Journal of Constructional Steel Research 100 (2014) 211228

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Journal of Constructional Steel Research

Developments and advanced applications of concrete-lled steel tubular

(CFST) structures: Members
Lin-Hai Han a,, Wei Li a, Reidar Bjorhovde b,1
a
Department of Civil Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China
b
The Bjorhovde Group, Tucson, AZ, USA

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

Article history: Concrete-lled steel tubular (CFST) structure offers numerous structural benets, and has been widely used
Received 12 June 2013 in civil engineering structures. This paper reviews the development of the family of concrete-lled steel tubular
Accepted 4 April 2014 structures to date and draws a research framework on CFST members. The research development on CFST struc-
Available online 13 May 2014
tural members in most recent years, particularly in China, is summarized and discussed. The current design
approaches from various countries are examined briey. Some projects in China utilizing CFST members are
Keywords:
Concrete-lled steel tube (CFST)
also introduced. Finally, some concluding remarks are made for CFST members.
Members 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Experimental research
Theoretical research
Design approaches
Practical projects

1. Introduction
The concrete-lled steel tubular (CFST) structure offers numerous
structural benets, including high strength and re resistances, favor-
able ductility and large energy absorption capacities. There is also no
need for the use of shuttering during concrete construction; hence,
the construction cost and time are reduced. These advantages have
been widely exploited and have led to the extensive use of concrete-
lled tubular structures in civil engineering structures.
China has seen a great deal of research and use of concrete-lled
steel tubular structures in practice. There are numbers of books pub-
lished in public domain in recent years [16]. Some codes of practice
and local specications were developed to provide design guidance as
well. This paper reviews the state-of-the-art for concrete-lled steel
tubular structures, especially some the most recent developments in
China. Current design approaches from various countries are examined
briey. Some practical projects using CFST members are presented, and
the development trends are discussed.
2. Component behavior
Fig. 1(a) depicts three typical column cross-sections, where the
concrete is lled in a circular hollow section (CHS), a square hollow
section (SHS) or a rectangular hollow section (RHS), where D and B
Corresponding author. Tel./fax: +86 10 62797067.
E-mail addresses: lhhan@tsinghua.edu.cn, lhhanqw@gmail.com (L.-H. Han).
1
Tsinghua Chair Professor.
are the outer dimensions of the steel tube and t is the wall thickness
of the tube. It is noted that the circular cross section provides the stron-
gest connement to the core concrete, and the local buckling is more
likely to occur in square or rectangular cross-sections. However, the
concrete-lled steel tubes with SHS and RHS are still increasingly used
in construction, for the reasons of being easier in beam-to-column con-
nection design, high cross-sectional bending stiffness and for aesthetic
reasons. Other cross-sectional shapes have also been used for aestheti-
cal purposes, such as polygon, round-ended rectangular and elliptical
shapes, as shown in Fig. 1(b).
It is well know that the compressive strength of concrete is much
higher than its tensile strength. Furthermore, the compressive strength
is enhanced under bi-axial or tri-axial restraint. For the structural steel,
the tensile strength is high while the shape may buckle locally under
compression. In concrete-lled steel tubular members, steel and con-
crete are used such that their natural and most prominent characteris-
tics are taken advantage of. The connement of concrete is provided
by the steel tube, and the local buckling of the steel tube is improved
due to the support of the concrete core. Fig. 2 shows schematic failure
modes for the stub concrete-lled steel tubular column and the corre-
sponding steel tube and concrete. It can be seen that both inward and
outward buckling is found in the steel tube, and shear failure is exhibit-
ed for the plain concrete stub column. For the concrete-lled steel tube,
only outward buckling is found in the tube, and the inner concrete
fails in a more ductile fashion. Fig. 3(a) shows a comparison of the mea-
sured results between a steel stub column, a reinforced concrete stub
column and a concrete-lled steel tubular stub column without steel re-
inforcement, where D and t are the outer diameter and the wall

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jcsr.2014.04.016
0143-974X/ 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
212 L.-H. Han et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 100 (2014) 211228
Steel tube
Steel tube
Concrete
Concrete
D B
Steel tube
Concrete Concrete
Fig. 1. Typical concrete-lled steel tubular cross sections.
thickness of the circular steel tube, respectively; fy is the yield strength
of the steel; fcu is the compressive strength of the concrete cube. The
geometric dimension of the circular hollow steel section is the same as
in both steel column and composite column, and also the same for the
concrete parts in both the reinforced concrete column and the compos-
ite column. The term "steel tube + RC" in Fig. 3 indicates the summation
of the ultimate strength of the steel tube and the reinforced concrete
(RC) specimens. It clearly shows that the ultimate strength for a
concrete-lled steel tube is even larger than the summation of the
strength of the steel tube and the RC column, which is described as
1(steel tube) + 1 (concrete core) greater than 2 (simple summation
of the two materials) [2]. Fig. 3(b) shows a schematic view of the
load versus deformation relationship of the hollow steel tube, the con-
crete stub column by itself and the concrete-lled steel tube. It can be
seen that the ductility of the concrete-lled steel tube is signicantly en-
hanced, when compared to those of the steel tube and the concrete
alone.
3. Development of concrete-lled steel tube family
Apart from the common concrete-lled steel tubes shown in Fig. 1,
there are other types of general member designation in the CFST fam-
ily. Some of them are shown in Fig. 4, i.e. concrete-lled double skin
steel tubes (CFDST), concrete-encased concrete-lled steel tubes as
well as reinforced and stiffened concrete-lled steel tubes. The charac-
teristics of these general CFST members are as follows: 1) they consist
Outward
Steel tube buckling
Inward
buckling
Fig. 2. Schematic failure modes of hollow steel tube, concrete and CFST stub columns.
t
t
Steel tube
D
B
Concrete
B
(a)
Steel tube Concrete Steel tube
(b)
of the steel tube(s) and the lled concrete; 2) the concrete and the steel
tube(s) sustain the axial load together.
The CFDST consists of inner and outer tubes, and the sandwiched
concrete between two tubes, as shown in Fig. 4(a). The concrete-steel-
concrete sandwich cross-section has high bending stiffness that avoids
instability under external pressure [7]. Research results have shown
that the inner tube provides effective support to the sandwich concrete,
and the behavior of the composite member is similar to that of the
concrete-lled steel tube. The outward buckling of the outer tube and
the inward buckling of the inner tube was observed after beam and col-
umn ultimate strength tests. The steel tubes and the concrete can work
together well and the integrity of the steel-concrete interface is main-
tained. This composite column could also have higher re resistance
than the regular CFST columns, due to the inner tubes being protected
by the sandwiched concrete during re. The CFDST could be a good op-
tion when designing members with large cross-sections. The thickness
of the steel tube wall can be reduced signicantly when compared to
the steel tube member by itself, and the self weight is less when com-
pared to the concrete-lled steel tube. Another advantage of the
CFDST is that both the outer and the inner steel tubes can act as primary
reinforcement and permanent formwork, which is convenient for con-
struction. At the same time, different materials can be utilized for the
inner and outer tubes in order to have the additional advantages of
esthetics as well as corrosion resistance. Thus, an outer stainless
steel tube and an inner carbon steel tube has been described as one
option [8].
Concrete
Concrete
Steel tube
Cracks Outward
buckling
Concrete
crush
Crush
 L.-H. Han et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 100 (2014) 211228 213

3000
fcu=78N/mm2
2500 fy=363N/mm2

Ultimate strength (kN)

D t=160 3.46mm 2057kN
1921kN
2000 CFST

Axial strength
Steel
1500 +
1192kN Concrete

1000
729kN
Hollow
500 steel
Concrete
0
Steel tube RC Steel tube CFST 0
Axial shortening
+RC
(a) (b)
Fig. 3. Axial compressive behavior of CFST stub column.

