Journal of Constructional Steel Research 67 (2011) 484496

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Journal of Constructional Steel Research

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Post-fire bond between the steel tube and concrete in concrete-filled steel
tubular columns
Zhong Tao a,b, , Lin-Hai Han c , Brian Uy a , Xian Chen b
a
School of Engineering, University of Western Sydney, Penrith South DC, NSW 1797, Australia
b
College of Civil Engineering, Fuzhou University, Fuzhou, Fujian Province, 350108, China
c
Department of Civil Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, China

article info abstract

Article history: Push-out tests were carried out on 64 concrete-filled steel tubular columns, which had been exposed
Received 28 June 2010 to ISO 834 standard fire for 90 min or 180 min, respectively. At the same time, 12 unheated specimens
Accepted 17 September 2010 were also prepared and tested for comparison. The variables investigated in the bond tests were selected
as (a) fire exposure time; (b) cross-section type; (c) cross-sectional dimension; (d) interface length to
Keywords: diameter (or width) ratio; (e) concrete type; (f) fly ash type; and (g) concrete curing condition. The effects
Concrete-filled steel tubes
of the above different parameters on the bond behaviour are discussed. The test results indicate that
Bond strength
Slip
fire exposure had a significant effect on the bond between a steel tube and its concrete core. A decrease
Push-out in bond strength was generally observed for specimens after a fire exposure of 90 min; however, bond
Composite action strength recovery was found when the fire exposure time was extended to 180 min. Other factors also
Post-fire had influence to some extent.
2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Composite columns integrate the favorable characteristics of
steel and concrete materials, therefore providing the merits of
high strength and stiffness, high speed of construction, large
energy dissipation, and considerable economy [1]. For this reason,
concrete-filled steel tubular (CFST) columns have been used widely
in many countries in recent decades.
Nowadays, numerous research studies have been conducted
on the performance of CFST members under different conditions,
and some attention has been paid to the fire resistance of CFST
members or their residual properties after exposure to high tem-
peratures [2,3]. Generally, the exposure of CFST members to fire
can lead to significant loss of strength and stiffness. Research
also showed that high temperatures had significant influence
on the residual bond strength between steel bars and concrete
[4]. Furthermore, Hunaiti [5] tested 21 battened composite
columns, which had been heat-treated at different temperatures
ranging from 50 to 600 C, to investigate the bond between steel
and concrete. It was found that the loss in bond strength was
significantly higher for high temperatures. A specimen tested at
Corresponding author at: School of Engineering, University of Western Sydney,
Penrith South DC, NSW 1797, Australia. Tel.: +61 2 4736 0064; fax: +61 2 4736 0137.
E-mail addresses: z.tao@uws.edu.au, taozhong@fzu.edu.cn (Z. Tao).
600 C showed a strength loss of about 83% when compared with
its companion specimen tested at 100 C. According to Chiang and
Tsai [4], bond degradation after fire exposure is mainly owing to
the fact that high temperatures cause water migration, dehydra-
tion of concrete, and decomposition of cement hydration products.
Internal stress and thus micro- and macrocracks are generated
due to the inhomogeneous volume dilations of ingredients and the
buildup of vapor pressure in the pores.
It is expected that elevated temperatures will also have a signif-
icant impact on the bond between the steel tube and concrete in
CFST columns. Although many studies have been performed in the
past to investigate the bond behaviour at ambient temperatures
for CFST columns [612], no research has been conducted so far
concerning their post-fire bond behaviour. An assessment of the
degree of deterioration of the bond in CFST columns after expo-
sure to fire can help engineers to evaluate the reliability of the load
transfer between the steel tube and concrete at various locations if
necessary.
In this paper, a test program is introduced to investigate
the bond between the steel tube and concrete in CFST columns
that have been exposed to and damaged by standard ISO 834
fire [13]. Push-out tests were further carried out to investigate
the influence of different parameters on the bond strength and
bondslip curves. The bond mechanisms are also discussed in this
paper.

0143-974X/$ see front matter 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.jcsr.2010.09.006
 Z. Tao et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 67 (2011) 484496
Nomenclature
B Width of the square steel tube
D Diameter of the circular steel tube
Ec Modulus of elasticity of concrete
fcu Compressive cube strength of concrete at the time
of the bond test
fcu,f Compressive cube strength of concrete at the time
of fire exposure
fy Yield strength of steel
L Length of the steel tube
Li Length of the steelconcrete interface
Nmax Maximum push-out load
Nu Ultimate push-out load
p Interaction stress between the steel tube and
concrete
S Slip
Su Slip corresponding to ultimate push-out load Nu
t Wall thickness of the steel tube
T Fire exposure time
Bond stress
cr Critical bond stress
Rd Design bond strength
u Ultimate bond strength
2. Experimental program
2.1. General
A total of 76 specimens were prepared and tested. The variables
investigated were selected as (a) fire exposure time (0, 90 min
and 180 min); (b) cross-section type (circular and square); (c)
cross-sectional dimension (194400 mm); (d) interface length to
diameter or width ratio (Li /D or Li /B = 3, 5, or 7, where Li is the
length of the steelconcrete interface, D is the diameter of a circular
tube, and B is the width of a square tube); (e) concrete type (normal
concrete and self-consolidating concrete); (f) fly ash type (Class
II and Class III); and (g) concrete curing condition (sealed and
unsealed before fire exposure).
Table 1 provides a summary for all circular and square
specimens, in which specimen designations starting with C and S
refer to circular and square specimens, respectively. The following
number 1 to 9 in the labels is used to identify specimens with
different parameters. For clarity, the fire exposure time of 0, 90 or
180 min for a specimen is also represented in its label. To obtain
reliable test results, identical pairs were prepared and tested in
most cases, which are designated with suffixes a and b in the
labels, respectively.
2.2. Material properties
All tubes were manufactured from mild steel sheets. Since the
cross-section size was one of the major variables to be investigated,
six kinds of steel sheets with different thicknesses were used in the
fabrication to ensure that all tubes in a same test series of cross-
section type had close cross-sectional aspect ratios (D/t or B/t,
where t is the wall thickness). A value of the B/t ratio of 40 was
chosen for the square tubes, while the D/t ratios for the circular
tubes were 37.3 and 46.5, respectively. Therefore, all cross-sections
chosen were quite compact with an aim to assure that ultimate
bond strength could be achieved before possible local buckling
occurred for the steel tubes. Standard tensile coupon tests were
conducted to measure the material properties, where the average
measured values are given in Table 2. The obtained yield strengths
of steel (fy ) are also presented in Table 1.
485
Nowadays, there is an increasing interest in using self-
consolidating concrete (SCC) to construct CFST columns. Known as
a kind of high-performance concrete, SCC can flow in its gravity
and fill in formworks without the need of any internal and external
vibration. The utilisation of SCC in construction can shorten con-
struction periods, reduce labour cost, improve compaction quality
especially in confined and restricted zones where compaction is
difficult. In this test program, four mixes of SCC and a mix of nor-
mal concrete (NC) were used to fill the tubes. The mix proportions
of the concretes are presented in Table 3. Well-graded limestone
coarse aggregate with a maximum size of 20 mm was used. To in-
crease the slump and make the SCC more workable, fly ash (FA)
and water reducer were added in the concrete mixes. Class II and
Class III fly ashes in accordance with Chinese Standard GB/T 1596-
2005 [14] were used to make the concrete, where Class II FA was
used for the concrete mixes of SCC-III and SCC-IV, and Class III FA
was used for those of SCC-I and SCC-II. According to GB/T 1596-
2005, the type of FA is mainly classified in terms of fineness. Class II
FA is finer than Class III FA; therefore, the former is generally more
active in affecting the concrete properties.
The measured material properties at room temperature and
fresh properties of the SCC mixtures are given in Table 3, where
fcu,f and fcu are the compressive cube strengths of concrete at the
time of fire exposure and bond tests, respectively, and Ec is the
modulus of elasticity at the time of bond tests. Obviously, Class II FA
concrete had higher compressive strength compared with Class III
FA concrete when the water-binder ratios and cement replacement
ratios were the same. It should be noted that the values of fcu,f are
smaller than those of corresponding fcu owing to a 7 month longer
curing period of concrete when conducting bond tests.
2.3. Specimen preparation
Cold-formed steel tubes were used in the construction of
circular specimens, while each square tube was fabricated by
welding four plates using a full penetration groove weld [15]. The
tubes were as received from the mill and no specific measures were
taken to treat the inner surfaces. The overall length (L) of a tube was
designed to be 50 mm longer than its length of the steelconcrete
interface (Li ). The air gap of 50 mm located at the bottom of a
column allowed the slip between the steel tube and concrete.
Wooden plugs were fitted at the bottom of the specimens to
support the wet concrete during casting. The plugs were removed
later to allow for travel of the concrete in the bond tests. The
steel tubes were held upright and were filled with concrete
flush to the top. To investigate the influence of concrete curing
conditions, eight specimens (Series C7 and S7) presented in Table 1
were sealed immediately after the concrete was filled. This was
achieved by sealing their ends with polyethylene and wrapping an
additional thick plastic sheet to avoid possible moisture loss. Other
specimens were not sealed and just kept in indoor environment to
cure.
2.4. Heat treatment
After being cured for about 4 months, the corresponding
specimens were heated by exposing them to heat in a furnace
at Structural Fire Resistance Laboratory in Tianjin Fire Research
Institute, China. Prior to the fire exposure, both ends of the
specimens were covered by a layer of mineral wool. This was
to reduce the heat transfer from the specimen ends to the
steelconcrete interface. The furnace heating was controlled as
closely as possible to the ISO 834 standard fire curve. The fire
duration times (T ) were set to be 90 and 180 min, leading to a target
furnace temperature of 1006 C and 1110 C at the end of the fire
tests, respectively.
486 Z. Tao et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 67 (2011) 484496

