Axial Compression Experimental Research of RPC Filled Steel Tube Columns

Reactive Powder Concrete (RPC) is a new kind of building material with high strength and other good performance. The combination of RPC and steel tube will compensate the brittleness of RPC and enhance the stability of steel tube, and the loading capacity of the RPC filled steel tube will be improved. Five RPC filled steel tube columns are designed and tested to obtain the ultimate load bearing capacity, the deformation and the strain information. During the loading process, the concrete and the steel tube of the RPC filled steel tube columns are loaded simultaneously. The loading results show that the deformation of the RPC filled steel tube columns are mainly in elastic phase before the loading capacity is up to the ultimate value. The test load decreases to be 80%~90% of the ultimate loading value and then it changes to be smooth. The failure mode of the RPC filled steel tube columns is ductile. The test loading capacity is compared with the formula from the reference. The tested ultimate load bearing capacity of the steam cured RPC filled steel tube columns is higher than the calculated value. The calculated value is safe for the engineering application. The study is useful for the research and application of RPC filled steel tube column.