Journal of Constructional Steel Research 155 (2019) 355–369

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Journal of Constructional Steel Research

Long-term experimental behavior of concrete-encased CFST with preload

on the inner CFST
Yongjin Li a,c, Gen Li b, Chao Hou b,⁎, Wei-Jie Zhang c
a
College of Engineering, Fujian Jiangxia University, Fuzhou 350108, China
b
School of Civil Engineering, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia
c
College of Transportation and Civil Engineering, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou 350002, China

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Concrete-encased concrete-filled steel tube members (concrete-encased CFST) are innovative composite struc-
Received 8 November 2018 tural elements which are having gradually increasing utilization in high-rise buildings and bridge structures. In
Received in revised form 21 December 2018 practice, the inner CFST component is generally erected first and thus subjected to constructional load before
Accepted 4 January 2019
the outer reinforced concrete (RC) component is formed. Afterward, the whole composite cross-section is
Available online 21 January 2019
under long-term sustained load in the service stage. This paper studies the structural behaviour of such compos-
Keywords:
ite columns under combined preload and long-term sustained load through a series of experimental tests.
Concrete filled steel tube (CFST) Concrete-encased CFST columns under different loading conditions, together with their CFST counterparts, are
Concrete-encased CFST tested and compared. The main parameters include preload ratio, loading age and sectional configuration. Influ-
Preload ence of these parameters on the structural behaviour in terms of failure mode, bearing capacity, stiffness and duc-
Long-term sustained load tility are evaluated. Finally, a simplified design method is recommended to account for the influences of
Ultimate strength combined preload and long-term sustained load on the ultimate strength of the concrete-encased CFST columns,
where the combined effects can be reflected by a corresponding set of coefficients.
© 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction [11]). In comparison to traditional RC members, concrete-encased

A composite structure, where two or more structural elements join
together in such a way as to best leverage the mechanical property of
each component (Henderson et al. [1]), has been widely utilized in
modern construction in recent decades. Combining the superiorities of
each member, composite structure owns advantages in terms of
strength, stiffness, inherent mass, damping and construction speed
(Varma et al. [2]; Wang [3]; Liew et al. [4]; Zhao and Han [5]; Han [6];
Ataei et al. [7]; Dear et al. [8]; Han et al. [9]). Concrete-encased
concrete-filled steel tube (concrete-encased CFST) represents an inno-
vative composite structure which consists of inner CFST component
and outer reinforced concrete (RC) component. By combining the ad-
vantages of both CFST and RC components, this specific type of compos-
ite structural elements has been increasingly adopted in high-rise
buildings and bridge structures. The outer RC provides larger sectional
stiffness, higher fire-resistance and better anti-corrosion performance
compared to conventional CFST structures (Campian et al. [10]). The
connections between concrete-encased CFST columns and RC beams
can be easily addressed since the reinforcements can be installed
throughout or be anchored in the outer concrete region (Nie et al.
⁎ Corresponding author.
E-mail address: chao.hou@sydney.edu.au (C. Hou).
CFST has the much larger strength and significantly better ductility
due to the existence of inner CFST. Moreover, the construction period
can be effectively reduced since the prior-formed inner CFST columns
can be used as the stiff skeleton in later construction of the outer
concrete.
A series of investigations on the behaviour of composite columns
have been carried out by previous researchers. The focus of these re-
search reports include the behaviour of composite columns under
axial compression (Nie et al. [11]; Han and An [12]), axial tension
(Han et al. [13]), bending (Han [14]; An et al. [15]; Han et al. [16,17]),
and combination of compression and bending (Dundar et al. [18]; An
and Han [19]). It has been demonstrated from these studies that the
concrete-encased CFST columns own higher strength than the CFST
counterparts due to the confinement effect between the outer RC
component, the steel tube and the inner concrete core. Meanwhile,
the seismic behaviour of concrete-encased CFST has also been studied
by Ji et al. [20], Qian et al. [21] and Ma et al. [22,23]. These studies proved
the obvious enhancement of the outer reinforcements on the ductility
and deformation capacity of the composite columns.
For concrete-encased CFST columns, there are different combina-
tions of inner CFST components and outer RC components in terms of
sectional configurations. Due to the higher local buckling resistance
and better confinement effect on its concrete core (Han and An [12]),

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcsr.2019.01.001
0143-974X/© 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
356 Y. Li et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 155 (2019) 355–369