Fig. 4(b) displays the concrete-encased CFSTs which consist of an
inner CFST and an outer encased reinforced concrete (RC) [4,9,10].
This steel-concrete composite member is somewhat similar to the tradi-
tional steel reinforced concrete member. The basic concept of this mem-
ber is to use the concrete-lled steel tube to replace the I-section steel in
the steel reinforced concrete. The embedded inner tube can provide
extra connement to the in-lled core concrete, such that the ultimate
strength of the column is improved. The outer encased reinforced
concrete can also provide re protection to the inner tube, therefore
the re resistance of the concrete-encased CFST is enhanced when
compared to a conventional CFST column. In addition, the local buckling
and the corrosion of the steel tube can be avoided. This kind of column is
fairly easily connected to either reinforced concrete or steel beams in a
structural system, and has been utilized in some high-rise buildings and
bridges in China. The inner steel tube can be erected rst, followed by
the binding of reinforced bars, and the inner and outer concrete is

Carbon steel tube Stainless steel

Concrete

Concrete
Carbon steel
(a) Concrete-filled double skin tubes (CFDST)
Concrete Concrete Concrete
Steel tube Steel tube

Reinforcement Reinforcement
(b) Concrete-encased CFST
Steel tube Inner steel tube Reinforcement
Steel

Concrete
(c) CFST with additional reinforcement
Stiffener Stiffener Binding bars
Steel tube Steel tube

Concrete Concrete

(d) Stiffened CFST

Fig. 4. General CFST cross sections.
214 L.-H. Han et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 100 (2014) 211228
then placed. When it is connected to a reinforced concrete beam, the
beam-column joint can be designed according to the criteria of tradi-
tional reinforced concrete structure.
Structural steel and steel reinforcements are usually used to enhance
the resistances of the concrete-lled steel tubes, as shown in Fig. 4(c).
The structural steel sections contribute a lot to column capacities with-
out changes of column proles. The contribution to the column capaci-
ties can be considered as the combined capacities of the structural steel
and the concrete-lled steel tubular parts. For the reinforcing bars, since
they are well anchored in the concrete, they may be taken into account
for the resistance of the column. However, if the longitudinal reinforce-
ments and the stirrups are considered as construction measures, the
capacities of these bars could be conservatively neglected in design.
In the usual concrete-lled steel tubular columns, the local buckling
of the steel tube normally occurs after the ultimate strength of the
composite member is reached. This could be a critical issue for the de-
velopment and application of thin-walled tubes with high strength
steel. Longitudinal or transverse stiffeners can be welded on the steel
tube to improve the strength and the ductility of the composite column.
For the column with large cross section, the stiffeners can be welded
on the inner surface of the tube. Binding bars can also be welded to
the stiffeners to strengthen the tying force, as shown in Fig. 4(d). The
effectiveness of the longitudinal stiffeners in delaying the local buckling
of the steel tube were demonstrated by experimental studies [5,11].
On top of being used as single elements in construction, various
combinations of concrete-lled steel tubular members are also used. A
schematic view of some examples is shown in Fig. 5. These combina-
tions aim at utilizing the advantage of various composite components
to meet the construction requirements. For example, single concrete-
lled steel tubular members can be connected using double steel plates,
and the cavity between steel plates could be lled with concrete as well
(Fig. 5(a)). Hollow steel tubes can be used to form a latticed member
(Fig. 5(b)), and concrete-lled steel tubes can also be connected by
welding together to form a cluster section (Fig. 5(c)) and had been
used in arch bridges in China [2,12]. The concrete-lled steel tubes
may also be combined with reinforced concrete to form a composite
section, which can serve as piers or arches in a bridge, as shown in
Fig. 5(d). Such cross sections have also been used in some recent bridges
in China.
Most concrete-lled steel tubular members used in constructions
are prismatic. However, due to architectural or structural requirements,
inclined or non-prismatic members were used [13]. The inclined col-
umn could serve as a load transfer member in the structure with irreg-
ular architectural style, as illustrated in Fig. 6(a). The tapered members
could be used for aesthetic or economic purposes, as shown in Fig. 6(b).
CFST CFST
Hollow steel tube
Concrete Steel plate
(a)
CFST CFST
Welded
(c)
Fig. 5. Combinations of CFST sections.
In some large-span structures or bridges, curved members could be
used, as shown in Fig. 6(c) [14]. The research results from short column
tests have shown that the steel tube and the concrete can work together
well despite the inclined or tapered angle. The failure mode of the non-
prismatic inclined and tapered members under compression is similar
to that of the prismatic member, which is the outward buckling of the
steel tube and the crushing of the concrete. The failure location is per-
pendicular to the longitudinal direction of members. For the curved
members, their failure modes are similar to that of the corresponding
CFST under bending. The axial compressive strength of the curved
member could be reduced when the curvature is increased, while duc-
tility is enhanced.
Although some types of steel-concrete composite structures consist of
concrete and steel tube, such as the steel tube conned concrete struc-
tures, however, the mechanism and the composite effect of the structures
is generally different from that of the general CFST structures men-
tioned in the current paper, therefore they are not discussed herein.
Much research work has been done to understand the composite
action between the steel and the concrete for these composite sections
under axial compression. It has been conrmed that the circular steel
tubes can provide much more effective connement to their core con-
crete than other types of tubular sections. It is believed that the conne-
ment effect is related to the cross-sectional properties as well as the
material properties. A connement factor () thus had been introduced
to describe this effect [2,15]:
As f y
1
Ac f ck
where As and Ac are the cross-sectional areas of the steel tube and
the concrete, respectively; fy is the yield strength of the steel; fck is the
characteristic compressive strength of the concrete cube, and can be
taken as 0.67 fcu for normal strength concrete.
It was found that the connement provided by the steel tube to its
core concrete can be increased with the increase of the connement
factor (). It is also noted that this factor can describe the connement
effect qualitatively for different kinds of cross-sectional shapes, such
as circular, square and rectangular [2].
4. Materials for concrete-lled steel tubes
4.1. Steel
It should be noted that various national standards contain structural
steel designations, where the chemical composition and the mechanical
(b)
Reinforced concrete
Welded CFST
(d)
 L.-H. Han et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 100 (2014) 211228 215

