Experimental and numerical investigation on the seismic performance of concrete-filled UHPC tubular columns

Abstract

This paper presents an experimental and numerical investigation on a novel composite column, i.e., concrete-filled ultra-high performance concrete (UHPC) tubular (CFUT) column. One control RC column and three CFUT columns with different column parameters were tested under combined constant axial compression and lateral cyclic loading to investigate the influence on the seismic performance. The test results indicated that the good synergy work performance of the UHPC jackets and the core concrete allowed a continuous contribution of the UHPC jackets to the load-bearing capacities. Compared with the RC column, the CFUT column had a good seismic performance with significant enhancements in the initial lateral stiffness and lateral load-bearing capacity. With the wide-spread multi-cracking behavior due to the steel fiber bridging effect, the CFUT columns also exhibited improved deformation capacity together with decreased residual drift ratios. Besides, a finite element (FE) model was also developed to simulate the response of the composite columns. The experimental and simulated load-displacement curves agreed well, and the load versus deformation behavior of the composite columns could be properly captured.