Fig. 2 displays the typical lifecycle stages of concrete-encased

Nomenclature
CFST column, with construction period and service period as the
two major stages. During the construction stage, inner CFST compo-
A Cross-sectional area of the concrete-encased CFST
nent is installed first before the fabrication of the outer RC compo-
Acore Cross-sectional area of the concrete core in CFST
nent, it provides support for the following construction procedure
As Cross-sectional area of the steel tube in CFST
and is thus subjected to the preload, which consists of construc-
Asc Cross-sectional area of CFST (=Acore + As)
tional load and structure self-weight. This preload causes additional
B Overall width of square concrete-encased CFST
stress and deformation to the inner members (Li et al. [24]), which
D Overall diameter of the steel tube in concrete-encased
would then affect the bearing capacity of the composite columns.
CFST
Previously, the effect of preload on different kinds of composite col-
DI Ductility coefficient
umns has been studied by some researchers (Han and Yao [25]; Liew
Ec Elastic modulus of concrete
and Xiong [26]; Ferrotto et al. [27]). Li et al. [28] proposed design
Es Elastic modulus of steel
formulas to estimate the reduced axial strength of concrete-filled
Esc Nominal elastic modulus of the concrete-encased CFST
double-skin tubular (CFDST) column considering the effect of pre-
fck Characteristic strength of concrete
load. Patel et al. [29] built a fibre element model to evaluate the be-
fcu Cube strength of concrete
haviour of biaxially-loaded CFST slender beam-columns with
fy Yield strength of steel
preload effects. The results indicated a remarkable reduction in the
fu Ultimate strength of steel
stiffness and strength of specimens with the preload effects, i.e., up
kcr Strength index for the effect of long-term sustained load
to 15%. Till now, the influence of preload on concrete-encased CFST
on CFST
columns has rarely been assessed yet, indicating a need for research
kp Strength index for the effect of preload
in this area, especially seeing that preload effects are extremely
nl Long-term sustained load ratio (=NL/Nue)
common in the construction of concrete-encased CFST in current
np Preload ratio (=NP/Nue)
practice.
NL Long-term sustained load applied on the concrete-
During the service stage, the whole section of concrete-encased
encased CFST
CFST column is under long-term sustained load. With shrinkage
NP Preload applied on the inner CFST component
and creep as the inherent time-dependent characteristics of both
Nuc,CFST Calculated ultimate strength of the inner CFST
the inner and outer concrete, additional deformation, redistribution
component
of internal force and stress concentration can be caused accordingly.
Nuc,PL Calculated ultimate strength of the concrete-encased
As to the performance of composite members under long-term load,
CFST under combined preload and long-term sustained
relevant studies have been presented by Uy and Das [30], Ichinose
load
et al. [31], Naguib and Mirmiran [32], Kwon et al. [33] and Liu et al.
Nuc,RC Calculated ultimate strength of the outer RC component
[34]. Zhang et al. [35] discussed the effect of long-term load on the
Nue Measured ultimate strength of the concrete-encased
trend of strain-stress curve of concrete-filled tubular. Han et al.
CFST
[36] recommended a simplified model to predict the ultimate
t Thickness of the steel tube
strength of CFDST columns under long-term sustained load. How-
αs CFST ratio of the concrete-encased CFST (=Asc/A)
ever, compared with CFDST members, mechanical properties of
φt Creep coefficient
concrete-encased CFST columns under long-term load are even
τ0 Loading age
more complex. In practice, outer concrete of the composite structure
ρs Longitudinal rebar ratio
is exposed in an atmospheric condition, resulting in the exchange of
λc Column slenderness
humidity between the outer concrete and its surroundings. Since the
εi Instantaneous axial strain at initial loading
inner concrete core is in a sealed environment and restricted by the
εin Axial creep strain of concrete
steel tube (Li and Liao [37]), its long-term behaviour is expected to
εt Total axial strain
be significantly different from that of the outer concrete. It is thus
εu Ultimate axial strain
necessary to study the nonlinear long-term performance of
concrete-encased CFST columns since existing investigation on this
is very limited. In addition, the effect of combined preload and
long-term sustained load on concrete-encased CFST columns are
the circular steel tube is widely adopted in the practice of CFST construc- not adequately considered in current codes of practices, which
tion. In the meantime, square column cross-section is well-recognized may lead to potential risk in design and construction. Specific stud-
due to the convenient solution for fabrication and installation in the ies are therefore needed to address this issue.
connection region. Thus, the composite columns with circular inner This study attempts to investigate the structural behaviour of
CFST components and square outer RC components are preferred in concrete-encased CFST columns under combined preload and long-
practice, which is thus focused on in this paper. Fig. 1 presents this typ- term sustained load through comprehensive experimental study. A
ical cross-sectional configuration of concrete-encased CFST columns. test program is presented and a series of experiments are carried
out with a self-designed test set-up for concrete-encased CFST
under different loading conditions. Performance of the tested speci-
mens is discussed against the variation of different parameters. The
main objectives are as follows: 1) To report a set of experimental
data on concrete-encased CFST columns subjected to combined pre-
load and long-term sustained load; 2) To conduct detailed analysis
on the mechanism of concrete-encased CFST columns under com-
bined preload and long-term sustained load and to evaluate the ef-
fects of significant parameters such as preload ratio, CFST ratio and
loading age; 3) To propose a prediction method for the ultimate
strength of the concrete-encased CFST columns under combined
Fig. 1. Typical cross-sectional configuration of concrete-encased CFST columns. preload and long-term sustained load.
 Y. Li et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 155 (2019) 355–369 357

Fig. 2. Typical life-cycle stages of concrete-encased CFST columns.

2. Experimental program
2.1. Test specimens
An experimental program was designed to investigate the structural
performance of concrete-encased CFST columns under combined pre-
load and long-term sustained load. A total of 28 members were tested
under different loading stages and conditions, which could be
categorised as the following four types in Table 1,
• ‘sc-PL’ series: Concrete-encased CFST column specimens under com-
bined preload and long-term sustained load. The preload was applied
on the inner CFST component before the outer RC component was fab-
ricated, i.e., on the 7th or 14th day after the placement of the inner con-
crete core. Then after the outer RC was casted, long-term sustained
load was applied on the whole composite cross-section after 28 days
of concrete placement. A total of 8 specimens were tested in this series.
• ‘sc-S’ series: Concrete-encased CFST counterparts under short-term
loading, i.e., without preload or long-term sustained load. These
specimens were fabricated at the same time with ‘sc-PL’ series, and
were tested to failure at the same time with the latter as well. A
total of 6 specimens were tested in this series.
• ‘sc-S*’ series: Concrete-encased CFST counterparts used to determine
the designed long-term sustained load. Ultimate strength test was
conducted on the 28th day of concrete placement. A total of 6 speci-
mens were tested in this series.
• ‘CFST-S*’ series: CFST counterparts used to determine the designed
preload. They were of the same configuration with the inner CFST
components of the tested concrete-encased CFST members. Short-
term ultimate strength tests were conducted on the 7th or 14th day
after the placement of the inner concrete core so as to provide the cor-
responding reference strength values. A total of 8 specimens were
tested in this series.
Table 1 presents the detailed information of all the tested specimens,
where D and t represent the overall diameter and thickness of the steel
tube of CFST respectively, B and L represent the sectional width and
length of the concrete-encased CFST column respectively, αs is the

Table 1
Information of the tested specimens.