Table 1
Specimen labels and test results.
No. Specimen label D t Li (mm) Li /D fcu (MPa) fy (MPa) T (min) Nu (kN) Nmax (kN) u (MPa) Su (mm) Curve type Remarks

1 C1-0a 194 5.5 582 3 52.3 380 0 567.0 1.69 0.93 A

2 C1-0b 194 5.5 582 3 52.3 380 0 634.5 1.90 1.64 A
3 C1-90a 194 5.5 582 3 52.3 380 90 199.0 249.4 0.59 1.05 B
4 C1-90b 194 5.5 582 3 52.3 380 90 215.8 0.64 1.28 B
5 C1-180a 194 5.5 582 3 52.3 380 180 500.0 1.49 3.72 A
6 C1-180b 194 5.5 582 3 52.3 380 180 448.1 1.34 3.45 A
7 C2-0 194 5.5 582 3 72.1 340 0 372.3 1.11 1.26 B
8 C2-90 194 5.5 582 3 72.1 340 90 122.6 0.37 0.72 B Class II fly ash used
9 C2-180 194 5.5 582 3 72.1 340 180 654.2 1.96 3.55 B
10 C3-0 194 5.5 582 3 53.2 340 0 929.7 2.78 2.66 A
11 C3-90 194 5.5 582 3 53.2 340 90 344.5 1.03 1.76 B Class II fly ash used
12 C3-180 194 5.5 582 3 53.2 340 180 673.2 2.01 3.14 A
13 C4-0a 377 8.1 1131 3 52.3 363 0 612.3 754.2 0.48 1.41 B
14 C4-0b 377 8.1 1131 3 52.3 363 0 549.7 941.3 0.43 1.34 B
15 C4-90a 377 8.1 1131 3 52.3 363 90 978.8 0.76 3.42 B
16 C4-90b 377 8.1 1131 3 52.3 363 90 886.5 1072.0 0.69 1.98 B
17 C4-180a 377 8.1 1131 3 52.3 363 180 1465.0 1.14 2.22 B
18 C4-180b 377 8.1 1131 3 52.3 363 180 1239.3 0.97 2.33 B
19 C5-90a 194 5.5 582 3 46.1 380 90 241.0 0.72 1.23 A
20 C5-90b 194 5.5 582 3 46.1 380 90 379.4 1.13 2.85 A
21 C5-180a 194 5.5 582 3 46.1 380 180 515.2 1.54 6.15 A
22 C5-180b 194 5.5 582 3 46.1 380 180 567.7 1.70 6.66 A
23 C6-90a 194 5.5 582 3 63.3 380 90 181.0 0.54 0.56 B
24 C6-90b 194 5.5 582 3 63.3 380 90 288.4 0.86 1.34 B
Normal concrete
25 C6-180a 194 5.5 582 3 63.3 380 180 578.4 1.73 2.96 B
26 C6-180b 194 5.5 582 3 63.3 380 180 562.3 1.68 3.21 A
27 C7-90a 194 5.5 582 3 52.3 380 90 170.2 0.51 0.78 B
28 C7-90b 194 5.5 582 3 52.3 380 90 437.1 1.31 3.88 B Concrete cured in
29 C7-180a 194 5.5 582 3 52.3 380 180 549.0 1.64 3.57 A sealed condition
30 C7-180b 194 5.5 582 3 52.3 380 180 519.7 1.55 4.00 A
31 C8-90a 194 5.5 970 5 52.3 380 90 522.6 0.94 2.35 A
32 C8-90b 194 5.5 970 5 52.3 380 90 602.6 1.08 4.29 B
33 C8-180a 194 5.5 970 5 52.3 380 180 594.2 1.07 6.40 B
34 C8-180b 194 5.5 970 5 52.3 380 180 595.8 1.07 2.78 B
35 C9-90a 194 5.5 1350 7 52.3 380 90 611.6 0.79 2.62 B
36 C9-90b 194 5.5 1350 7 52.3 380 90 545.8 0.70 1.41 B
37 C9-180a 194 5.5 1350 7 52.3 380 180 740.6 0.95 2.72 B
38 C9-180b 194 5.5 1350 7 52.3 380 180 651.9 0.84 2.94 B
39 S1-0a 200 5 600 3 52.3 320 0 140.3 225.4 0.31 0.52 B
40 S1-0b 200 5 600 3 52.3 320 0 195.6 324.5 0.43 0.74 B
41 S1-90a 200 5 600 3 52.3 320 90 126.1 0.28 2.36 A
42 S1-90b 200 5 600 3 52.3 320 90 95.2 170.0 0.21 2.69 C
43 S1-180a 200 5 600 3 52.3 320 180 173.2 0.38 2.52 A
44 S1-180b 200 5 600 3 52.3 320 180 136.5 0.30 1.52 B
45 S2-0 200 5 600 3 72.1 297 0 165.8 299.0 0.36 0.58 B
46 S2-90 200 5 600 3 72.1 297 90 164.8 215.2 0.36 2.50 B Class II fly ash used
47 S2-180 200 5 600 3 72.1 297 180 347.1 0.76 2.87 A
48 S3-0 200 5 600 3 53.2 297 0 148.7 272.9 0.33 0.68 B
49 S3-90 200 5 600 3 53.2 297 90 128.4 166.1 0.28 2.28 B Class II fly ash used
50 S3-180 200 5 600 3 53.2 297 180 349.0 0.77 4.47 A
51 S4-0a 400 10 1200 3 52.3 427 0 269.7 512.6 0.15 1.08 B
52 S4-0b 400 10 1200 3 52.3 427 0 308.2 587.4 0.17 1.05 B
53 S4-90a 400 10 1200 3 52.3 427 90 194.1 350.8 0.11 2.68 C
54 S4-90b 400 10 1200 3 52.3 427 90 305.8 510.6 0.17 1.10 C
55 S4-180a 400 10 1200 3 52.3 427 180 403.5 570.3 0.22 1.32 C
56 S4-180b 400 10 1200 3 52.3 427 180 407.4 580.0 0.22 2.83 B
57 S5-90a 200 5 600 3 46.1 320 90 76.8 98.1 0.17 2.92 B
58 S5-90b 200 5 600 3 46.1 320 90 79.4 102.6 0.17 3.97 C
59 S5-180a 200 5 600 3 46.1 320 180 71.6 0.16 1.88 A
60 S5-180b 200 5 600 3 46.1 320 180 78.7 102.9 0.17 1.77 C
61 S6-90a 200 5 600 3 63.3 320 90 121.6 141.6 0.27 2.83 C
62 S6-90b 200 5 600 3 63.3 320 90 135.5 141.9 0.30 1.68 B
Normal concrete
63 S6-180a 200 5 600 3 63.3 320 180 230.3 0.51 2.88 A
64 S6-180b 200 5 600 3 63.3 320 180 252.3 0.55 2.75 A
65 S7-90a 200 5 600 3 52.3 320 90 78.7 152.6 0.17 1.73 C
66 S7-90b 200 5 600 3 52.3 320 90 56.2 110.0 0.12 3.30 C Concrete cured in
67 S7-180a 200 5 600 3 52.3 320 180 250.6 0.55 2.89 A sealed condition
68 S7-180b 200 5 600 3 52.3 320 180 211.3 0.46 1.92 B
69 S8-90a 200 5 1000 5 52.3 320 90 202.9 356.4 0.27 2.81 C
70 S8-90b 200 5 1000 5 52.3 320 90 102.2 354.2 0.13 0.96 C
 Z. Tao et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 67 (2011) 484496 487

