement of reinforcing bars. According to the experimental results, the effect of parameters on mechanical characteristics of RCFT is analyzed clearly. At the same time, strength evaluation formula for RCFT column is proposed and tested by experimental results and existed recommendations (AIJ 1997). The strength calculated by the proposal formula is in good agreement with test result. As a result, the proposed evaluation formula can evaluate the strength of RCFT column properly.