No Specimen labels Cross-section B × L (mm) Inner tube D × t (mm) αs (%) ρs (%) Np (kN) np NL (kN) Nue (kN) Nue,PL/Nue

1 sc-PL-1-a 200 × 600 74.3 × 1.99 10.8 1.17 99.1 (14d) 0.3 626.3 1561.5 0.796
2 sc-PL-1-b 200 × 600 74.3 × 1.99 10.8 1.17 198.2 (14d) 0.6 626.3 1599.7 0.819
3 sc-PL-2-a 200 × 600 101.4 × 3.12 20.2 1.31 175.4 (7d) 0.3 808.7 2086.8 1.002
4 sc-PL-2-b 200 × 600 101.4 × 3.12 20.2 1.31 350.4 (7d) 0.6 808.7 2077.9 0.955
5 sc-PL-3-a 200 × 600 101.4 × 3.12 20.2 1.31 199.6 (14d) 0.3 808.7 1988.6 0.955
6 sc-PL-3-b 200 × 600 101.4 × 3.12 20.2 1.31 399.1 (14d) 0.6 808.7 2149.9 0.988
7 sc-PL-4-a 200 × 600 121.7 × 2.78 29.1 1.47 224.7 (14d) 0.3 818.8 1992.2 0.852
8 sc-PL-4-b 200 × 600 121.7 × 2.78 29.1 1.47 449.3 (14d) 0.6 818.8 2157.6 0.937
9 sc-S-1-a 200 × 600 74.3 × 1.99 10.8 1.17 – – – 1962.2 –
10 sc-S-1-b 200 × 600 74.3 × 1.99 10.8 1.17 – – – 1953.0 –
11 sc-S-2-a 200 × 600 101.4 × 3.12 20.2 1.31 – – – 2081.9 –
12 sc-S-2-b 200 × 600 101.4 × 3.12 20.2 1.31 – – – 2175.0 –
13 sc-S-3-a 200 × 600 121.7 × 2.78 29.1 1.47 – – – 2339.2 –
14 sc-S-3-b 200 × 600 121.7 × 2.78 29.1 1.47 – – – 2303.2 –
15 sc-S-1-a* 200 × 600 74.3 × 1.99 10.8 1.17 – – – 1071.7 (28d) –
16 sc-S-1-b* 200 × 600 74.3 × 1.99 10.8 1.17 – – – 1016.0 (28d) –
17 sc-S-2-a* 200 × 600 101.4 × 3.12 20.2 1.31 – – – 1360.8 (28d) –
18 sc-S-2-b* 200 × 600 101.4 × 3.12 20.2 1.31 – – – 1334.8 (28d) –
19 sc-S-3-a* 200 × 600 121.7 × 2.78 29.1 1.47 – – – 1364.4 (28d) –
20 sc-S-3-b* 200 × 600 121.7 × 2.78 29.1 1.47 – – – 1364.7 (28d) –
21 CFST-S-1-a* 200 × 600 74.3 × 1.99 – – – – – 333.5 (14d) –
22 CFST-S-1-b* 200 × 600 74.3 × 1.99 – – – – – 327.1 (14d) –
23 CFST-S-2-a* 200 × 600 101.4 × 3.12 – – – – – 580.3 (7d) –
24 CFST-S-2-b* 200 × 600 101.4 × 3.12 – – – – – 589.1 (7d) –
25 CFST-S-3-a* 200 × 600 101.4 × 3.12 – – – – – 646.0 (14d) –
26 CFST-S-3-b* 200 × 600 101.4 × 3.12 – – – – – 684.4 (14d) –
27 CFST-S-4-a* 200 × 600 121.7 × 2.78 – – – – – 746.5 (14d) –
28 CFST-S-4-b* 200 × 600 121.7 × 2.78 – – – – – 751.2 (14d) –
358 Y. Li et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 155 (2019) 355–369
CFST ratio of the composite column (αs = Asc/A, where Asc and A are the
cross-sectional areas of the inner CFST and the overall concrete-encased
CFST, respectively), ρs is the longitudinal reinforcement ratio. All of the
concrete-encased CFST specimens are designed with the same dimen-
sions, i.e., a square cross-section of 200 × 200 mm and a length of
600 mm. In Table 1, np and nl are the preload ratio and the long-term
sustained load ratio, as defined in Eqs. (1) and (2) respectively:
np ¼ NP =Nue
nl ¼ NL =Nue
where NP is the preload applied on the inner CFST component, NL is the
long-term sustained load applied on the whole cross-section of the
concrete-encased CFST column, and Nue is the measured ultimate
strength of the specimen.
During the fabrication, a steel endplate was groove welded to one
side of the circular steel tube. Inner concrete core was then filled into
the vertically placed steel tube from the upper opening. After the core
concrete had been placed for seven days, the top surfaces of the CFST
were grounded prior to the welding of the other endplate so as the
load can be fully transferred across the composite cross-section. As for
the outer RC, a reinforcing cage was assembled by four 12 mm-
diameter longitudinal rebars and 8 mm-diameter stirrups at a spacing
of 100 mm. Both ends of the longitudinal rebars were welded to the
endplates of the inner CFST component. Formwork was then installed
for the casting of the outer concrete. It is worth noting that the inner
concrete core and the outer concrete had different strengths so as to
be consistent with common practice, i.e., higher strength concrete was
filled into the inner CFST as it was considered the main component in
load-resisting. Finally, the formwork was removed after the outer con-
crete had been curved for seven days.
2.2. Material properties
As mentioned above, self-consolidating concretes in two different
strengths were prepared in this program. The mix proportions of the
inner concrete core included: Cement: 259.6 kg/m3; Fly ash:
240.4 kg/m3; Sand: 950 kg/m3; Coarse aggregate: 746.2 kg/m3; Water:
186.5 kg/m3; Retarded superplasticizer: 5.4 kg/m3. As for the outer con-
crete, the mix proportion were: Cement: 200 kg/m3; Fly ash:
204.3 kg/m3; Sand: 982.7 kg kg/m3; Coarse aggregate: 773.1 kg/m3;
Water: 188.5 kg/m3; Retarded superplasticizer: 5.4 kg/m3. The slump
flow of the inner concrete core and the outer concrete were 240 and
260 mm, respectively. When the ultimate strength testing was carried
out (400 days after the concrete placement), the average measured
compressive cube strength (fcu) for the inner concrete core and the
outer concrete were 75.5 and 44.1 MPa, respectively, with the corre-
sponding elastic modulus (Ec) as 38,038 and 28,310 MPa, respectively.
Material properties of the steel tubes and the longitudinal rebars
were determined by tensile coupon tests. Table 2 summarizes the tested
ultimate strength (fu), yield strength (fy), Poisson's ratio (μs) and elastic
modulus (Es) for each type of steel material used in this program. The
corresponding stress-strain curves obtained from the coupon tests are
displayed in Fig. 3. It is noted that the steel plates with different thick-
nesses were cut from different steel coils, which led to difference in
the corresponding stress-strain curves.
Table 2
Material properties of steel tube and rebars.
t (mm) fy (MPa) fu (MPa) μs Es (MPa) Elongation rate
1.99 356.1 469.1 0.279 233,000 22.0%
2.78 280.2 368.6 0.309 281,000 31.5%
3.12 306.6 421.9 0.286 232,000 33.6%
Longitudinal rebar Φ12 477.9 642.8 0.284 221,000 7.1%
600
Longitudinal rebar
450
t=1.99 mm
σ (MPa)
300
t=3.12 mm
150 t=2.78 mm
ð1Þ
0
ð2Þ 0 5000 10000 15000 20000
ε (με)
Fig. 3. The measured stress-strain curves for steel material.
2.3. Test setup
The test setup adopted here is developed based on that for the pre-
load and sustained load study of CFDST members (Li et al. [24]; Han
et al. [36]). Fig. 4 presents both the schematic view and the experimen-
tal photos for different stages of the concrete-encased CFST specimens
under combined preload and long-term sustained load. The following
four stages can be recognized,
• Preload stage: Designed preload was applied on the inner CFST com-
ponent through tightening the steel tie rods of the self-designed test-
ing setup, as shown in Fig. 4a. The preload was determined by the
ultimate strength tests conducted on the corresponding CFST counter-
parts in the ‘CFST-S*’ series, i.e., multiplying the average ultimate
strength of CFST specimens with the designed preload ratio (0.3 or
0.6). The selected preload ratios, i.e., 0.3 and 0.6, are consistent with
the testing program in Han and Yao [25] and the regulation in CECS
188:2005 [38]. The preload ratios of 0.3 and 0.6 represent the con-
struction load and self-weight under two typical cases of construction,
i.e., normal construction and fast construction respectively in practice.
The value of the preload on each specific specimen can be monitored
by the load transducer shown in Fig. 4a.
• Fabrication of the outer RC component stage: The reinforcing cage and
formwork were installed during this stage, as shown in Fig. 4b,
followed by the pouring of the outer concrete. It should be noted
that the preload applied on the inner CFST component was main-
tained during this stage to simulate the construction load in practice.
Due to the potential stress relaxation, re-tight of the steel tie rods
was needed every day to keep the preload at the designed level.
• Long-term sustained load stage: After 28 days of placement of the
inner concrete core, the long-term sustained load was applied to
the whole cross-section of concrete-encased CFST by means of steel
tie rods. It should be noted that daily re-tight of the steel tie rods
was needed to keep the applied load at a stable level within the
early period of the sustained load stage due to stress relaxation,
i.e., around 5–8% stress relaxation was measured 6 h after the load
was initially applied. The frequency of the re-tight was reduced to
once every 10 days after the first two months. The entire process of
this stage lasted for one year (365 days). The room temperature of
the laboratory during this stage was recorded and shown in Fig. 5.
• Ultimate strength test stage: For specimens with combined preload
and long-term load, after completing the long-term load stage, the
testing setup of steel tie rods was removed, and the specimens were
moved to a 500 t hydraulic compressive test rig to be loaded to failure,
as shown in Fig. 6. Prior to testing, the column was loaded with an
axial compressive load of 1/10 the predicted ultimate column strength
and then unloaded to eliminate potential gaps in the setup. Load con-
trol method was adopted in the initial stage of the ultimate strength
testing. The load was gradually increased with intervals of 1/10 the es-
timated ultimate strength until 40% of the predicted strength was
 Y. Li et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 155 (2019) 355–369 359