Table 1 (continued)

No. Specimen label D t Li (mm) Li /D fcu (MPa) fy (MPa) T (min) Nu (kN) Nmax (kN) u (MPa) Su (mm) Curve type Remarks

71 S8-180a 200 5 1000 5 52.3 320 180 419.7 482.3 0.55 2.41 C
72 S8-180b 200 5 1000 5 52.3 320 180 400.0 554.2 0.53 2.84 C
73 S9-90a 200 5 1400 7 52.3 320 90 420.3 691.0 0.40 3.27 C
74 S9-90b 200 5 1400 7 52.3 320 90 365.8 594.5 0.34 3.07 C
75 S9-180a 200 5 1400 7 52.3 320 180 610.6 0.57
76 S9-180b 200 5 1400 7 52.3 320 180 609.7 0.57

Table 2
Material properties of steel.
Type Thickness Elastic modulus Yield strength Poissons Ultimate strength Elongation Used in specimen
(mm) (kN/mm2 ) (N/mm2 ) ratio (N/mm2 ) percentage (%) series

Type I 5 197 320 0.281 437 41.7 S1, S5S9

Type II 5 195 297 0.276 368 42.5 S2, S3
Type III 5.5 198 380 0.269 433 28.8 C1, C5C9
Type IV 5.5 201 340 0.270 460 35.4 C2, C3
Type V 8.1 187 363 0.282 433 28.5 C4
Type VI 10 205 427 0.265 383 24.5 S4

Table 3
Mixture and material properties of concrete.
Type Water Cement Fly ash Sand Aggregate Water reducer Slump Slump flow fcu,f fcu Ec Used in specimen
(kg/m3 ) (kg/m3 ) (kg/m3 ) (kg/m3 ) (kg/m3 ) (kg/m3 ) (mm) (mm) (N/mm2 ) series

SCC-I 190 260 240 740 950 5.4 265 640 25.3 46.1 27 300 C5, S5
SCC-II 170 380 170 800 835 6.08 240 560 45.3 52.3 29 500 C1, C4, C7-C9, S1,
S4, S7-S9
SCC-III 190 260 240 740 950 5.4 255 650 40.0 53.2 35 500 C3, S3
SCC-IV 170 380 170 800 835 6.08 260 590 57.3 72.1 38 900 C2, S2
NC 210 552 611 1137 50.4 63.3 34 500 C6, S6

