Numerical Simulations of Fully Encased Composite Columns under Gravity Loads

Abstract

Composite structures is a combination of structural steel shapes and reinforced concrete and these two materials are combined in such a way to benefit each material characteristic. This paper investigates the behaviour and strength of axially loaded concrete encased steel composite columns. A nonlinear 3-D finite element (FE) model has been developed to analyse the inelastic behaviour of steel, concrete, and longitudinal reinforcement as well as the effect of concrete confinement on fully encased composite (FEC) columns. The model has been verified against the experiments conducted in the laboratory under concentric gravity loads. It has been found that the FE model is capable of predicting the nonlinear behaviour of the FEC columns up to failure with good accuracy. The capacities of each constituent of FEC columnssuch as steel-I section, concrete and rebars were also determined from the numerical study. Concrete is observed to provide around 57% of the total axial capacity of the column whereas the steel I-sections contributes to the rest of the capacity as well as to the ductility of the overall system. The nonlinear FE model developed in this study is also used to explore the effects of concrete strength on the behaviour of FEC columns under concentric loads. The axial capacity of FEC columns has been found to increase significantly by increasing the strength of concrete.