Fig. 4. Loading sequence of specimens under combined preload and long-term load.

reached. Afterward, the load interval was reduced to 1/20 of the esti-
mated ultimate strength. Each interval was kept for 2 min. When the
load reached 60% of the estimated ultimate strength, displacement
control method with a rate of 0.75 mm/min was employed until the
column failed. The specimen was unloaded when the axial load de-
creased to 65% of its ultimate strength or when the longitudinal strain
of specimens reached 20,000 με.
(LVDT) and strain gauges were used to measure the corresponding col-
umn deformation. A total of sixteen strain gauges were attached around
the mid-height of specimens, including four longitudinal gauges and
four transverse ones attached on the surface of the inner steel tube,
four longitudinal gauges set on the longitudinal rebars, and another
four longitudinal gauges attached on the exterior surface of the outer
concrete, as shown in Figs. 4 and 6.

Strain measurements were obtained from the beginning of the tests.

3. Test results
A pressure sensor placed above the top endplate was adopted to mea-
sure the load value. Four Linear Variable Differential Transformers
3.1. Failure modes

40 Fig. 7 shows the failure modes of all specimens from the above men-
tioned four series after the ultimate strength test. During the testing, the
Temperature (oC)

30 first visible crack of concrete-encased CFST member was normally ob-

20
served on the upper portion of the outer concrete side surface. The
crack extended towards the middle part of the specimen with the grow-
10 ing of the load. Obvious through crack was formed when the peak value
was reached. During the subsequent descending stage, the diagonal
0
crack developed along the exterior surface of the outer concrete. With
0 100 200 300 400
(3.3) (6.7) (10) (13.3) (Months)
the continued loading until the end of the testing, i.e., when the longitu-
Time (day) dinal strain reached 20,000 με, the outer concrete was crushed while
outward buckling of the longitudinal rebars as well as the stirrups
Fig. 5. The measurement of room temperature during the whole loading stage. were observed. It can be seen from Fig. 7a, b and d that the failure
360 Y. Li et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 155 (2019) 355–369
Fig. 6. Arrangement of the ultimate strength test setup.
modes for concrete-encased CFST specimens under combined preload
and long-term sustained load are similar to those for the specimens
under short-term loading. As for the CFST counterparts in the ‘CFST-S*’
series, overall buckling of the steel tube combined with outward local
buckling can be observed from Fig. 7c.
At the end of the testing, severe crushing of the outer concrete is ob-
served, leading to the partial exposure of the longitudinal rebar and
Fig. 7. Failure modes of all specimens after the ultimate strength test.
stirrups. After removing the outer concrete, the failure modes of the lon-
gitudinal rebar and the inner CFST component of the concrete-encased
CFST specimens are shown in Fig. 8b. As can be seen from Fig. 8b, com-
pared with the CFST counterparts in the ‘CFST-S*’ series, local buckling,
rather than overall tube buckling, occurred on the inner steel tube,
which indicates that the outer RC component did provide effective con-
finement effects on the inner CFST.
3.2. Long-term strain development
The axial strain developments of the concrete-encased CFST
specimens during the preload stage as well as the long-term
sustained load stage are displayed in Fig. 9. It can be indicated that
the longitudinal strain of the composite column increase gradually
with time under combined preload and long-term sustained load.
Two sharp changes can be identified in the strain curves during the
whole loading procedure, namely the instantaneous strain corre-
sponding to the application of the preload and the long-term
sustained load. During the preload stage, the instantaneous strain
detected by LVDT is close to that obtained by longitudinal strains
gauges attached on the surface of the inner steel tube. Similarly,
the instantaneous strain monitored by LVDT when the long-term
load is applied is in good agreement with those from the strain
gauges set on the outer concrete, longitudinal rebars and steel
tube. This indicates that all materials in the composite column re-
main in the elastic-plastic stage under the long-term sustained
load. Due to the existence of preload, it can be seen that the longitu-
dinal strain of the steel tube stays larger than that of the rebars. The
strain increases significantly at the initial long-term sustained load
stage, with the axial strain reached about 70% of the final strain
after 40 days of sustained load. Afterward, the strain develops
slower and remains stable after 100 days. The final total creep
strains attain approximately 1.8–2.2 times of the instantaneous
Fig. 8. Exposed view of the concrete-encased CFST specimens after testing (Specimen sc-
PL-3-b).
 Y. Li et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 155 (2019) 355–369
Fig. 9. Typical axial strain development of the specimens during the preload and sustained load stage.
strain, which is consistent with the observation for CFDST under
long-term loading in Han et al. [36]. The effect of combined preload
and long-term sustained load on the axial strain developments of
the concrete-encased CFST specimens is generally similar with that
on the CFDST members observed by Han et al. [36].
3.3. Load-strain relationship under the ultimate strength test
Fig. 10 presents the load-strain curves of the concrete-encased CFST
specimens with combined preload and long-term load (the ‘sc-PL’ se-
ries) and the counterpart subjected to short-term load only (the ‘sc-S’
series) under the ultimate strength tests conducted at 400 days after
the concrete placement. It should be noted that the curves in Fig. 10
only contain the strain developments in the ultimate strength testing
stage, while those in the preload and long-term sustained load stage
are not included in this figure. Compared with the load-strain curves
of concrete-encased CFST specimens under short-term load shown in
Fig. 10b, no dramatic shape differences are detected in the curves of
specimens subjected to combined preload and long-term load shown
in Fig. 10a. It can also be indicated that the characteristics of the load-
strain relationship for the concrete-encased CFST specimens subjected
to combined preload and long-term load is consistent with the observa-
tion for CFST under sustained load in Han and Yao [25]. However, two
main differences can be identified through observation of the curves.
Firstly, with the increasing of axial compressive load, the growing of
axial strain in specimens with combined preload and long-term
sustained load is faster than that of the specimens with short-term
load only. On the other hand, when the specimens of ‘sc-PL’ series
reaches the ultimate strength, the corresponding strain is about 4100
με, i.e., 29.0% higher than that of the ‘sc-S’ series specimens which is ap-
proximately 3200 με.
361
Generally, the load-strain curves of the concrete-encased CFST spec-
imens at the ultimate strength testing stage can be divided into three
sessions, as shown in Fig. 10a. 1) Stage OA: at the preliminary stage of
the ultimate strength test, the axial load versus longitudinal strain rela-
tionship is approximately linear-elastic. The specimen shows elastic be-
haviour at this stage and there was no significant change in the