In a real fire situation, thermal creep deformation will occur for
the steel and concrete materials in a loaded column. Owing to the
limitation of the furnace facility, the specimens were not loaded
during the fire exposure in the current test program. Further
research is required in the future to address this issue.
2.5. Test setup and instrumentation
Bond tests were conducted about 7 months later after the heat
treatment. Prior to the bond tests, the top surfaces of all specimens
were ground smooth to provide a level surface and to ensure
even distribution of the applied load. A 2000 kN capacity testing
machine was used to conduct the bond tests as shown in Fig. 1. The
specimen was set up in the testing machine in a vertical position
with the air gap at the bottom. A steel block was placed between
the specimen and the top platen of the testing machine. The steel
block had a cross-section which was a little smaller than that of
the concrete core. This assured the load to be applied only on
the concrete core and allowed the concrete core to be pushed
downward when testing. The load was measured using a load cell
which was placed on the steel block.
All specimens were tested under monotonic loading with a
loading rate of about 0.5 mm/min. Axial strains in the steel were
measured using strain gauges installed along the length of steel
tubes. The spacing between two adjacent strain gauges ranged
from 125 to 150 mm. It is possible to analyse the load transfer
mechanism from the concrete core to the steel tube based on the
strain readings. In the current tests, both slip values at the loaded
and free ends were measured. This was achieved by readings of
seven linear variable displacement transducers (LVDT) mounted
on the specimen as shown in Fig. 1. LVDT 1 and LVDT 2 were used
to measure the slip at the loaded end, while LVDT 3 to LVDT 6 were
used to monitor initial settlements of the steel tube at the bottom.
Therefore, the free end slip was calculated from the readings of
LVDT 7 by subtracting the obtained initial settlements.
3. Test results and discussion
A general view of the specimens after testing is shown in
Fig. 2. The failure mode was characterised by the slip between the
steel tube and concrete, which could be observed on the top of a
specimen. There was no other visible change in appearance for the
steel tubes except the spalling off of oxide layers formed during the
fire exposure.
3.1. Bond stress ( ) versus slip (S) curves
Average bond stress ( ) is used in this paper to evaluate the
bond behaviour between a steel tube and its concrete core, which
is the push load divided by the area of the interface. Therefore,
in this paper refers to the average bond stress unless otherwise
indicated. Although the distribution of local bond stress along a
tube and across its perimeter may not be uniform, the concept of
average bond stress is quite straightforward and can be interpreted
and used by engineers very easily.
Fig. 3 shows typical average bond stress ( ) versus loaded-end
slip (S) curves. For clarity, a slip in this paper refers to the one
measured at the loaded end in the following unless otherwise
noted. Generally, the obtained S curves can be classified into
three types, which depend on the mutual influences of different
parameters. The corresponding curve types for all circular and
square specimens are summarised in Table 1. It should be noted
that no curve type is assigned to the specimens S9-180a and S9-
180b. This is owing to the fact that these two square specimens
were the longest and had been exposed to fire for 180 min. Due
to the fire damage to the steel, the tubes buckled unexpectedly at
the end of the bottom before the ultimate bond strength could be
developed between the steel tube and concrete. Without concrete
at the bottom to support the steel tube, a pre-mature weld fracture
occurred at the end of testing. Thus, particular attention should be
paid in any further bond tests to avoid this problem.
488 Z. Tao et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 67 (2011) 484496

a b

Fig. 1. Push-out test setup.

(a) All specimens after testing. (b) Typical circular section. (c) Typical square section.

Fig. 2. A general view of specimens after testing.

(a) Type A and type B. (b) Type C.

Fig. 3. Typical bond stress ( ) versus slip (S) curves.

Type A curve shown in Fig. 3(a) is the typical S relationship
with a falling branch beyond the maximum bond stress. In the
current tests, about one-third of circular specimens and one-fifth
square specimens demonstrated this feature. The majority of the
specimens are those without fire exposure or with a fire exposure
of 180 min. For a Type A curve, it has an initial linear portion
(OA) up to 50%80% of the peak bond strength, followed by a
transitional portion (AB). After reaching the peak strength (Point
B), a rapidly declining portion BC appears before relatively stable
residual strength can be achieved. Although the residual strength
keeps decreasing from Point C to Point D, the curve tends to flatten
as it approaches Point D. In some cases, the curve can be a nearly
horizontal flat one after reaching Point C. The residual strength at
the end of the testing is about 35%65% of the peak strength for
Type A circular specimens, while that for the square specimens
ranges from 60% to 85% of the peak strength.
The S curves of about two-thirds of circular specimens and
two-fifths of square specimens can be classified into Type B group.
Compared with Type A curves, a Type B curve shows quite similar
features except the existence of the second ascending portion C D .
At Point C , the minimum residual strength is attained, which
is about 40%80% of the bond strength at Point B for circular
columns, and 50%90% of that for square columns. The bond stress
increases once again beyond Point C . Compared with the residual
strength at Point C , the bond stress at the end of testing (Point D )
generally increases by 20%120%. Therefore, of the Type B curves,
the residual strengths of three circular specimens and the majority
of square columns are even much higher than their corresponding
bond stresses at Point B . The strength increase ranges from 20%
to 80%. The maximum push-out loads (Nmax ) recorded at the end
