Strength and Behaviour of Slender Steel Reinforced Concrete Composite Columns

Abstract

An experimental study of the behaviour of steel reinforced concrete (SRC) composite columns and the results of a nonlinear numerical analysis are presented. Ten slender SRC composite columns were tested under axial and eccentric loading conditions. The effects of concrete strength, slenderness of columns and eccentricity of the axial load were studied. The load-carrying capacity is reduced with increased slenderness ratio and eccentricity. Concrete strength has a significant effect on the load-carrying capacity of axially loaded columns but has no obvious influence in the case of eccentrically loaded columns. This paper also presents a nonlinear numerical study of pin-ended slender columns. The method is suitable for determining the material failure load or buckling failure load of a slender steel reinforced concrete composite column. In the method both material and geometric nonlinearities are taken into account. The numerical analysis results correlate well with the test results. The test results are also compared with results predicted by ACI 318–05 and Chinese specifications.