Behaviour of Hollow Concrete-filled Steel Tubular Composite Elements

Behaviour of composite steel‐concrete elements in various loading stages is quite well analysed by theoretical investigations and experiments. Concrete‐Filled Steel Tube (CFST) is one of many composite elements used at present in civil engineering. Different approaches and design philosophies were adopted in different design codes for it. But for hollow CFST elements, which are more effective than ordinary CFST, any code does not provide information about how to design these elements. Further investigations of hollow composite CFST elements are needed. In loading stage, when a particular level of stresses exists, an interaction between steel tube and concrete core appears and therefore a complex stress state of element takes place, which increases the load‐bearing capacity of the whole composite element. This interaction between components of CFST elements is reached because of different material properties, such as Poisson's ratio, elasticity modulus etc. In this article reasons of the above‐mentioned complex stress state appearance and behaviour of hollow CFST element components in different load stages of compressed stub structural member are analysed. The test results are presented in diagrams, tables. Previous researches of other investigators are summarised. Differences and similarities in behaviour of solid concrete and composite elements and hollow members with different number of concrete core layers are discussed.