Flexural behavior of circular rubberized concrete-filled double-skin steel tubular beams: Experiments

Abstract

The study aims to assess the impact of RuC on twelve concrete-filled double-skin steel tube (CFDST) specimens. The research explores key variables, including outer tube slenderness ratio, hollow ratio, and rubber replacement ratio. Rubber particles replace natural aggregates at replacement ratios (ρνr) of 0%, 15%, and 30% by mass. The experimental findings are comprehensively discussed, encompassing member flexural capacity, confinement effects, ductility, energy dissipation, and failure mechanisms. The findings reveal that replacing normal concrete (NC) with RuC leads to a reduction in beam flexural strength ranging from 5.0% to 18.1%, depending on ρνr and outer tube diameter. In contrast, RuC members exhibit an increase of up to 70% in ductility and 27.7% in energy dissipation compared to members with NC, depending on rubber content. Increasing the outer tube thickness proves to be an effective method for mitigating strength reduction due to rubber replacement. Specifically, elevating the outer tube thickness from 3.6 mm to 4.5 mm results in strength enhancements of 17.0%, 19.0%, and 23.7% for beams with NC, 15%RuC, and 30%RuC, respectively. Furthermore, the results are applied to assess existing design models and to suggest modifications that offer improved strength estimations for a broad spectrum of rubber replacement ratios.