Behavior of concrete filled steel tubular (CFST) members under lateral impact: Experiment and FEA model

Abstract This paper reports an investigation into the impact performance of concrete filled steel tubular (CFST) members. A series of tests were carried out to obtain the failure modes and the time history of the impact forces for the composite components under lateral impact. The testing parameters include the axial load level on CFST specimens, constraining factor and the impact energy. A finite element analysis (FEA) model was developed, in which the strain rate effects of steel and concrete materials, interaction between the steel tube and the core concrete, as well as the confinement effect of the outer steel tube provided to the core concrete were considered. The test data were then used to verify the accuracy of the FEA model and generally a good agreement was achieved. A full-range analysis on the impact behavior of CFST member was performed by using the FEA model.