Concrete
Concrete Concrete

Steel tube Steel tube

Steel tube

(a) Inclined (b) Tapered (c) Curved

Fig. 6. Inclined, tapered and curved CFST columns.

properties may be different. However, these steel specications are
comparable in general. Various kinds of steel can be used in concrete-
lled steel tubular members, such as normal carbon (mild) steel,
high strength steel, high-performance re-resistant steel, weathering
steel, etc. For the steel tubes, their properties must adhere to the steel
material standards. In China, the dimension and dimensional tolerances
for common sections such as circular, square and rectangular tubes are
specied in national standards [16]. Some mechanical properties of
structural steel from the Chinese specications for the carbon steel
(GB/T 700)[17] and the high-strength low-alloy steel (GB/T 1591)[18]
are shown in Table 1. The design values of structural steel from the
Chinese code GB 50017[19] are given in Table 2. The data are compara-
of the steel tube should exceed a certain value to ensure the stability. For
instance, according to the DBJ/T 1351 specication [20], a Chinese local
specication for CFST structures, the outer prole of the steel tube
should be no less than 100 mm, and the wall thickness of the steel
tube for hot-nished and cold-formed sections should not be less than
4 mm and 3 mm, respectively. For the concrete-lled steel section, it is
recommended that the diameter to wall thickness ratio can be larger
than that of the hollow section, since the local buckling capacity is
improved by the concrete. For instance, in the Chinese steel design


code GB 50017 [19], for circular hollow steel sections, Dt 100 235 ;
q fy
for rectangular hollow steel sections, Dt 40 235 , where D is the outer
f y

ble to those of other countries' steel grades. diameter or the depth of the circular or rectangular sections, respective-
The outer prole of the steel tube should not be too small in order to ly; t is the wall thickness of the tube, and fy is the yield strength of steel.
allow proper concrete placement. On the other hand, the wall thickness In the DBJ/T 1351 specication [20], for circular concrete-lled steel

Table 1
Structural steel mechanical properties according to GB/T 700 and GB/T 1591.

Steel grade Quality Min. yield strength Tensile strength

(N/mm2) (N/mm2)

t 16 mm t N 1640 mm t N 4060 mm t N 60100 mm

Q235 A, B, C, D 235 225 215 195 370500

t 16 mm t N 1640 mm t N 4063 mm t N 6380 mm t 40 mm

Q345 A, B, C, D, E 345 335 325 315 470630
Q390 A, B, C, D, E 390 370 350 330 490650
Q420 A, B, C, D, E 420 400 380 360 520680
Q460 C, D, E 460 440 420 400 550720

Table 2
Design value of steel strength (N/mm2) in GB50017.

Grade Steel thickness or diameter (mm) Tension, compression and bending, f Shear, fv End bearing (planed and closely tted), fce

Q235 16 215 125 325

N1640 205 120
N4060 200 115
N60100 190 110
Q345 16 310 180 400
N1635 295 170
N3550 265 155
N50100 250 145
Q390 16 350 205 415
N1635 335 190
N3550 315 180
N50100 295 170
Q420 16 380 220 440
N1635 360 210
N3550 340 195
N50100 325 185

Note: Thickness in this table denotes the steel thickness at the calculation location; for members subject to axial force, it is the thickness of the thicker plate element of the section.
216 L.-H. Han et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 100 (2014) 211228

Table 3
Material properties of concrete in GB50010.

Concrete strength grade C15 C20 C25 C30 C35 C40 C45 C50 C55 C60 C65 C70 C75 C80

Characteristic compressive strength, fck (N/mm2) 10.0 13.4 16.7 20.1 23.4 26.8 29.6 32.4 35.5 38.5 41.5 44.5 47.4 50.2
Characteristic tensile strength, ftk (N/mm2) 1.27 1.54 1.78 2.01 2.20 2.39 2.51 2.64 2.74 2.85 2.93 2.99 3.05 3.11
Design compressive strength, fc (N/mm2) 7.2 9.6 11.9 14.3 16.7 19.1 21.1 23.1 25.3 27.5 29.7 31.8 33.8 35.9
Design tensile strength, ft (N/mm2) 0.91 1.10 1.27 1.43 1.57 1.71 1.80 1.89 1.96 2.04 2.09 2.14 2.18 2.22
Modulus of elasticity, Ec (104 N/mm2) 2.20 2.55 2.80 3.00 3.15 3.25 3.35 3.45 3.55 3.60 3.65 3.70 3.75 3.80


tubular sections, 150 235
D
; for rectangular concrete-lled steel tube is higher than 345 N/mm2, the appropriate compressive strength
t fy q
tubular sections (including square ones), Dt 60 235 . If the Dt ratio of concrete is around 60 N/mm2 or higher.
f y

exceeds the limitations, additional longitudinal stiffeners shall be

designed and provided.
It is noted that the stainless steel and the ultra high strength steel
can also be used to made the steel tubes and lled with concrete, several
investigations were carried out on these aspects. However, the applica-
tions of these two materials are still very limited and the corresponding
design methods are not included in most specications yet. Therefore
the contents regarding the CFST members using the stainless steel and
the ultra high strength steel are not discussed in the current paper.
4.2. Concrete
The normal weight concrete and the high-strength concrete can be
used as the lled concrete in CFST structures. The material properties
from the Chinese code GB 50010 [21] are listed in Table 3. Since the ex-
cess water cannot be expelled from the sealed tube, the water to cement
ratio of the concrete should be strictly controlled. A water to cement
ratio exceeding 0.4 is inappropriate for normal weight concrete. One
of the methods to ensure the construction quality of the core concrete
is to use self-consolidation concrete (SCC). SCC can be used in lling
the tube without additional vibration, which could be benecial if
some diaphragms are arranged near the connection zone. Experimental
results showed that concrete-lled steel tubular columns using SCC
exhibited high levels of energy dissipation and ductility, and the load
carrying capacities are not different from those of columns with normal
concrete [4,22].
It is recommended that the strength of the steel and the concrete
should be suitably matched to improve the structural performance [2,
20]. It is appropriate to use the combinations of higher strength steel
with higher strength concrete, and lower strength steel with lower
strength concrete. For instance, if the yield strength of the steel tube is
235 N/mm2 to 345 N/mm2, the appropriate compressive strength of
concrete is around 4060 N/mm2. If the yield strength of the steel
5. Research on concrete-lled steel tubular members
5.1. Research framework
The research work on concrete-lled steel tubular structures can
generally be classied as the research dealing with members, connec-
tions/joints and structural systems. The general framework of this
work is illustrated in Fig. 7. Various aspects are covered, including the
static performance, the dynamic performance, the re performance,
and the construction and durability issues. The results should aim to
provide design formulas and recommendations, to improve drafting
of design codes or standards, and to promote the applications of this
composite structures in real civil engineering projects.
5.2. Static performance
Extensive studies regarding the static performance of concrete-lled
steel tubes were carried out over the last several decades [2330]. The
databases for CFST columns and beam-columns were also established
[31,32], and various analytical models were proposed to predict the col-
umn behavior [3337]. It was found that the concrete-lled steel tubes
used the merits of concrete and steel, and the performance of CFST
members in axial compression/tension, bending, shear and torsion
was generally favorable.
For CFST members in tension, limited research results showed that
the member behaved in a ductile manner [38]. Cracks of the inner con-
crete are evenly distributed along the member, as shown in Fig. 8(a). For
a concrete-lled steel tube in bending, the existing of the inner concrete
can change the failure modes of the outer tubes [39,40], with the wave-
like buckling exhibited in the compressive area of the member. There
are cracks of the core concrete in the area under tension, while the
crack width and the distance between two cracks are small when com-
pared to reinforced concrete members, as shown in Fig. 8(b). For a

