Size Effect on Nominal Strength of Lightweight and Normal Concrete-Filled Steel Tube Columns under Axial Compression: Mesoscale Simulations
Publication: Journal of Structural Engineering
Volume 146, Issue 12
Abstract
With the devolvement of large-span structures and super high-rise buildings, lightweight aggregate concrete (LWAC) materials have been widely utilized. The main content of this work is to explore the failure and size effect of lightweight aggregate concrete-filled steel tube (LWACFST) columns under uniaxial compression. A three-dimesnional mesoscale simulation approach considering concrete heterogeneity was developed, in which the ideal bond was assumed between the steel tube and inner concretes. The failure of geometrically similar square and circular LWACFST/CFST columns under axial compression having different structural sizes and transverse constraints was modeled and explored. The size effect on the nominal compressive strength of the columns was examined. The influences of aggregate type, column cross-sectional type, and constraint effect generated by the steel tube on the size effect in axial compressive failure are also investigated. The results indicate that an obvious size effect in axial-compressive failure can be found for both LWACFST and CFST columns. With the increase of the confinement degree of steel tube, the size effect on nominal compressive strength would be weakened. The LWACFST columns exhibits a more obvious size effect than the CFST columns. Moreover, the size effect on the compressive strength of the circular columns is obviously weaker than the effect on square columns. Finally, considering the quantitative influence of confinement coefficient, a novel size effect law (SEL) for quantitatively describing the size effect in axial-loaded CFST columns was proposed. The accuracy and reasonability of the proposed SEL was verified by the available test data.
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Data Availability Statement
Some or all data, models, or code generated or used during the study are proprietary or confidential in nature and may only be provided with restrictions (e.g., the code to build the 3D mesoscale models is proprietary).
Acknowledgments
This research was supported by the National Key Basic Research and Development Program of China (No. 2018YFC1504302) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 51822801 and 51421005). The support is gratefully acknowledged.
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Journal of Structural Engineering
Volume 146 • Issue 12 • December 2020
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© 2020 American Society of Civil Engineers.
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Received: Aug 25, 2019
Accepted: Jun 11, 2020
Published online: Sep 21, 2020
Published in print: Dec 1, 2020
Discussion open until: Feb 21, 2021
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