of testing are presented in Table 1 if they are larger than their
corresponding ultimate loads.
 Z. Tao et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 67 (2011) 484496
(a) Circular specimen (C9-90b).
Fig. 4. Axial strain variations along length of tubes.
A typical Type C S curve is depicted in Fig. 3(b), which
is characterised by the lack of any falling branch. For the tests
presented in this paper, Type C curves are only observed for
about two-fifths of square specimens, and most of them had been
exposed to fire for 90 min. No circular specimens can be classified
into this group. Initially, there is an elastic response until reaching
Point A , where the bond stress is about 60%80% of the ultimate
bond strength at Point B , followed by the inelastic response with
gradually decreasing slope. After reaching the transitional Point B ,
the S response is almost linear up to the end of the testing (Point
C ). Generally, the bond stress at Point C is 1.31.9 times the bond
strength at Point B .
3.2. Bond mechanisms and bond stress distribution
To understand the different responses in terms of S rela-
tionship, it is necessary to check the bond mechanisms between
the steel tube and concrete first. It is well known that bond can
be considered as a result of three different mechanisms: chemi-
cal adhesion, friction and macro-interlocking [6,16]. The friction,
which was also called as micro-interlocking by some researchers
[6], mainly arises from the roughness of the steel surface, while
the macro-interlocking is owing to the surface irregularities re-
lated to the manufacturing tolerances. Both friction and macro-
interlocking can cause mechanical keying of the concrete core with
the steel tube, and therefore macro-interlocking can also be viewed
as friction. From another point of view, the macro-interlocking,
somehow, is comparable to the mechanical interlocking between
the ribs of deformed reinforcement bars and concrete.
In practice, it is very difficult to separate the three components
of bond since the distribution of surface irregularities is quite vari-
able and uneven. Moreover, there is no practical criterion that can
be used to distinguish between the micro-interlocking and macro-
interlocking. To make matters more complicated, the shrinkage
of concrete has significant influence on the bond behaviour and
may affect the bond contribution of different components. How-
ever, some efforts were made by Virdi and Dowling [6], where
three circular specimens of Group ST had their inside surfaces
machined to a smooth finish, and another group of three circu-
lar specimens (Group PH) had their inner surfaces covered with a
lubricant in five coats. Therefore, the surface roughness of Group
ST was greatly diminished, and the bond strength was believed
to have been resulted mainly from the chemical adhesion. On the
other hand, the bond for specimens in Group PH was largely con-
tributed by the macro-interlocking effect. The test results of Group
ST and PH were further compared with those of normal specimens
(Group CS) without any surface treatment. It seems that the bond
strength from chemical adhesion only (Group ST) could attain a
value of about 19% ultimate bond strength in normal conditions,
489
(b) Square specimen (S9-90b).
but it failed and decayed rapidly. The slip corresponding to the peak
bond strength was about 0.5 mm for Group ST. The response of
Group PH showed a near absence of an initially stiff region, but the
bond resistance resulted from macro-interlocking kept increasing
until the end of testing. After compared with the tests results of
Group CS, Virdi and Dowling [6] postulated that the ultimate bond
strength for CFST columns was mainly contributed by friction.
To further understand the bond mechanisms, it is necessary to
check the bond stress distribution along the length of tubes. The
bond stresses can be obtained based on the axial strain gradients
in the steel tube [8]. According to Roeder et al. [8], the axial
strain gradients are related by statics to the interface bond stress
distribution. If Nx is the axial load in the steel tube at location x,
then the bond stress, (x), can be given by
dNx
(x) = (1)
C dx
where C is the perimeter of the concrete section in contact with the
steel tube, and is equal to (D 2t ) and 4(B 2t ), respectively,
for circular and square sections.
Figs. 4 and 5 demonstrate the axial strain variations and bond
stress distributions along the length of two typical specimens,
respectively. It should be noted that the axial strains measured
at the bottom were normally smaller than the expected values.
This is owing to the influence of the constraint conditions at the
bottom as shown in Fig. 6, where the steel tube had a tendency to
deform outwardly due to the Poissons effect, but was restrained
at the end. Therefore, the measured strains near the bottom were
not used to calculate the bond stresses at that location, which were
alternatively determined based on the assumption that all the push
load was carried by the steel tube alone at the bottom.
Apparently, the trends of the axial strain distributions shown
in Fig. 4 for the circular and square specimens are quite different.
For the circular specimen C9-90b, the axial strain of the steel
tube increased very fast within a short distance away from the
loaded end. It indicates the fast development of local bond stress
between the steel tube and concrete in this area. Since only the
concrete was loaded on the top, it would dilate under compression,
and generated radial contact pressure (p) between the steel tube
and concrete, as shown in Fig. 6. The radial pressure resulted
from the confinement of the steel tube could further enhance the
frictional resistance and therefore bond stress at the top, as shown
in Fig. 5(a). In other words, strong composite action was formed
between the circular steel tube and concrete. As the majority of
the load was transferred from the concrete to the steel tube at
the top, the compression was low in the concrete and high in the
steel in the lower part of the column. Therefore, small or even
no contact pressure would be formed between the steel tube and
concrete there. This led to the much slower increase of axial strain
490 Z. Tao et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 67 (2011) 484496