specimen appearance. 2) Stage AB: during this stage, the longitudinal
strain grows significantly with the increase of axial compressive load.
The visible crack starts to generate at the upper portion of the specimen
exterior surface during this stage. When the specimen reaches its ulti-
mate strength at point B, obvious through crack can be seen at the exte-
rior surface of the outer concrete. 3) Stage BC: The load begins to
decrease after the ultimate strength is reached, whilst the longitudinal
strain increases rapidly. Over this period, cracks continue to extend at
the exterior surface of the outer concrete, and the diagonal crack is
formed at the side surface of the concrete-encased CFST specimens.
Later in this stage, the obtained axial load keeps stable while the axial
strain continues to increase, which results in severe outer concrete
crushing along with the partial exposure of the longitudinal rebar and
stirrups.
4. Analysis and discussion
4.1. Effects of combined preload and long-term sustained load
For comparison purpose, concrete-encased CFST counterparts in the
‘sc-S’ series, i.e., specimens with the same parameters as those in the ‘sc-
PL’ series but without preload or long-term sustained load applied, were
tested to investigate the effects of combined preload and sustained load
on the structural behaviour of such composite columns in terms of
strength, stiffness and ductility. Since all concrete-encased CFST
362 Y. Li et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 155 (2019) 355–369
Fig. 10. Load-strain curves of the concrete-encased CFST specimens.
specimens are with the same overall sectional areas, the composite stiff-
ness and ductility can be compared by using the nominal elastic modu-
lus Esc and the ductility coefficient DI defined in Han et al. [39] as follow,
Esc ¼ σ sc =εsc
DI ¼ ε 85% =εu
where σsc and εsc are the axial stress and strain of the concrete-encased
CFST, respectively, ε85% is the axial strain corresponding to 85% of the ul-
timate strength Nue in the descending stage, while εu is the correspond-
ing axial strain when Nue is reached.
Fig. 11 displays the comparison of the load-strain relations for spec-
imens of the above two series during the ultimate strength test, whilst
further comparisons in terms of strength, stiffness and ductility are
shown in Fig. 12. From observation of Figs. 11 and 12, together with
the results shown in Table 1, it can be found that the ultimate strength
Nue of the concrete-encased CFST specimens in ‘sc-PL’ series was 8.7%
lower in average than that of the reference specimens under short-
term loading. The stiffness and ductility of the concrete-encased CFST
specimens also decline notably when considering the effects of com-
bined preload and long-term sustained load. To be more specific,
Fig. 12b shows the comparison of ductility coefficient DI between typical
specimens. There is a significant drop of up to 45% in DI when the
specimens were loaded with both preload and sustained load. While
for the deformation capacity, it can be seen from Fig. 12c that the nom-
inal elastic modulus Esc of the specimens drops up to 69% when com-
bined preload and long-term load is included. Such result is generally
ð3Þ similar to that of CFST columns subjected to preload or long-term
sustained load (Han and Yao, [25]; Han et al., [40]), where the most sig-
ð4Þ nificant impact was found on stiffness reduction as well. However, the
reduction in ultimate strength of concrete-encased CFST stub columns
under combined preload and long-term sustained load is greater than
that of CFST columns, which mainly attributes to the effect of CFST
ratio, as reflected in Section 4.3.3.
Typical strain development of different components in specimens
sc-S-3-a and sc-PL-4-a are shown in Fig. 13. As for specimen sc-S-3-a
in the ‘sc-S’ series shown in Fig. 13a, the strain developments of differ-
ent components are generally consistent in both longitudinal and trans-
verse directions. While for the specimen sc-PL-4-a under combined
preload and long-term sustained load, as shown in Fig. 13b, inconsis-
tencies in terms of strain development between different components
are detected in both directions, as the strain values are larger than
those of its counterpart. This may be attributed to the creep develop-
ment during the one year's time of the long-term sustained load. The in-
crease in strain for the inner steel tube is the smallest since creep
happened in the concrete part, especially the outer concrete
component.
 Y. Li et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 155 (2019) 355–369
Fig. 11. Comparison of the load-strain relations for specimens under different loading conditions.
4.2. Effects of important parameters on the long-term behaviour
For the convenience of evaluating the long-term behaviour of the
tested concrete-encased CFST specimens subjected to combined pre-
load and sustained load, creep coefficient defined as follows is adopted,
εin εt −εi
φt ¼ ¼ ð5Þ
εi εi
where εin is the axial creep strain of concrete, calculated as the total axial
strain εt minus the instantaneous axial strain at the loading time εi. The
influences of different parameters on the long-term behaviours of
concrete-encased CFST columns are discussed in the following session.
4.2.1. Effects of preload ratio
The effects of preload ratio on the creep coefficient development of
concrete-encased CFST specimens is shown in Fig. 14. Compared with
the specimens loaded with a preload ratio np = 0.6, specimens with
np = 0.3 see larger creep coefficient, i.e., the creep coefficients of the lat-
ter nearly doubled that of the former at the end of sustained load stage.
This is due to the fact that larger preloads will result in larger instanta-
neous strains at the loading time, inducing decreased creep coefficient
as expected from Eq. (5).
4.2.2. Effects of loading age
Fig. 15a shows the creep coefficient versus loading age relations. Re-
gardless of the preload ratio, i.e., 0.3 or 0.6, the creep coefficient φt of the
concrete-encased CFST specimens with a loading age of 7 days are larger
than the values of those with preload applied on the 14th day after the
placement of the inner concrete core. Particularly, with the loading age
changes from 7 to 14 days, the creep coefficient of specimens in ‘sc-PL’
series drops by 29.4%. It is primarily because when the preload is applied
363
on the inner CFST component after 7 days of concrete placement, the
inner concrete is not completely hardened, causing inevitable damage
to the micro structure of the concrete which can further enlarge the
creep deformation. Generally, although the construction time of
concrete-encased CFST structures can be effectively reduced through
using the inner CFST as a supporting system, the adequate curing time
of the inner concrete core is needed to ensure the creep deformation
control of the column.
4.2.3. Effects of CFST ratio
Generally, as the CFST ratio αs of the column increases, the creep co-
efficient φt decreases as shown in Fig. 15b. With the CFST ratio increases
from 10.8% to 20.2%, φt of the specimens with a preload ratio of 0.6
drops by 11.9%. This attributes to the fact that the proportion of load dis-
tributed to steel tube has a positive relation with the area of steel tube.
Larger CFST ratio leads to less proportion of load distributed to concrete,
which results in smaller creep deformation. Thus, the creep coefficient
φt decreases correspondingly.
4.3. Effects of important parameters on the ultimate behaviours
As stated above, to investigate the full-range structural behaviour of