Fig. 7. Framework of research on CFST structures.

 L.-H. Han et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 100 (2014) 211228
Steel tube
Steel tube Concrete Concrete
Crack
Cracks
Steel tube Concrete CFST
(a) Tension
Steel tube
Steel tube
(c) Torsion
Fig. 8. Schematic failure modes of steel tube, concrete and CFST under tension, bending and torsion.
concrete-lled steel tube in torsion, the compressive force is developed
in the inner concrete while the tensile force in the diagonal direction is
developed in the steel tube. A space truss action is formed and the core
concrete improves the buckling of the steel tube. For the hollow steel
tube, obvious torsional buckling is exhibited when the torsion is
applied, as shown in Fig. 8(c) [33]. For the slender CFST members,
experiments were conducted on long CFST columns subjected to com-
plex load protocols [41]. The results showed that the CFST columns ex-
hibited superior performance and the current American specication
under-predicted the column strength.
Built-up concrete-lled steel tubular members have been used in
structures such as bridges and large-span buildings. Han et al. [42] con-
ducted the research on curved concrete-lled steel tubular latticed
members to investigate the inuence of variations in the tube shape, ini-
tial curvature, nominal slenderness ratio, cross-sectional pattern and
brace pattern. The experimental results showed that the load-bearing
capacity, the initial stiffness and the ductility of curved latticed mem-
bers are signicantly increased when chord tubes are lled with con-
crete. The axial compressive strength of the hollow tube specimen is
only 30%40% of those of the corresponding concrete-lled specimen.
The experimental results also demonstrated that the ultimate strength
and stiffness of the curved concrete latticed specimen decreases with
the increase of the initial curvature and the nominal slenderness ratio.
The CFST members are also inuenced by creep and shrinkage of the
concrete during its service life [2,43,44]. The time-dependent behavior
was investigated in tests, and the theoretical model to account for
217
Steel tube
Inward
buckling
Steel tube Concrete
Cracks Crush
Concrete
Outward Concrete
buckling
Crush
Steel tube Cracks
CFST
(b) Bending
Concrete
Steel tube
Cracks
Concrete CFST
shrinkage and creep effects on concrete-lled steel tubular columns
under sustained loading has been proposed [44]. As the cross sectional
prole of the concrete-lled steel tube becomes larger, the hydration
heat and shrinkage of the core concrete becomes critical. An experimen-
tal investigation was conducted towards the hydration heat and shrink-
age of concrete-lled steel tubes [45]. Self-consolidating concrete was
used in the test. It was found that at an early stage, the shrinkage of
the concrete increased rapidly until it reached a fairly stable value
after about 100 days. The characteristics of the temperature eld
in concrete-lled tubes are similar to that of plain concrete members
during cement hydration. The test measuring the shrinkage of the con-
crete lasted for 3 years. The results showed that due to the constraint of
the outer tube, the shrinkage value of the concrete core in the lled
tubes is only about 2540% of that of the exposed concrete. No obvious
gap was observed between the steel tube and concrete after the test.
5.3. Dynamic performance
The strength, the ductility and the hysteretic behavior are very
important structural aspects in seismic design. Large amounts of exper-
imental and theoretical studies have been conducted on the dynamic
performance of CFST columns [2,26,29,30,4649]. For the moment -
curvature response and the lateral load versus lateral displacement rela-
tionship, hysteretic models were proposed for the cyclic response based
on parametric studies, including key parameters such as axial load level,
steel ratio, slenderness ratio and material strength. The predictions
218 L.-H. Han et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 100 (2014) 211228
of the theoretical model showed good agreement with the test results
(with a difference less than 12%) [48,49]. On the other hand, as the col-
umns in bridges and complex buildings may be subjected to torsion
load, CFST column tests incorporating combined compression, bending
and torsional cyclic loading were conducted [50]. It was found that
hysteretic curves of CFST columns under combined loadings exhibited
very limited pinching effect. The torsion capacity of CFST columns was
reduced by the bending moment. The research on the low-cycle fatigue
behavior of CFST column was also conducted [51].
As the concrete-encased concrete-lled steel tubes are used in brid-
ges and buildings in seismic regions, the research on the cyclic behavior
of such composite columns was conducted [10]. In general this kind of
columns exhibited a favorable energy dissipation capacity. The ductility
and the energy dissipation ability of the concrete-encased CFST columns
decreased with the increase of the axial load level.
For the analytical models of CFST columns under cyclic loading,
Hajjar and Tort [35], Denavit and Hajjar [37] conducted numerical stud-
ies on rectangular and circular CFST structures, respectively, where the
3-D ber-based beam nite-element models were developed. The re-
sults showed that this mixed nite element formulation could predict
both detailed local response and overall structural response, and could
be utilized in the analysis of a complete structural system.
Concrete-lled steel tubular members may also be subjected to
impact loading when they are used as piers in a bridge or as exterior
columns in a building. Some research was conducted on this aspect
[5255]. These studies showed that CFST members in general have an
excellent impact resistance. It was found that the CFST specimen with
a large connement factor exhibited ductile behavior, while the speci-
men with a small connement factor exhibited brittle response [55].
The study also found that for the specimen with a brittle failure mode,
the critical failure energy increased with the increase of the axial load
level.
5.4. Fire performance
The re resistance of unprotected hollow steel tubular columns in
high-rise buildings is normally found to be less than half a hour. For
concrete-lled steel tubular columns, the lled concrete can signicant-
ly increase the re resistance. Because the heat is absorbed by the core
concrete, the temperature in the steel tube increases much slower
than that of the bare hollow steel tubes. Moreover, the outer tube
provides a connement to the core concrete during the re exposure,
the spalling of the core concrete thus can be prevented.
Numerous studies have been conducted on the re performance of
CFST columns [5662]. Fire resistance tests were also conducted for
concrete-lled double skin steel tubular columns [63]. For the concrete-
lled steel tube, several parameters could affect the re resistance of
the composite column, such as the cross-sectional prole, the load eccen-
tricity and the thickness of re protection. It was found that the cross-
sectional prole and the re protection thickness had the most signicant
inuence for the temperature distribution in the column. For the
concrete-lled double skin steel tube, test results showed that the tem-
perature in the inner tube was less than 500 C even when the tempera-
ture in the outer tube was about 900 C, the CFDST column has better re
endurance than the corresponding CFST column.
It is noted that among these studies, most experiments were carried
out under an ISO 834 standard re [64], and the cooling phase was
usually not considered. A time-force-temperature (T-N-T) path was
proposed to illustrate the re and the load action during an entire re
exposure [2,65,66]. The full-range loading path included four stages as
shown in Fig. 9, i.e. the initial loading stage (AB) at ambient temperature
(To); the heating stage (BC) with constant load (No); the cooling stage
(CD) with constant load (No) and the post-re loading phase (DE).
When the temperature drops to ambient temperature (To) at time td,
the load is applied till the structure fails at ultimate strength (Ncr).
In Fig. 9, the temperature starts to decrease after peak temperature
N
Ncr
E
Post-fire loading phase
No
B
D
C
th td
Heating phase To
O t
A
Cooling phase
Initial loading phase
Th
T
Fig. 9. Time (t) - load (N) - temperature (T) path (Adapted from Ref. [66]).
(Th) at heating time (th). The specimen was loaded at the ambient
temperature, and then it was heated while the load was kept constant.
After the heating, the specimen was cooled to the ambient temperature
again, and then it was loaded until failure. Since the mechanical proper-
ties of steel and concrete depend on the temperature and loading histo-
ries, and even when the specimen has survived the heating stage,
it would still be possible to fail in the cooling stage. The proposed full-
range analysis provides a reasonable approach to the evaluation of the
structural re performance.
In practice, the re exposed CFST column could be strengthened by
placing concrete and thin-walled steel tubes around the original dam-
aged sections. Experimental results showed that all specimens behaved
in a ductile manner [67]. The additional outer tube and concrete signif-
icantly increased the stiffness and strength of the original specimen, and
the failure mode of the repaired specimens was outward buckling of the
steel tube. To evaluate and repair the re-exposed building, an evalua-
tion procedure should be applied, including a damage investigation,
numerical or experimental analyses and repair suggestion. The full
range T-N-T path can be adopted in this procedure. The full-range anal-
ysis has been applied in the post-re evaluation for some real projects.
It was found that this procedure can reect the effect of a natural re,
and a more reasonable result was obtained.
5.5. Construction and durability issues
Many practicing engineers concerned about whether the concrete
and steel tube could work together sufciently to achieve the compos-
ite action in a real column. Previously a large amount of reduced scale
experiments were carried out, and very few can reect the real effect of
concrete placement. A eld experiment for the concrete placement of
the concrete-lled steel tube with circular cross section was conducted
[68]. Two full-size columns were tested with SCC as the inlling, as
shown in Fig. 10(a) and (b). The SCC is placed by the pump lling meth-
od. The columns were cut after the test, and it was shown that the com-
pactness of the core concrete was very good, even for the concrete
adjacent to the internal diaphragm (shown as in Fig. 10(c) and (d)).
There were very few gaps between the concrete and the steel tube,
and the maximum width of the gap was 0.1 mm. The test results also
showed that the shrinkage strain of the core concrete in the longitudinal
direction is larger than that in transverse direction (the measured strain
versus time relations of Column 2 were shown in Fig. 10(e)), which may
be due to different constraints of these two directions. In general, the
consolidation of the core concrete can be ensured by the quality control
of material, the proper methods for both the construction and the
 L.-H. Han et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 100 (2014) 211228 219