(a) Circular specimen (C9-90b). (b) Square specimen (S9-90b).

Fig. 5. Bond stress distributions at different load levels.

in the lower part of the tube, and the bond stresses in this area
were also much smaller than those at the top. As far as the square
specimen S9-90b is concerned, the axial strain distribution along
the length was close to a simple triangle as shown in Fig. 4(b).
This demonstrates that the square column was not so efficient
in transferring load between the steel tube and concrete as its
circular counterpart. Friction could be formed uniformly around
the perimeter of a circular tube, but mainly formed only in the
vicinity of the corners of a square tube [7]. Therefore, the square
column S9-90 took a much longer length to develop reliable bond,
and the bond stresses, in general, distributed more evenly along the
length of the specimen. The fluctuation in the stress distribution
shown in Fig. 5(b) was attributed to the strain measurement errors
and especially the irregularities of the steel tube. It is worth noting
that the bond stresses at the bottom were often larger than those
at its adjacent measure points. This is somewhat owing to the
pinching effect as shown in Fig. 6. But this effect was not expected
to be critical since the steel tube remained elastic during the tests.
Another important reason is that there was local slip and bond
stress transfer occurred at the bottom since the total load of the
specimen was resisted by the steel.
In the current test program, the free-end slip was also
measured. A typical bond stress versus free-end slip curve for
specimen C4-0a is shown in Fig. 7. Therefore, the initiation of the
slip at the free end can be recognised. Generally, very small slip
at the free end occurs in the initial loading stage. The slip at the
free end develops much more quickly after Point A is reached,
which approximately coincides with the termination of the elastic
responses of S curves shown in Fig. 3. Therefore, during the
elastic stage, the bond resistance is contributed mainly by chemical
adhesion and friction. In most cases, the chemical adhesion is
only active in the initial loading stage since the average loaded-
end slip at the end of elastic stage for all the test specimens is
1.65 mm in the current tests. This value is much larger than the
value of 0.5 mm corresponding to the peak bond strength for
Group ST reported by Virdi and Dowling [6]. Although the maro-
interlocking mechanism also starts to work in this stage after
the slip initiates at the top, it is not significant according to the
test results presented by Virdi and Dowling [6]. After the notable
slippage occurred at the free end, a second stage of behaviour
develops characterised by a gradual softening of the stiffness of
S response. The reason is that the adhesion is now negligible,
and the bond capacity coming from the friction begins to reduce as
well. The friction reduction could be attributed to the shearing off
of mortar which extends into small pits in the steel tube. Now, the
macro-interlocking starts to play an important role in this stage.
After the ultimate bond strength has been achieved, a third stage
of behaviour develops, during which the friction is diminishing
rapidly in most cases while the bond resistance from macro-
interlocking keeps increasing. For specimens with high ultimate
Fig. 6. Deformation of steel tube under push-out force.
bond strength, the effect of diminishing friction will outweigh the
beneficial influence of the increasing macro-interlocking. In this
case, the S response will be a Type A or Type B curve with an
obvious declining branch. Otherwise, it will show the feature of
Type C curves. Actually, the transition between the second and
the third stages was not always as smooth as that shown in Fig. 3.
Sometimes, sudden decrease in bond strength was observed after
the ultimate bond strength had been reached, as shown in Fig. 8.
But part of the bond strength recovered soon. This phenomenon
was also observed and reported by some other researchers [9,10].
In this paper, three circular specimens (C1-90a, C1-90b, and C4-
90b) and almost all the unheated square specimens demonstrated
this feature. For these specimens, it seems the adhesion and friction
reduced too fast before the macro-interlocking could absorb the
energy stored in the specimens. All these specimens are classified
into Type B group in this paper. As mentioned earlier, the only
difference between Type A and Type B curves is the existence of
a second ascending portion. For a Type B curve, it seems that the
residual strength is mainly contributed by the macro-interlocking,
thus the residual strength increases during the later loading stage.
This might happen if the residual bond resistance contributed by
friction is minor or the macro-interlocking grows very fast for
specimens with large fabrication tolerances.
Identical specimens have been prepared to conduct push-out
tests for most test series. Generally, the agreement is reasonable
for each pair of duplicate specimens in terms of ultimate bond
strength and S curve. Therefore, bond strengths obtained from
the average of two individual push-out results are used and
compared in the following discussion. It is worth noting that,
 Z. Tao et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 67 (2011) 484496
(a) Full-range S curves.
Fig. 7. Comparison of slip at loaded end and free end (C4-0a).
Fig. 8. Sudden load reduction after peak loads were reached for some specimens.
Fig. 9. Discrepancy in S curves for identical specimens.
in some cases, a notable discrepancy can be spotted, which is
consistent with the observation presented by other researchers [8].
A typical example is shown in Fig. 9, where the S curve of
specimen S7-180a can be classified into Type A while that of
specimen S7-180b was recognised as Type B. Moreover, there is
a difference of 18.6% in the measured peak bond strength between
the two specimens, although the initial slopes are quite close.
Obviously, this discrepancy can be attributed to the variation in the
surface roughness of the two specimens.
3.3. Bond strength (u )
Currently, there is no single definition for bond strength that
is universally accepted. Virdi and Dowling [6] conducted push-out
tests on over 100 concrete-filled circular steel tubes, where the
maximum stresses were achieved at the end of the tests when the
concrete core attained its travel limit. In other words, all curves
demonstrated by Virdi and Dowling [6] can be identified as Type C
curves, as shown in Fig. 3(b). This observation is not consistent with
that observed by others. The explanation is that the tubes used
by Virdi and Dowling [6] had very small diameter-to-thickness
ratios ranged from 24 to 36. So they were highly resistant to
lateral expansion and therefore could resist high interface shear
stress and the macro-interlocking were magnified as well. The
491
(b) Initial S curves.
reported bond strengths ranged from 1.4 to 2.8 MPa, in general,
are also higher than those reported by others. A conservative
estimation of bond strength was made by Virdi and Dowling [6]
on the basis of a critical bond strain of 0.0035. Aly et al. [12]
believed that the chemical bond is unstable, and post-peak residual
bond stress was recommended to be taken as the bond strength.
However, this method is only applicable to Type B curves in
defining reliable residual bond strength. For other types of curves,
the determination of residual strength will be rather arbitrary. The
bond between the circular steel tube and concrete was investigated
by Roeder et al. [8], where bond stress capacity was defined as
the average interface stress associated with the initial rigid body
slip of the concrete core relative to the steel tube. According to
Roeder et al. [8], the behaviour of concrete was of rigid body
motion between the core and the tube with reducing mechanical
resistance from interface shear after the slip was greater than that
at the peak load. For this reason, maximum average bond stress
was used by Shakir-Khalil [7], Roeder et al. [8], Nezamian et al. [10],
and Nardin and El Debs [11].
According to the above discussion, maximum average bond
stress is also adopted in this paper to represent ultimate bond
strength (u ) for Type A and Type B curves. The average values
of the corresponding slip (Su ) for circular specimens with a fire
exposure of 0 min, 90 min and 180 min are 1.54 mm, 1.97 mm
and 3.74 mm, respectively, while those for square specimens are
0.78 mm, 2.35 mm, and 2.64 mm, respectively. However, the bond
strength definition is not so straightforward for Type C curves since
the bond stress keeps increasing during the whole loading process.
In this paper, the bond stress at the transitional Point B shown in
Fig. 3(b) is defined as the ultimate bond strength. This is justified
by the fact that the average value of Su is 2.45 mm for all Type
C curves, which is quite close to the average value of other fire-
damaged square specimens.
The values of u and Su for all circular and square specimens are
summarised in Table 1. At the same time, the ultimate push-out
loads (Nu ) corresponding to u are also given in this table.
3.4. Critical bond stress
The average stress corresponding to Point A on the bond stress
versus free-end curve shown in Fig. 7 is designated as critical bond
stress (cr ) in this paper. As mentioned earlier, the termination of
the elastic response of a S curve normally corresponds to the
fast development of the slip at the free end. Therefore, the critical
bond stress is one of the important characteristics of S curves. As
can be seen from Fig. 7, the slip at the free end is much smaller than
that at the loaded end before cr is reached. This is owing to the fact
that the slip at the free end during this stage is mainly generated
from the compressive deformation of the steel tube at the bottom.