the concrete-encased CFST columns under combined preload and long-
term sustained load, ultimate strength tests were carried out on the
specimens of ‘sc-PL’ series after the preload and long-term load stage.
Concrete-encased CFST counterparts of ‘sc-S’ series, ‘CFST-S*’ series
and ‘sc-S*’ series without preload and sustained load were tested simul-
taneously for comparison purposes. The measured ultimate strength of
all specimens is presented in Table 1. Discussions are conducted to eval-
uate the effect of combined preload and long-term load on concrete-
encased CFST columns in terms of strength, stiffness and ductility.
364 Y. Li et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 155 (2019) 355–369
Fig. 12. Comparison of the structural behaviour between specimens under different loading conditions.
4.3.1. Effect of loading age
When the concrete is under long time sustained compression, the
relationship between stress and strain exhibits a time-dependent char-
acteristic. Hence, loading age is a key factor that might affect the bearing
capacity and deformation characteristic of steel-concrete composite
structures. Particularity, the construction of concrete-encased CFST col-
umns in practice is always conducted in several stages, making loading
age a crucial issue. The influence of variations in the starting time for
inner CFST component to bear the constructional load, i.e., which de-
pends on the accelerated construction process, will have an impact on
the composite column in terms of strength and rigidity. Fig. 16a pre-
sents the load-strain curves of concrete-encased CFST specimens
which own the same geometrical parameters but with different loading
ages. It can be indicated that there is no obvious difference between the
curves of specimens loaded at 7 days or 14 days. At the end of the ulti-
mate strength test, the residual strength of the specimens with an ear-
lier loading age is slightly smaller than that of specimens loaded later
on. Fig. 16b shows that the influence of loading age τ0 on the ultimate
strength of the test specimens is limited, i.e., the differences between
the ultimate strength of specimens with τ0 = 7 and τ0 = 14 are less
than 5%. It can be concluded that loading age has moderate effects on
the ultimate strength of concrete-encased CFST columns. This can be ex-
plained by the above observation that the main failure modes of these
composite columns are the crushing of outer concrete and the buckling
of longitudinal rebars.
The effect of loading age on the column ductility coefficient DI is
shown in Fig. 16c. The ductility coefficients of the specimens with a
larger τ0 are greater than that with a smaller τ0, regardless of the pre-
load ratio. When the loading age changes from 7 to 14 days, the duc-
tility coefficient DI of specimens with np = 0.3 increases by 14.5%,
while the increasing rate is 32.8% for specimens with np = 0.6.
Fig. 16d shows that the concrete-encased CFST specimens with a
larger loading age own a greater nominal elastic modulus Esc, which
means a higher compressive stiffness for the specimens with the
same cross-sectional area. It is mainly due to the fact that the elastic
modulus of concrete grows during the hydration process, with its
 Y. Li et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 155 (2019) 355–369
Fig. 13. Measured strain development of different components in the tested specimens.
micro structure becoming stabilized. Thus, it is recognized that ade-
quate curing time for concrete is crucial to obtain the expected defor-
mation capacity of the composite structure.
4.3.2. Effect of preload ratio
Fig. 17 illustrates the effect of preload ratio on the structural behav-
iour of concrete-encased CFST specimens in the ‘sc-PL’ series. There is no
obvious difference between the N-ε curves of specimens with different
preload ratio np, as shown in Fig. 17a. However, it can be clearly seen
in Fig. 17b that np has a positive correlation with the ultimate strength
of the concrete-encased CFST specimens. To be more specific, with np in-
creases from 0.3 to 0.6, the growth in ultimate strength Nue are 2.4%,
8.1% and 8.3% for specimens with αs = 10.8%, 20.2% and 29.1%, respec-
tively. Fig. 17c illustrates that specimens loaded with a smaller preload
tend to show better ductility. It is worth noting that when the preload
Fig. 14. Creep coefficient development of the specimens under combined preload and
sustained load.
365
ratio changes from 0.3 to 0.6, the ductility coefficient DI drops by 2.7%,
12.4% and 10.8% for specimens with the CFST ratios of 10.8%, 20.2%
and 29.1%, respectively. In addition, the effects of preload ratio on the
nominal elastic modulus Esc vary on different CFST ratio. Fig. 17d dem-
onstrates that the increase of preload ratio np leads to a reduction in
Esc for specimens with lower CFST ratios, while for the specimens with
a higher CFST ratio, Esc increases with growing preload.
4.3.3. Effect of CFST ratio
The influence of CFST ratio αs on the structural behaviour of
concrete-encased CFST specimens subjected to combined preload and
sustained load is shown in Fig. 18. As can be seen from Fig. 18b, there
is an obvious increase in the ultimate strength Nue of specimens when
αs increases from 10.8% to 20.2%. This is based on the fact that increasing
αs leads to effective confinement effect to a larger area of concrete pro-
vided by the steel tube, inducing increased bearing capacity of the
concrete-encased CFST column. While the changes in ultimate strength
are not as significant when αs increases from 20.2% to 29.1%. It suggests
that the bearing capacity of the concrete-encased CFST column can be
enhanced by increasing the CFST ratio at some level. It can be indicated
from Fig. 18c that the ductility coefficient DI increases as well with the
increase of CFST ratio. Similarly, Fig. 18d clearly illustrates a positive cor-
relation between the CFST ratio and the nominal elastic modulus Esc. An
obvious increase of 34.2% is found in Esc for specimens in the ‘sc- PL’ se-
ries when the CFST ratio increases from 10.8% to 20.2%, while the
increase rate is 10.9% when αs further increases from 20.2% to 29.1%.
The enhancement in ductility and stiffness also attributes to the grow-
ing of confined concrete in the columns with larger CFST ratios.
5. Ultimate strength prediction
According to the above mentioned experimental results, the
combined preload and long-term sustained load has a non-negligible
influence on the structural behaviour of concrete-encased CFST col-
umns, which needs to be taken into account when estimating the ulti-
mate strength of the columns in design. With reference to previous
studies in regards of the preload effects on composite columns (Han
and Yao [25]; Li et al. [24]), the ultimate strength for concrete-encased
CFST columns subjected to combined preload and long-term sustained
load can be expressed as follows,
Nuc;PL ¼ kp Nuc;L ð6Þ
where Nuc,PL is the ultimate strength for concrete-encased CFST speci-
men under combined preload and sustained load; Nuc,L is the ultimate
strength for concrete-encased CFST specimen subjected to long-term
sustained load yet without preload; kp is a strength index considering
the effect of preload. In Han and Yao [25], the calculation for kp is pro-
posed as follows,
kp ¼ 1− f ðλ0 Þf ðe=r Þnp ð7Þ
where f(e/r) =0.9 when the specimens are under axial loading; f(λo) is a
function considering the effect of the slenderness ratio. For circular CFST
columns, f(λo) can be calculated as follows,


