Reliability analysis of proposed capacity equation for predicting the behavior of steel-tube concrete columns confined with CFRP sheets

Abstract

Due to higher stiffness to weight, higher corrosion resistance, higher strength to weight ratios and good durability, concrete composite structures provide many advantages as compared with conventional materials. Thus, they have wide applications in the field of concrete construction. This research focuses on the structural behavior of steel-tube CFRP confined concrete (STCCC) columns under axial concentric loading. A nonlinear finite element analysis (NLFEA) model of STCCC columns was simulated using ABAQUS which was then, calibrated for different material and geometric models of concrete, steel tube and CFRP material using the experimental results from the literature. The comparative study of the NLFEA predictions and the experimental results indicated that the proposed constitutive NLFEA model can accurately predict the structural performance of STCCC columns. After the calibration of NLFEA model, an extensive parametric study was performed to examine the effects of different critical parameters of composite columns such as; (i) unconfined concrete strength, (ii) number of CFRP layers, (iii) thickness of steel tube and (iv) concrete core diameter, on the axial load capacity. Furthermore, a large database of axial strength of 700 confined concrete compression members was developed from the previous researches togive an analytical model that predicts the ultimate axial strength of composite columns accurately. The comparison of the predictions of the proposed analytical model was done with the predictions of 216 NLFEA models from the parametric study. A close agreement was represented by the predictions of the proposed constitutive NLFEA model and the analytical model.