Column 1 Internal diaphragm

Column 2

Shear studs Wet concrete

(b)
Steel tube
Gap (Max. width=0.1mm)

12240
12540

Core concrete

(c)
Internal diaphragm

1300 1600
Vent hole
Units: mm
(a) (d)
-450

-300
Strain, ( )

Strain gauges Strain gauges

-150
650mm

T1
L1 L2
L1
T2 L1 L2
0 L2
D/4 D/4 D/4 D/4
T1
D/4 D/4 D/4 D/4
T2
150
0 6 12 18 24 30
Time, t(days)
(e) Column 2
Fig. 10. Full scale test of core concrete placement (Z2).

inspection, and the core concrete and the steel tube can work together
well.
The steel tube of the CFST member is usually erected rst and then it
serves as the permanent and integral formwork for the concrete. Bare
steel columns can resist a considerable amount of construction loads,
as well as the self-weight and the weight of wet concrete. These
preloads could bring the extra deformation and the initial stress to the
steel tube, which causes the decrease of the load carrying capacities of
composite columns. Investigations have been carried out to study the
preload effect on composite columns. Experiments were conducted on
composite columns with preloads on steel tubes [69]. The main
parameter was the preload ratio, which was dened by the applied pre-
load divided by the ultimate strength of the hollow steel tube. As ex-
pected, the preload on the steel tubes increases the deections and
thus results in a decrease of the column strength. The maximum
strength reduction of the composite columns was about 20% when the
preload ratio was about 0.7, and the strength reduction of the composite
columns was less than 5% when the preload ratio was less than 0.3. The
research on concrete-lled double skin steel tubular columns subjected
to preload was carried out as well. A numerical investigation was per-
formed using a veried nite element model [70]. The inuences of
the preload ratio, the slenderness ratio, the hollow ratio and the
220 L.-H. Han et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 100 (2014) 211228