0:17λ0 −0:02 ðλ0 ≤1Þ
f ðλ0 Þ ¼ ð8Þ
−0:13λ0 2 þ 0:35λ0 −0:07 ðλ0 N1Þ
where λ0 = λc/80, λc = 4 L/D is the column slenderness for circular CFST
section.
The long-term effect has been considered in the estimation of the ul-
timate strength of concrete-encased CFST columns Nuc,L. Instead of sim-
ply adding the strength of the steel tube, core concrete and outer RC, the
enhanced strength of inner concrete core due to the confinement effect
needs to be taken into account when estimating the ultimate strength of
concrete-encased CFST column under axial compression. Therefore, a
366 Y. Li et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 155 (2019) 355–369

3.0 3.0
sc-PL-2-b (7d) sc-PL-1-a sc-PL-4-a
2.4 2.4 sc-PL-3-a

1.8 sc-PL-3-b (14d) 1.8

φt

φt
sc-PL-2-a (7d) sc-PL-1-b sc-PL-3-b
1.2 1.2 sc-PL-4-b

np =0.3 sc-PL-3-a (14d) np =0.3

0.6 0.6
np =0.6 np =0.6
0.0 0.0
0 3 6 9 12 15 10 15 20 25 30
τ0 (loading age) αs (CFST ratio)

(a) Creep coefficient versus loading age relations (b) Creep coefficient versus CFST ratio relations

