Strength of slender concrete filled high strength steel box columns

The use of thin walled steel sections coupled with concrete infill has been used on various building projects with great advantage. The currently available international standards for composite structures are limited to the design of concrete filled steel columns with compact sections. However, there is limited research work in the literature available which is concerned with slender concrete filled thin-walled steel columns. This paper presents a comprehensive experimental study of thin walled steel sections utilising high strength steel of a thin walled nature and filled with normal strength concrete. A numerical model is developed herein in order to study the behaviour of slender concrete filled high strength steel columns incorporating material and geometric non-linearities. For this analysis, the equilibrium of the member is investigated in the deformed state, using the idealised stress–strain relationships for both the steel and concrete materials, considering the elastic and plastic ranges. This paper presents both an experimental and theoretical treatment of coupled local and global buckling of concrete filled high strength steel columns sometimes termed interaction buckling. The experimental results of columns with high strength steel casings conducted herein by the authors are used for comparison. The effect of the confined concrete core is also addressed and the method shows good agreement with the experimental results of concrete filled steel columns with compact sections. The behaviour of concrete filled steel slender columns affected by elastic or inelastic local buckling is also investigated and compared with relevant experimental results. The paper then concludes with a design recommendation for the strength evaluation of slender composite columns using high strength steel plates with thin-walled steel sections, paying particular attention to existing codes of practice so as not to deviate from current design methodologies.