material strength on the compressive strength showed that the strength
reduction is less than 5% when the preload ratio is less than 0.2 for both
circular and square CFDST sections.
The geometric imperfections and the residual stresses from the steel
tube affect the sensitivity in local buckling. The possible imperfections
from the concrete placement, such as gaps as well as cavities in the
concrete, could also affect the column performance. For CFST, the con-
crete imperfection is a signicant problem although the inuence of
the steel imperfection can be reduced by concrete. The investigation
was conducted on members with initial concrete imperfection [71]. It
was found that for the CFST stub column with circumferential gap
between tube and concrete, the strength loss of the column is less
than 3.5% if the gap ratio (2dc/D, dc is the gap width and D is the tube
diameter) is smaller than 0.05%.
The concrete-lled steel tube may also suffer from chloride corro-
sion in some cases, such as in offshore structures. It is of great impor-
tance to understand the mechanism and the consequences of
structures subjected to corrosion in order to obtain more sustainable
structures. Studies were conducted on concrete-lled steel tubular
stub columns and beams under long-term load and chloride corrosion
[72]. It was found that the decrease of the ultimate strength and stiffness
is signicant when concrete-lled steel tubular members are subjected
to both long-term sustained loading and chloride corrosion, since the
wall thickness of the steel tube is reduced. The load sustained by the
steel tube was partially transferred to the concrete core after the loss
of the tube wall, and the strength and the stiffness decrease of CFST
column was smaller than its hollow steel tube counterpart. Li et al.
[73] investigated the behavior of concrete-lled double skin steel
tubes under the combination of preload on steel tubes, long-term load
and chloride corrosion using numerical models. Several stages were
identied by characteristic points on the load-deformation relationship.
It was found that for stub columns, the decrease of ultimate strength
and the increase of overall deformation was presented when the combi-
nations of loads and environmental factors were considered.
6. Design criteria
There are a number of design codes and specications that address
the design of concrete-lled steel tubular members [74], such as the
AIJ guide [75], the ANSI/AISC 360 [76] and the Eurocode 4 [77]. The
ANSI/AISC 360 is the specication for steel structures in the United
States; the Eurocode 4 is the European code for composite structure
design; and the AIJ guide is the Japanese guide for concrete-lled steel
tubular structures, respectively. In China, there are several industrial
and local specications regarding the concrete-lled steel tubular struc-
tures [2], such as DBJ/T13-51 [20]. All of them are applicable for the
concrete-lled steel tubular members with circular and rectangular (in-
cluding square) cross sections. The scopes of application for various
codes are listed in Table 4 briey. More details can be found in each
code. For the ANSI/AISC 360 and the AIJ guide, formulas for both load
and resistance factor (limit state) design and allowable stress design
are provided, the Eurocode 4 and the DBJ/T13-51 provide formulas for
limit state design.
For the design of member under axial compression, most codes
and specications acknowledge the effect of the composite action,
especially for members with a circular cross section, therefore the
strength of the composite member is enhanced. The calculation results
for the column strength using various codes or specications are plotted
in Fig. 11, where a strength index (SI) is dened as follows:
Nu
SI 0 2
As f y 0:85Ac f c
in which Nu is the cross-sectional strength of the CFST columns predict-
ed by codes or specications, As and Ac are the cross-sectional area
of steel and concrete, respectively; fy and f'c are the yield strength
for steel and the cylinder strength for concrete, respectively. In this
example, fy = 345 N/mm2, f'c = 50 N/mm2, the diameter of the cross
section is 400 mm.
Because of the different assumptions, the results from each code are
somewhat different. It can be seen from Fig. 11 that, the calculated SI
values are larger than 1. For the CFST short column with circular section,
the SI thus dened increases with the cross-sectional steel ratio for most
codes and specications. In this example, the Eurocode 4 gives the
highest prediction, while the ANSI/AISC 360 gives the most conservative
one.
Fig. 12 depicts the calculated strength for the CFST column with
various column length, where is the slenderness ratio of the column,
for the circular CFST column, = 4 L/D. It can be seen that the column
strength deceases with the increase of the slenderness ratio. In this
particular case, the Eurocode 4 give the highest prediction when
the slenderness ratio is less than 80, and the ANSI/AISC360 gives the
lowest one when is less than 30.
For the design of exural members, all codes and specications take
the composite effect into account. Fig. 13 show the exural strength es-
timated by various codes, where a exural strength index (FSI) is
dened as follows:
Mu
FSI 3
f yZp
in which Mu is the exural strength of the CFST cross section predicted

Table 4
Scope of application for various building codes relevant to CFST columns.

Contents AIJ guide (2008) ANSI/AISC 36010 (2010) DBJ/T 13-51-2010 (2010) Eurocode 4 (2004)

Cross-sectional type Circular, Rectangular Circular, Rectangular Circular, Rectangular Circular, Rectangular

Concrete specimen type Cylinder Cylinder Cube Cylinder, cube

Physical parameters Concrete strength (N/mm2) 1890 2170 (Normal weight) C30C80 C20/25C60/75
 2  F 13 q (Normal weight)
0
Elastic modulus of concrete, 3:35  104  c
24  60
c
4700 f c 105 /(2.2 + 34.7/ fcu,k) 22,000 (fcm/10)0.3
Ec (N/mm2) (Normal weight) (Normal weight)
Yield strength of steel, fy (N/mm2) 590 525 235420 460
Elastic modulus of steel, Es (N/mm2) 205,000 200,000 206,000 210,000
Flexural stiffness, EI EsIs + EcIc EsIs + EsIsr + C3EcIc EsIs + a0EcIc EsIs + EaIa + 0.6EcmIc



Geometric parameters D/t (Circular) Depends on steel type 0.31Es/fy 150 235 90 235
fy fy
q q q
B/t (Square, rectangular) Depends on steel type 5 Es = f y 60 235 52 235
f
y f
y

Long column denition lk /D N 12 N o

Steel ratio, or connement ratio, or 1% (steel ratio) 0.3 4 0.2 0.9 (steel
steel contribution ratio (connement ratio) contribution ratio)
 L.-H. Han et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 100 (2014) 211228 221

1.5 1.5

fc'=50 N/mm2 AIJ Guide

1.4 fy=345N/mm2 ANSI/AISC360

Flexural strength index,FSI

1.25
D=400mm DBJ/T13-51
Strength index,SI

1.3
Eurocode 4
1
fc'=50 N/mm2
1.2
fy=345N/mm2 AIJ Guide
0.75 D=400 mm ANSI/AISC360
1.1
L=1200mm DBJ/T 13-51
Eurocode4
0.5 1
0.04 0.08 0.12 0.16 0.2 0.04 0.08 0.12 0.16 0.2
Steel ratio, Steel ratio,

Fig. 11. Compressive strength for CFST short column. Fig. 13. Flexural strength for CFST column.

by codes or specications; fy is the yield strength of steel; Zp is the plastic
section modulus of hollow steel tube, Zp = (D3 (D 2t)3)/6. In this
example, the diameter of the circular cross-section is 400 mm, and the
yield strength of the steel tube and the compressive strength for con-
crete cylinder are 345 N/mm2 and 50 N/mm2, respectively. It can be
seen from Fig. 13 that the exural strength index of the CFST cross sec-
tion is higher than 1, and in general it decreases with the increase of the
cross-sectional steel ratio. That is due to the fact that the contribution of
core concrete decreases when the thickness of steel tube increases.
In this particular case, the Eurocode 4 gives the highest prediction of
exural strength index when the steel ratio is less than 0.16.
Fig. 14 shows the axial load versus moment interaction curves of the
CFST column. In the example, the cross section of the hollow steel tube
is 400 13 mm, the yield strength of steel and the cylinder strength of
concrete are 345 N/mm2 and 50 N/mm2, respectively, and the length of
the column is 3000 mm. It can be seen that the shape of the load-
moment interaction curve is similar to that of the reinforced concrete
one. The exural strength of the column increases when the axial load
increases before it reaches the maximum value, and then it decreases
with the increase of the axial load. It can also be seen that, in this partic-
ular case, the Eurocode 4 gives the highest prediction.
7. Construction considerations
7.1. Placement of concrete
The frame of hollow steel tubes and beams are formed prior to the
placement of the core concrete. It is of great importance to ensure that
the qualities of the materials as well as the construction process are the
highest possible, however, it is difcult to inspect the lled concrete inside
the hollow section tube. Generally, the strength and the compactness of
the inside concrete should be ensured despite the construction method.
In China, various ways are used to place the concrete mix into the
steel tube. Fig. 15 shows the schematic views of two typical concrete
lling operation methods. One is the pump lling, i.e., by pumping con-
crete from the bottom of the column, as shown in Fig. 15(a). The other
one is the gravity lling, i.e., by placing concrete from the top of the col-
umn, as shown in Fig. 15(b). Before the concrete placement, the inner
surface of the steel tube must be free from water, dirt and oil, and no
other special surface treatment is necessary. The volume of the placed
concrete must be recorded to make sure that the actual concrete volume
inside the tube is sufcient.
For the pump lling method, a pumping hole is usually opened at
the bottom of the column when the concrete mix is pumped from the