But beyond Point A, it suggests the change in slip mechanisms
and indicates that the concrete core begins to slip along the whole
interface.
492 Z. Tao et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 67 (2011) 484496
(a) Circular specimens.
Fig. 10. Normalized critical bond stress.
(a) Inner surface of the circular tube.
Fig. 11. Friction marks observed on steel tubes.
Fig. 10 shows the normalized cr with respect to the correspond-
ing ultimate bond strength (u ). Obviously, there is considerable
scatter in cr /u values across the sample. But cr /u values are, in
general, bigger than 0.5. For circular columns, smaller cr /u values
were achieved for those fire-damaged specimens compared with
those undamaged ones. But for square columns, the trend is just
the opposite. The explanation could be that friction contributes
significantly to the bond strength for circular columns before cr
is reached, while for square columns, the friction is less effective.
This is confirmed by the fact that friction marks were observed
around the perimeter of a circular tube, but mainly found in the
vicinity of the corners of a square tube, as shown in Fig. 11. This
phenomenon was also observed by Shakir-Khalil [7]. It looks like
that concrete strength has strong influence on friction according
to its formation mechanism mentioned earlier. Long-time fire ex-
posure will decrease the concrete strength, which in turn causes
the earlier shearing off of the bonding mortar and reduces the
friction between the steel tube and concrete. For this reason, the
fire-damaged circular specimens attained their ultimate state soon
after cr was reached, and cr /u increased accordingly. But for
the square specimens, chemical adhesion was more important in
contributing to the bond strength before cr was reached since fric-
tion was less effective in this case. Not like friction, the whole in-
terface can provide adhesion to resist the push-out load. This is
proved by the fact that the inner surfaces of square steel tubes
were still covered with the remainder of mortar after the push-
out testing, as shown in Fig. 11(b). Therefore, the square tubes had
larger cr /u values at ambient temperatures since chemical adhe-
sion was likely to be conquered just before the rigid body slip of the
concrete occurred. But after exposure to fire, the chemical adhe-
sion was affected by fire damage, leading to the earlier occurrence
of slip and smaller cr /u . It can also be found from Fig. 10 that there
is no statistically significant difference between the cr /u ratios for
(b) Square specimens.
(b) Inner surface of the square tube.
fire-exposed circular and square specimens, and the fire exposure
period has no significant influence on cr /u either.
3.5. Influence of different parameters
3.5.1. Effects of fire exposure time and cross-section type
It is no doubt that fire exposure has impact on the chemical
adhesion and friction between the steel tube and concrete.
Furthermore, it can lead to the change of concrete volume, and
thus affects the composite action between the steel tube and
concrete. The volume change of concrete causes a radial reduction
or enlargement. Its influence on the bond behaviour has been well
documented by Roeder et al. [8].
According to the test results reported by Khoury [17], after ini-
tial expansion, cement pastes could undergo considerable shrink-
age above 100 C, as they lost evaporable water and as dehydration
of the various hydrates occurred at different temperatures. Mean-
while, substantial residual expansion was observed for aggregates
in concrete. The tests conducted by Khoury [17] indicate that lime-
stone aggregate exhibited residual expansion after cooling from
about 350 C demonstrating thermal instability at that tempera-
ture. A third contributing factor to the volume change of concrete
is crack development. Micro-cracking formed during cooling can
lead to significant residual expansion of concrete. Therefore, resid-
ual strain of concrete after exposure to fire will greatly depend
on the temperature history, aggregate type, cement type, water-
binder ratio, and cement replacement ratio used. It is worth noting
that post-fire concrete may also experience some volume change
after absorbing moisture from the atmosphere. However, this in-
fluence is minimized for CFST columns since the concrete is cast in
the steel tubes.
At this moment, it is still very difficult to accurately predict
the residual strain of concrete after fire exposure. This is owing
 Z. Tao et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 67 (2011) 484496
Fig. 12. Residual strain of quartz and limestone concrete after cooling [18].
to the limited test results available and the substantial number of
affecting parameters involved. Generally, residual shrinkage can
be expected for concrete subjected to lower temperatures while
residual expansion occurs when exposed to higher temperatures
(Fig. 12). According to Schneider [18], the first case occurred for
most concretes after heating up to less than 400 C, and the
second case was observed by cooling of concretes being heated
above 400 C. A residual dilation of up to 6000 was reported
by Schneider [18] for unloaded limestone concrete experienced a
heating of 800 C, as shown in Fig. 12.
Fig. 13 depicts the temperature distributions along the x axis
for specimens with different cross-sectional dimensions at the
end of fire exposure. The temperatures were calculated based on
heat transfer analysis by using the ABAQUS software [19]. More
details about the analysis can be found in [20]. Since concrete
has a relatively low thermal conductivity, it is not surprising
that the temperatures are much lower within the concrete core
than those near the concrete surface (Point 3 shown in Fig. 13),
especially for these big columns. In Fig. 13, Point 1 is the centre
point of the cross-section and Point 2 is the midpoint between
Point 1 and Point 3. The temperatures of these characteristic
points calculated are summarised in Table 4. It seems that section
type or cross-sectional dimension has no significant influence on
the temperatures at the interface. For columns with 90 min fire
exposure, the calculated temperature at Point 3 ranges from 877
to 925 C, while that for columns with a T of 180 min ranges from
1016 to 1050 C. Since the temperature distribution across the
whole section is uneven, the temperature at Point 2 is chosen as
the characteristic temperature (Tchar ) of the section to simplify the
analysis. Therefore, for the smaller circular and square columns,
the values of Tchar are all larger than 500 C. It is expected that
substantial residual expansion occurred for the concrete in these
columns. But for the bigger columns, all Tchar are under 400 C
(a) Circular specimens.
Fig. 13. Temperature distribution along x axis.
493
except that of the circular columns with a diameter of 377 mm
and a fire exposure of 180 min. In this exceptional case, Tchar is
501 C. Hence, the bigger columns are not expected to have obvious
volume change according to Schneider [18].
Fig. 14 demonstrates the effect of fire exposure time (T ) on S
curves. As can be seen, the ultimate bond strength u generally
decreased after exposure to fire for 90 min. For circular columns,
significant loss of bond strength occurred with a strength loss of
7377%. The strength loss for square columns was comparatively
much less, which ranged from 12% to 34%. The deterioration in
bond strength was mainly owing to the detrimental influence of
fire exposure on chemical adhesion and friction. The greater loss of
bond strength for circular columns indicates that the fire exposure
has much more profound influence on friction. For specimens
with a fire exposure of 180 min, it is interesting to note that the
bond strength began to reversely increase, rather than to decline
any further. In some cases, the strength could be fully recovered,
which was especially true for those square columns. Two main
reasons can be used to explain this. On the one hand, the values
of Tchar for the smaller specimens were quite close to 900 C,
therefore, significant residual expansion would be expected. On
the other hand, the more severe the concrete damaged, the easier
the concrete dilates under axial compression. The radial expansion
of concrete could increase the contact pressure and therefore
friction resistance. Another possible beneficial effect resulted from
the residual expansion is that it could counteract the influence of
concrete shrinkage formed during the curing stage.
Fire exposure also affected the initial slope of S curves, which
mainly came from chemical adhesion between the steel tube and
concrete. Generally, the stiffness degradation could be as high as
50%. But it seems that the fire exposure time had no significant
influence on the initial slope. This is owing to the fact that the
interface temperatures were quite close when the specimens were
exposed to fire either with a time of 90 or 180 min. Therefore, the
damage to the chemical bond were expected to be quite close.
Fig. 15 compares the bond strength of circular specimens
with those of square specimens. It is clear that circular columns
generally had much higher bond strength than square columns.
This can be explained by the aforesaid different bond mechanisms
for circular and square columns, i.e., circular columns are much
more effective in transferring the interface shear stress. The flat
parts of a square tube are susceptible to bend outwardly, once
contact pressure is formed between the steel tube and concrete.
This has an adverse effect on the actual contact between the steel
tube and concrete. Therefore, the effective contact likely forms only
in the vicinity of the corners for a square tube, which can be called
effective contact area.
(b) Square specimens.
494 Z. Tao et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 67 (2011) 484496