Fig. 15. Comparison of the creep coefficient.

design method has been proposed by Han and An [12] which accounts
the strength of concrete-encased CFST column as two parts, i.e. the
outer RC component and the inner CFST component. The corresponding
prediction formula of the ultimate strength is expressed as,
Nuc;L ¼ α cc Nuc;RC þ kcr Nuc;CFST
αcc should lie between 0.8 and 1.0. In accordance with the results
shown in Table 1, αcc is taken as 0.9 hereby. The ultimate strength can
be calculated as the addition of the strengths of the concrete and the
longitudinal reinforcement (Eurocode 2 [41]). As for the inner CFST
component, the calculation formula of kcr is proposed in Han et al. [40]
ð9Þ as follows,

where Nuc,RC is the ultimate strength for the outer RC component; Nuc, 8  2:5a
>
> 0:2a2 −0:4a þ 1 ∙b  ∙½1 þ 0:3a∙ð1−cÞ ða ≤0:4Þ
CFST is the ultimate strength of the inner CFST component; αcc is coeffi- >
>
>
<  1−c
cient which considers the long-term influences and the unfavourable 0:2a2 −0:4a þ 1 ∙b∙ 1 þ ð0:4ba ≤1:2Þ
kcr ¼ 7:5 þ5:5a2 ð10Þ
effects (Eurocode 2 [41]); kcr is a strength index considering the effect >
> 
>
> 1−c
of long-term sustained load on the inner CFST. Different coefficients >
: 0:808b∙ 1 þ ðaN1:2Þ
7:5 þ 5:5a2
considering the effect of sustained load on the various components of
concrete-encased CFST specimen are adopted in this paper. The reason
is that the outer concrete and the inner concrete core are under different
where a = λc/100, c = (1 + e/r)−2, e/r is the load eccentricity
confinement conditions due to the existence of the inner steel tube. For
ratio which is taken as 0 when the specimens are under axial loading,
the outer RC component, as suggested in Eurocode 2 [41], the value of

Fig. 16. Influence of loading age τ0 on the structural behaviour.

Y. Li et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 155 (2019) 355–369 367

Fig. 17. Influence of preload ratio np on the structural behaviour.

Fig. 18. Influence of CFST ratio αs on the structural behaviour.

368 Y. Li et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 155 (2019) 355–369
3000
2500 +10%
2000
Nuc,PL (kN)
-10%
1500
1000 Nue =Nuc
500
0 load applied at an early stage is found to induce enlarged creep
0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000
Nue (kN)
Fig. 19. Comparison between the predicted (Nuc,PL) and measured (Nue) ultimate strength.
b = ξ0.05, in which the confinement factor ξ is calculated as,
As ∙ f y
ξ¼
Acore ∙f ck
For the calculation of Nuc,CFST, the formula is recommended in Chi-
nese design guideline DBJ/T13-51-2010 [42] for the ultimate strength
estimation of circular CFST as follow,
Nuc ¼ ð1:14 þ 1:02ξÞf ck Asc
where fck is the characteristic strength of concrete; Asc is the cross-
sectional area of CFST; ξ is the confinement factor calculated as Eq. (11).
It is worth noting that the above proposed simplified method is suit-
able for concrete-encased CFST columns with the inner concrete and
outer concrete poured at different times. Meanwhile, the applicable
ranges of the equations Eqs. (6)–(12) are: L/B = 0–8, fy = 200–
500 MPa, fck = 20–60 MPa, np = 0–0.6.
The ultimate strength of the concrete-encased CFST columns consid-
ering the effects of combined preload and long-term sustained load can
be evaluated using the above equations Eqs. (6)–(12). Comparison be-
tween the predicted ultimate strength Nuc,PL and that measured Nue is
displayed in Fig. 19. The mean value for the ratio Nuc,PL/Nue is found to
be 0.959, with a standard deviation of 0.062. It can be concluded that,
by considering the corresponding coefficients for both preload and
long-term sustained load, the ultimate strength of the concrete-
encased CFST columns under combined effects can be estimated with
a reasonable accuracy.
6. Conclusions
A testing program on the structural performance of concrete-
encased CFST columns under combined preload and long-term
sustained load is presented in this paper. Composite columns under dif-
ferent loading conditions are tested and compared. Influence of the
main parameters including the preload ratio (np), the loading age (τ0)
and the sectional CFST ratio (αs) on the structural behaviour in terms
of failure mode, ultimate strength, stiffness and ductility are evaluated.
The following conclusions are drawn based on the current study,
(1) Generally, concrete-encased CFST specimens subjected to com-
bined preload and long-term sustained load, as well as the coun-
terparts under short-term load, exhibit ductile behaviour. The
typical failure mode of such composite columns under combined
loading is identified as the crushing of the outer concrete and the
buckling of the longitudinal rebars.
(2) A comparative study is conducted between four series of speci-
mens under different loading conditions to evaluate the effects
of combined preload and long-term sustained load. It is found
that the combined loading has an only moderate effect on the
failure mode of concrete-encased CFST specimens, whilst it has
considerably negative influence on the ultimate strength, stiff-
ness and ductility of the composite columns. The observed aver-
age decrease in the column ultimate strength is 8.7% under
combined preload and long-term sustained load.
(3) The loading age (τ0) and preload ratio (np) have a noticeable im-
pact on the long-term performance of the concrete-encased CFST
specimens. Meanwhile, the ductility and stiffness of concrete-
encased CFST are largely affected by the loading age (τ0) and
the sectional CFST ratio (αs) through a positive correlation. Pre-
deformation due to the potential damage on the concrete
micro-structure. Adequate curing time of the inner concrete
core is thus recommended in practice.
(4) A simplified method to predict the ultimate strength of concrete-
encased CFST columns under combined preload and long-term
sustained load is proposed based on Eurocode 2 [41] and DBJ/
T13-51-2010 [42]. In the proposed method, the effects of com-
bined loading are reflected by a corresponding set of coefficients.
The predicted strengths are calibrated with the test results with
ð11Þ
reasonable accuracy achieved.
Acknowledgements
The research reported in this paper is part of project 51308121 sup-
ported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC). The
ð12Þ
financial support from the China Scholarship Council (CSC) is also
greatly appreciated.
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