14000 12000
AIJ Guide AIJ Guide
12000 ANSI/AISC360 ANSI/AISC360

DBJ/T 13-51 9000 DBJ/T 13-51

10000 Eurocode 4
Eurocode 4
Load, N (kN)
Load, N (kN)

8000
6000
6000
fc'=50 N/mm2 fc'= 50 N/mm2
4000 fy=345N/mm2 fy = 345 N/mm2
3000
D=400mm D t = 400 13 mm
2000 =0.1 L = 3000 mm
0 0
0 50 100 150 200 0 200 400 600 800 1000
Slenderness ratio, Moment, M (kNm)

Fig. 12. - relationship for CFST column. Fig. 14. Axial load versus moment interaction curve for CFST column.
222 L.-H. Han et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 100 (2014) 211228

Fresh concrete

Tremie

Steel tube Steel tube

Steel beam Steel beam

Vibrator

Concrete Concrete

Pumping hole

Fresh concrete

(a) (b)
Fig. 15. Schematic view of concrete placement.

base. The strength of the tube wall near the pumping hole should be
rechecked, and the concrete can be pumped up to several oors in a
building according to the construction progress and the capacity of
the pumping device. The self-consolidating concrete (SCC) and the
thoroughly mixed concrete are favored for construction convenience.
After the hardening of the concrete, the pumping openings should be
closed.
The concrete could also be placed from the top of the column. The
funnel and the bottom emptying hopper could be used to ll the hollow
section column. The depth of the fresh concrete is usually made in steps

Steel beam
Steel beam

RC core tube RC shear walls

or steel plate walls
CFST column CFST column
(a) (b)
Fig. 16. CFST hybrid structural systems for high-rise buildings.
 L.-H. Han et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 100 (2014) 211228
CFST column
Steel beam
Fig. 17. SEG plaza in Shenzhen.
of 300 mm to 500 mm, and should be vibrated after being placed. If a
concrete pipe is used, the end of the pipe is recommended to be placed
below the concrete surface to ensure the compactness of concrete.
The concrete lling should be done right up to the plane of the
connection, and then it should be leveled off before the hardening of
concrete. The concrete at the column corner must be placed with
Fig. 18. Ruifeng building in Hangzhou.
223
particular care, especially when an internal diaphragm is used in the
connection. Air holes should be used in these regions.
7.2. Fabrication issues
In China, the fabrication of tubular structural members is the same
with other steel structures, and the dimension tolerances of the hollow
steel sections should follow the specication of steel fabrication. Small
vent holes should be drilled in the tube walls of the concrete-lled
tubes, in order to prevent the column from bursting under the steam
pressure from concrete material under re. The diameter of the vent
holes should not be less than 20 mm. Measures for the protection against
corrosion should be applied for exposed columns, such as painting and
spraying. In general, the erection of hollow steel structures for concrete-
lled steel tubes are the same as that of common steel structures. Due
to the in-ll concrete, the opening of the tube should be covered before
the concrete placement. If the concrete-lled steel tubular members are
prepared in the workshop, the erection operation should take place
after the strength of the concrete reaches 50% of its designed strength.
8. Some construction examples
Concrete-lled steel tubes have been used in China for almost
50 years. It was used as the main columns in subway stations in Beijing
since 1966, and also in workshops and power plant buildings since the
1970s. In recent decades, the pace of the concrete-lled steel tube
construction has increased rapidly. The concrete-lled steel tubes are
used as major compressive components or key members under various
loading conditions in buildings, bridges and other structures. Several
examples are presented below.
8.1. Buildings
In the 1980s, the concrete-lled steel tube was used in buildings
to avoid having a very large size column. Several buildings with CFST
columns were built in Beijing and Fujian province. Since the 1990s,
more buildings were built in various cities in China [2].
The concrete-lled steel tube usually served as the member resisting
compressive load, and is usually connected to steel or reinforced
Steel beam
CFST column
224 L.-H. Han et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 100 (2014) 211228

RC core tubes or steel shear walls. The frame using concrete-lled

CFST column
Fig. 19. Canton Tower.
concrete beams to form a composite frame system. In high-rise build-
ings or super high-rise buildings, the CFST composite frame structures
are often combined with other lateral load resisting systems such as
steel tubular columns integrates the high stiffness and the high ductility,
and works well with the core tubes or shear walls in hybrid structural
systems. Shaking table tests showed that the rst order damping ratios
of the building system shown in Fig. 16(a) range from 0.03 to 0.035 be-
fore earthquake excitations [78]. Fig. 16(b) shows another composite
structural system with the CFST frame and RC shear walls. Tests results
also showed that the frame and the RC shear walls performed well, and
favorable seismic behavior was exhibited [79].
Fig. 17 shows the SEG Plaza in Shenzhen, which was one of the
earliest applications of concrete-lled steel tubular columns in super
high-rise buildings. The main structure is 291.6 m, and CFST columns
with circular cross section were used. The prole of the steel section is
1600 mm 28 mm, and Q345 steel and C60 concrete were used.
When compared to the column using hollow steel section, the steel
usage for the CFST column was only a half, and the use of very thick
steel plate was prevented.
The concrete-lled steel tube with rectangular (including square)
cross section also gained a popular usage in buildings, for the convenience
when dealing with the connections. Fig. 18 shows Ruifeng International
Commercial Building built in Hanzhou in 2001, where concrete-lled
steel tubular columns with square cross sections were used. The west
and the east towers are 84.3 m (24 storeys) and 55.5 m (15 storeys) in
height, respectively. The hybrid structural system consists of a CFST com-
posite frame and RC shear walls. The maximum CFST column prole is
600 mm, and the maximum and minimum tube thicknesses are 28 mm
and 16 mm, respectively. Fig. 19 shows the Canton Tower in Guangzhou,
where the structure consists of a space lattice composite frame and a RC
core. The height of the main body is 454 meters, and the pinnacle height
is 600 meters. Twenty-four inclined concrete-lled steel circular tubular
members are utilized, with a maximum tube diameter of 2000 mm and
a maximum wall thickness of 50 mm.
The cross sections of the concrete-lled steel tubes used in high-rise
or super high-rise structures are usually very large. Fig. 20 shows a
typical cross section of mega composite column used in one super
high-rise buildings. The mega column cross section is divided into
several chambers. The longitudinal stiffeners, reinforcing tie bars and
internal diaphragms are used to enhance the stability of the steel plates.
Several vent holes and man holes are set for the concrete placement and

