Transverse impact behavior of high-strength concrete filled normal-/high-strength square steel tube columns

Abstract

High strength materials and dynamic loadings are two important research topics for building structures. In this study, high-strength concrete filled square steel tube columns (HSCFST) using S690 along with Q355 structural steel subjected to transverse impact loadings were experimentally tested by a drop hammer tester, and the impact force, deformation, and energy absorption of such specimens were obtained. Results showed that HSCFST has great impact resistance, showing high impact force plateau value and small deflection. The influence of steel strength, concrete strength, steel ratio, and impact energy on impact resistance was deeply analyzed. Compared with normal-strength materials, using high strength steel can improve its impact resistance but the contribution is not as great as the increment of yield stress, whilst using the high-strength concrete has limited effect. Besides, a refined finite element (FE) method by ABAQUS/Explicit employing the rate-dependent constitutive model for S690 was adopted to simulate the dynamic responses of HSCFST under impact loadings, performing a good agreement with tests. This study provides the basic experimental data of HSCFST subjected to transverse impact and develops a reasonable FE model to predict its impact resistant performance, contributing to the related studies of HSCFST components.