Axial capacity of reactive powder concrete filled steel tube columns with two load conditions

Reactive powder concrete (RPC) is a type of ultra-high strength concrete that has a relatively high brittleness. However, its ductility can be improved by confinement, and the use of RPC in composite RPC filled steel tube columns has become an important subject of research in recent years. This paper aims to present an experimental study of axial capacity calculation of RPC filled circular steel tube columns. Twenty short columns under axial compression were tested and information on their failure patterns, deformation performance, confinement mechanism and load capacity were presented. The effects of load conditions, diameter-thickness ratio and compressive strength of RPC on the axial behavior were further discussed. The experimental results show that: (1) specimens display drum-shaped failure or shear failure respectively with different confinement coefficients, and the load capacity of most specimens increases after the peak load; (2) the steel tube only provides lateral confinement in the elastic-plastic stage for fully loaded specimens, while the confinement effect from steel tube initials at the set of loading for partially loaded specimens; (3) confinement increases the load capacity of specimens by 3% to 38%, and this increase is more pronounced as the confinement coefficient becomes larger; (4) the residual capacity-to-ultimate capacity ratio is larger than 0.75 for test specimens, thus identifying the composite columns have good ductility. The working mechanism and force model of the composite columns were analyzed, and based on the twin-shear unified strength theory, calculation methods of axial capacity for columns with two load conditions were established.