Steel plates

Manhole

Vent holes

Binding bars
8800

Tube wall
Reinforcing
bars
50

8800

Fig. 20. Cross section for mega CFST column (units: mm).
 L.-H. Han et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 100 (2014) 211228 225

Concrete-filled
steel tube

Fig. 21. CFST used in bridges.

CFST the installation. Usually shear connectors should be used for members
with large cross sections to ensure a proper load transfer between
Concrete
steel and concrete.
Steel
plate
8.2. Bridges

Concrete-lled steel tubular members have been applied in many

types of bridges, such as arch bridges, cable stayed bridges, suspension
bridges, and truss bridges. CFST members can serve as piers, bridge
towers and arches, and they can also be used in the bridge deck system.
Fig. 21 depicts the usage of CFST members in various bridge structures.
Fig. 22 shows one of the earliest CFST arch bridges in China, the
Wangcang East River Bridge, which was built in 1992. The cross section
of the main arch is in dumbbell shape, and the total depth is 2 meters.
Steel tubes with a diameter of 800 mm and a thickness of 10 mm are
used for upper and lower chords, and the hollow sections are lled
with C30 concrete. The main span of this bridge is 115 meters. The use
Fig. 22. Wangcang East River Bridge.

RC CFST

Fig. 23. Zhaohua Jialing River Bridge.

226 L.-H. Han et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 100 (2014) 211228

RC beam

CFST columns

(a) (b)
Fig. 24. Subway stations using CFST columns.

of concrete-lled steel tube in arch bridges effectively exploits the
advantages of this kind of construction. An important advantage of
using CFST in an arch bridge is that, during the stage of erection, the
hollow steel tubes can serve as the formwork for casting the concrete,
which signicantly reduces the construction cost. Furthermore, the
composite arch can be erected without the aid of a temporary bridging
due to the inherent stability of tubular structure. The hollow steel tubes
can be lled with concrete to convert the system into a composite struc-
ture. Since the weight of the hollow steel tubes is comparatively small,
relatively simple construction technology can be used for the erection.
The most common methods include cantilever launching methods,
and either horizontal or vertical swing methods, whereby each half-
arch can be rotated horizontally into position.
The general CFST members such as concrete encased concrete-lled
steel tube are being used in bridges in China. Fig. 23 shows the Zhaohua
Jialing River Bridge in Sichuan province, China, which has a span length
of 364 meters. The arch ring consists of two parallel arch ribs, and each
arch rib is 8 meters in width and 5.2 meters in height. The cross section
of the arch rib is a double-cell concrete encased concrete-lled steel tu-
bular box one. The diameter of tubes is 451 mm and lled with C80 con-
crete inside. A truss skeleton consisted of 6 hollow steel tubes and steel
angles are established rst to resist the construction load for each rib.
The reinforced concrete is then attached outside the truss skeleton to
form the complex composite cross section.
workshop. The steel used in the CFST column is only 55% of that used
in the hollow steel column for similar workshops.
The concrete-lled steel tubes can be used in the construction and
the upgrade of poles and transmission towers as well. Fig. 26 shows a
long-span transmission tower built in Zhoushan, China. The tower is
the largest electricity pylons in the world with a height of 370 meters.
This tower is a tubular lattice one with four concrete-lled steel tubular
columns. The diameter of the CFST column is 2000 mm, and the
concrete is lled up to 210 meters height. Concrete-lled double skin
steel tubes are being used in electrical grid infrastructures in recent
years. This composite section has high bending stiffness, and the self-
weight is lighter when compared with the fully lled CFST section. A
photo of CFDST pole is shown in Fig. 27. The bearing capacity of the
pole is enhanced when compared to the traditional steel lattice tower,
while the occupied land area is reduced and the total cost is not raised.
9. Concluding remarks
With the rapid development of research and application of concrete-
lled steel tubular structures in China and all over the world in the
past decades, the scope of concrete-lled steel tube has been extend-
ed greatly by researchers and engineers. The characteristic of these

8.3. Other structures

Concrete-lled steel tubular columns have also been used in various

structures such as subway stations, workshops, electricity pylons and
poles.
It is well known that the columns in subway stations are usually sub-
Steel beam
jected to large axial compressive loads. The concrete-lled steel tubular
member is suitable being used as the supporting column. Fig. 24(a)
shows the Qianmen subway station in Beijing, which is one of the earli- CFST columns
est applications of CFST columns. Fig. 24(b) shows the transportation
center connecting subway line 2 and 9 in Tianjin, China, where CFST col-
umns are connected with single or double reinforced concrete beams in
the structure.
The concrete-lled steel tube has been used in industrial buildings in
the north of China since 1970s. Single or build-up CFST members can be
applied depending on the load resistance requirement. Fig. 25 shows
the concrete-lled steel tubular columns used in a power plant Fig. 25. A power plant workshop using CFST columns.
 L.-H. Han et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 100 (2014) 211228
Fig. 26. Zhoushan electricity pylon.
concrete-lled steel tubular members is that the structural properties
can be improved due to the composite action between steel tube
and lled concrete. Basic design approaches from various countries
and some typical applications of concrete-lled steel tubular members
in buildings, bridges and other structures are presented and compared.
Steel tubes
Concrete
Fig. 27. A CFDST pole.
227
CFST columns
The concrete-lled steel tubular structure can be treated as an
alternative system to the steel or the reinforced concrete system.
Some questions on the feasibility of the CFST system should also be
fully evaluated for its widely expanded application. The thorough
comparison of advantages and disadvantages of the CFST system
with the steel and RC system, the space truss structural system, the con-
nection system, the hybrid system using high performance and sustain-
able materials as well as the life-cycle performance evaluation should be
conducted in the future.
Acknowledgments
The research reported in the paper is part of Project 51178245
supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC)
and China National Key Basic Research Special Funds project
(No. 2012CB719700). The nancial support is highly appreciated.
Special thanks to Mr. Li-Zhu Chen, Mr. Ting-Min Mu, Mr. Yin Ye,
Mr. Gang Liu and Dr. Guo-Huang Yao, for providing information, photo-
graphs and other details on CFST structures used in practical projects
listed in this paper.
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