Table 4
Calculated temperatures at different locations.
Section type Cross-sectional dimension (mm) T = 90 min T = 180 min
Point 1 Point 2 Point 3 Point 1 Point 2 Point 3

194 489 620 925 886 933 1050

Circular
377 130 257 898 354 501 1029
200 429 531 913 803 867 1044
Square
400 76 178 877 251 393 1016

S3
S3
S3

(a) Circular specimens. (b) Square specimens.

Fig. 14. Effect of fire exposure time on S curves.

(a) Circular specimens. (b) Square specimens.

Fig. 15. Effect of cross-section type on bond strength.

(a) Circular specimens. (b) Square specimens.

Fig. 16. Effect of cross-sectional dimension on bond strength.

3.5.2. Effect of cross-sectional dimension
The effect of cross-sectional dimension on u is depicted in
Fig. 16. In general, the bond strength decreased significantly when
D or B increased. This is consistent with the observation made
by Roeder et al. [8]. The larger the tube size, the bigger the gap
forms between the steel tube and concrete due to the shrinkage
of concrete. For this reason, the bond stress distribution for big
circular specimens is now quite different from that shown in
Fig. 5(a). Owing to the existence of the gap, there was no bond
stress formed near the loaded end initially, and the longitudinal
distribution of bond stress became much more uniform when u
was reached compared with that for specimen C9-90b shown in
Fig. 5(a).
It is worth noting that there is an exception to this size effect
observed for specimens C4-90a and C4-90b, which had even
higher bond strength (increased by 17.9%) compared with their
counterparts C1-90a and C1-90b. A possible explanation for this
is that macro-interlocking effect was more significant for C4-90a
and C4-90b since they had a much longer length than C1-90a and
C1-90b. This phenomenon was not observed for corresponding
square columns since they had much smaller effective contact area
and thus the influence of macro-interlocking was less significant.
 Z. Tao et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 67 (2011) 484496
Table 5
Design bond strength (Rd ) specified in different design codes.
Code AIJ [21] AS 5100 [22]
Circular CFST 0.225 0.4
Rectangular CFST 0.15 0.4
(a) Circular specimens.
Fig. 17. Effect of Li /D or Li /B ratio on bond strength.
Furthermore, compared with the reference specimens C4-0a and
C4-0b, C4-90a and C4-90b also had higher bond strength. This
is attributed to the fact that the gap between the steel tube and
concrete resulted from concrete shrinkage in large-size columns
was offset by the residual expansion of concrete in C4-90a and C4-
90b. Therefore, bond stress due to friction developed very fast for
these specimens. But this is not the case for specimens C4-0a and
C4-0b without fire exposure.
Currently, different design bond strengths (Rd ) for CFST
columns are specified in different design codes as summarised in
Table 5, i.e. AIJ [21], AS 5100 [22], EC4 [23], BS 5400 [24], AISC [25],
DBJ/T13-51-2010 [26]. Within the limitations of the current tests,
0.4 MPa and 0.15 MPa can be adopted as Rd for circular and square
CFST columns, respectively. From the comparison shown in Fig. 15,
there is no need to consider the fire exposure influence if Rd
is so specified. It is worth noting that three codes including AS
5100, AISC and BS 5400 have specified a same value of 0.4 MPa
for both circular and square columns. Since the bond mechanisms
for circular and square columns are quite different, the assigned
value of 0.4 MPa for square columns often exceeds measured bond
strength, especially for those big columns. Actually, in this paper,
0.4 MPa is the upper bound for both the unheated specimens and
those with a 90 min fire exposure as shown in Fig. 15.
3.5.3. Effect of Li /D or Li /B ratio
The relationship between u and Li /D or Li /B ratio is shown
in Fig. 17. For circular columns, the trend is that u decreased
with increasing Li /D ratio. But the trend for square columns is
just the opposite. Since bond strength is mainly provided by the
steelconcrete interaction near the loaded end for circular
columns, the average bond strength will decrease if the interface
length increases. Compared with circular tubes, the bond stresses
distribute more evenly along the length of square tubes. The
increase of average bond strength as a function of Li /B ratio for
square columns could be explained by the increasing influence
of macro-interlocking. The longer the column, the higher the
tolerance of surface irregularities and overall imperfections are.
3.5.4. Effect of concrete type
Two types of concrete, i.e., SCC and NC, were used in the current
test program. The effect of concrete type on u can be found in
Table 1. It seems that SCC can have a higher or lower bond strength
than NC, which greatly depends on the type of FA, water-binder
495
EC4 [23] BS 5400 [24] AISC [25] DBJ/T13-51-2010 [26]
0.55 0.4 0.4 0.225
0.4 0.4 0.4 0.15
(b) Square specimens.
ratio, and cement replacement ratio used for the SCC. In general,
the bond strength of NC was bigger than that of SCC when Class III
FA was used, but was smaller than the bond strength of SCC when
Class II FA was used. Therefore, within the limitation of the current
tests, the bond strength of SCC is comparable to that of NC.
3.5.5. Effects of fly ash type and different SCC mixtures
Generally, Class II FA concrete had higher bond strength than
Class III FA concrete except specimens C2-0 and C2-90. Since Class
II FA is finer and more active than Class III FA, concrete made
from Class II FA is expected to have higher chemical cohesion and
residual strength, which can enhance the bond behaviour between
the steel tube and concrete. For series C2, the concrete used had
higher strength and smaller water-binder ratio when compared
with the concrete used in series C3. Therefore, the bond strength
of C2-0 and C2-90 was greatly affected by concrete shrinkage,
and the gap thus had an adverse effect on the friction. Due to
the residual expansion of concrete, there was no gap influence for
specimen C2-180. For the square columns, their bond strength was
less sensitive to concrete shrinkage. Hence, no exception was found
for the square columns with respect to the influence of FA type.
It can also be found from Table 1 that cement replacement ratio
and water-binder ratio have some influence on u . For the circular
specimens, bond strength increased when the cement replacement
ratio increased from 31% to 48% and water-binder ratio increased
from 0.31 to 0.38. But the trend was just the opposite for the
square specimens. Undoubtedly, the concrete strength decreased
with increasing cement replacement ratio or water-binder ratio.
This might also result in the reduction in chemical adhesion which
contributed greatly to the bond strength of the square columns. But
for the circular columns, higher concrete shrinkage resulted from
the decrease of cement replacement ratio and water-binder ratio
led to a decreased bond strength.
3.5.6. Effect of concrete curing condition
Concrete moisture could be prevented from dissipating at the
ends if a tube was sealed. Generally, smaller shrinkage can be ex-
pected for concrete under sealed condition and reduce the pos-
sible gap formed between the steel tube and concrete. It can be
found from Table 1 that all the four sealed specimens with 180
min fire exposure had higher bond strength than their reference
specimens. The increases of average bond strength for the circular
496 Z. Tao et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 67 (2011) 484496
and square columns were 13% and 49%, respectively. But this phe-
nomenon was not observed for the two sealed square specimens
with 90 min fire exposure, and only one circular specimen C7-90b
showed extremely high bond strength which was different from
its companion specimen C7-90a. Therefore, a total of three sealed
specimens with a fire exposure of 90 min had lower u compared
with the unsealed ones. At this moment, the variation in the test
observations is hard to interpret. More experimental investigations
are needed to clearly understand the mechanisms.
4. Conclusions
An experimental program of bond characteristics between the
steel tube and in-filled concrete is discussed in this paper. The fol-
lowing conclusions can be drawn based on the results of this study.
(1) Bond strength generally decreased for specimens after 90 min
fire exposure, and a strength recovery was found when the fire
exposure time was extended to 180 min.
(2) Circular columns generally had much higher bond strength
than square columns. Within the limitations of the current
tests, 0.4 and 0.15 MPa are recommended as design bond
strength for circular and square CFST columns, respectively. In
this regard, the influence of fire exposure may be ignored.
(3) Due to concrete shrinkage, bond strength of CFST columns
was very sensitive to their cross-sectional dimension. More
research is needed for columns with large cross-sections, and
maybe suitable measures should be taken to improve the bond
strength.
(4) Fly ash type, water-binder ratio and cement replacement ratio
have impact on the bond strength of SCC. In general, the bond
strength of SCC is comparable to that of normal concrete.
Based on the research results reported in this paper, it seems that
fire exposure has significant influence on the initial slope, ultimate
strength, and curve shape of the bond stress-slip curves for CFST
columns. To carry out accurate nonlinear analysis for fire-damaged
structures, further research is needed to put forward a suitable
bond stress-slip model incorporating the influence of fire exposure.
The experimental work presented in this paper has provided a
good basis for the development of the model.
Acknowledgements
The research reported in the paper is part of the New
Century Outstanding Talents Supporting Project of Universities in
Fujian Province (XSJRC2007-05) and the Research Fund for the
Doctoral Program of Higher Education of China (200803860005).
This research work has also been partially supported by the
Australian Research Council (ARC) under its Future Fellowships
scheme (Project No: FT0991433). The financial support is gratefully
acknowledged.
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