Behaviour of high strength concrete-filled short steel tubes under sustained loading

Concrete filled steel tubes (CFSTs) are extensively used in a variety of structures due to their structural and economic advantages over other types of structures. Considerable research has been conducted with regards to their short-term behaviour, and very limited studies have focused on their long-term behaviour. In this study, a series of tests were carried out on high strength squat (short) CFSTs and concrete cylinders under controlled conditions of temperature and humidity to better understand their time dependent behaviour. A number of parameters were investigated including the influence of steel and concrete bond, confinement, level of sustained load and sizes of specimens. The results revealed that creep strains increased by more than 40% if there was no bonding between steel tube and concrete core. As expected, creep and shrinkage of concrete inside a steel tube were significantly less than those developed in exposed concrete. At the end of a creep period of six months, all the specimens were tested to failure to observe the influence of sustained loads on the ultimate strength. It was found that creep does not have a major effect on the strength of short CFSTs in the specific experimental study conducted here, which was less than 2.5%.