Journal of Constructional Steel Research 67 (2011) 484496

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Journal of Constructional Steel Research

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Post-fire bond between the steel tube and concrete in concrete-filled steel tubular columns
Zhong Tao a,b, , Lin-Hai Han c , Brian Uy a , Xian Chen b
a b c

School of Engineering, University of Western Sydney, Penrith South DC, NSW 1797, Australia College of Civil Engineering, Fuzhou University, Fuzhou, Fujian Province, 350108, China Department of Civil Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, China

article

info

abstract
Push-out tests were carried out on 64 concrete-filled steel tubular columns, which had been exposed to ISO 834 standard fire for 90 min or 180 min, respectively. At the same time, 12 unheated specimens were also prepared and tested for comparison. The variables investigated in the bond tests were selected as (a) fire exposure time; (b) cross-section type; (c) cross-sectional dimension; (d) interface length to diameter (or width) ratio; (e) concrete type; (f) fly ash type; and (g) concrete curing condition. The effects of the above different parameters on the bond behaviour are discussed. The test results indicate that fire exposure had a significant effect on the bond between a steel tube and its concrete core. A decrease in bond strength was generally observed for specimens after a fire exposure of 90 min; however, bond strength recovery was found when the fire exposure time was extended to 180 min. Other factors also had influence to some extent. 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Article history: Received 28 June 2010 Accepted 17 September 2010 Keywords: Concrete-filled steel tubes Bond strength Slip Push-out Composite action Post-fire

1. Introduction Composite columns integrate the favorable characteristics of steel and concrete materials, therefore providing the merits of high strength and stiffness, high speed of construction, large energy dissipation, and considerable economy [1]. For this reason, concrete-filled steel tubular (CFST) columns have been used widely in many countries in recent decades. Nowadays, numerous research studies have been conducted on the performance of CFST members under different conditions, and some attention has been paid to the fire resistance of CFST members or their residual properties after exposure to high temperatures [2,3]. Generally, the exposure of CFST members to fire can lead to significant loss of strength and stiffness. Research also showed that high temperatures had significant influence on the residual bond strength between steel bars and concrete [4]. Furthermore, Hunaiti [5] tested 21 battened composite columns, which had been heat-treated at different temperatures ranging from 50 to 600 C, to investigate the bond between steel and concrete. It was found that the loss in bond strength was significantly higher for high temperatures. A specimen tested at

Corresponding author at: School of Engineering, University of Western Sydney, Penrith South DC, NSW 1797, Australia. Tel.: +61 2 4736 0064; fax: +61 2 4736 0137. E-mail addresses: z.tao@uws.edu.au, taozhong@fzu.edu.cn (Z. Tao).
0143-974X/$ see front matter 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.jcsr.2010.09.006

600 C showed a strength loss of about 83% when compared with its companion specimen tested at 100 C. According to Chiang and Tsai [4], bond degradation after fire exposure is mainly owing to the fact that high temperatures cause water migration, dehydration of concrete, and decomposition of cement hydration products. Internal stress and thus micro- and macrocracks are generated due to the inhomogeneous volume dilations of ingredients and the buildup of vapor pressure in the pores. It is expected that elevated temperatures will also have a significant impact on the bond between the steel tube and concrete in CFST columns. Although many studies have been performed in the past to investigate the bond behaviour at ambient temperatures for CFST columns [612], no research has been conducted so far concerning their post-fire bond behaviour. An assessment of the degree of deterioration of the bond in CFST columns after exposure to fire can help engineers to evaluate the reliability of the load transfer between the steel tube and concrete at various locations if necessary. In this paper, a test program is introduced to investigate the bond between the steel tube and concrete in CFST columns that have been exposed to and damaged by standard ISO 834 fire [13]. Push-out tests were further carried out to investigate the influence of different parameters on the bond strength and bondslip curves. The bond mechanisms are also discussed in this paper.

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Nomenclature B D Ec fcu fcu,f fy L Li Nmax Nu p S Su t T Width of the square steel tube Diameter of the circular steel tube Modulus of elasticity of concrete Compressive cube strength of concrete at the time of the bond test Compressive cube strength of concrete at the time of fire exposure Yield strength of steel Length of the steel tube Length of the steelconcrete interface Maximum push-out load Ultimate push-out load Interaction stress between the steel tube and concrete Slip Slip corresponding to ultimate push-out load Nu Wall thickness of the steel tube Fire exposure time Bond stress Critical bond stress Design bond strength Ultimate bond strength

cr Rd u

2. Experimental program 2.1. General A total of 76 specimens were prepared and tested. The variables investigated were selected as (a) fire exposure time (0, 90 min and 180 min); (b) cross-section type (circular and square); (c) cross-sectional dimension (194400 mm); (d) interface length to diameter or width ratio (Li /D or Li /B = 3, 5, or 7, where Li is the length of the steelconcrete interface, D is the diameter of a circular tube, and B is the width of a square tube); (e) concrete type (normal concrete and self-consolidating concrete); (f) fly ash type (Class II and Class III); and (g) concrete curing condition (sealed and unsealed before fire exposure). Table 1 provides a summary for all circular and square specimens, in which specimen designations starting with C and S refer to circular and square specimens, respectively. The following number 1 to 9 in the labels is used to identify specimens with different parameters. For clarity, the fire exposure time of 0, 90 or 180 min for a specimen is also represented in its label. To obtain reliable test results, identical pairs were prepared and tested in most cases, which are designated with suffixes a and b in the labels, respectively. 2.2. Material properties All tubes were manufactured from mild steel sheets. Since the cross-section size was one of the major variables to be investigated, six kinds of steel sheets with different thicknesses were used in the fabrication to ensure that all tubes in a same test series of crosssection type had close cross-sectional aspect ratios (D/t or B/t, where t is the wall thickness). A value of the B/t ratio of 40 was chosen for the square tubes, while the D/t ratios for the circular tubes were 37.3 and 46.5, respectively. Therefore, all cross-sections chosen were quite compact with an aim to assure that ultimate bond strength could be achieved before possible local buckling occurred for the steel tubes. Standard tensile coupon tests were conducted to measure the material properties, where the average measured values are given in Table 2. The obtained yield strengths of steel (fy ) are also presented in Table 1.

Nowadays, there is an increasing interest in using selfconsolidating concrete (SCC) to construct CFST columns. Known as a kind of high-performance concrete, SCC can flow in its gravity and fill in formworks without the need of any internal and external vibration. The utilisation of SCC in construction can shorten construction periods, reduce labour cost, improve compaction quality especially in confined and restricted zones where compaction is difficult. In this test program, four mixes of SCC and a mix of normal concrete (NC) were used to fill the tubes. The mix proportions of the concretes are presented in Table 3. Well-graded limestone coarse aggregate with a maximum size of 20 mm was used. To increase the slump and make the SCC more workable, fly ash (FA) and water reducer were added in the concrete mixes. Class II and Class III fly ashes in accordance with Chinese Standard GB/T 15962005 [14] were used to make the concrete, where Class II FA was used for the concrete mixes of SCC-III and SCC-IV, and Class III FA was used for those of SCC-I and SCC-II. According to GB/T 15962005, the type of FA is mainly classified in terms of fineness. Class II FA is finer than Class III FA; therefore, the former is generally more active in affecting the concrete properties. The measured material properties at room temperature and fresh properties of the SCC mixtures are given in Table 3, where fcu,f and fcu are the compressive cube strengths of concrete at the time of fire exposure and bond tests, respectively, and Ec is the modulus of elasticity at the time of bond tests. Obviously, Class II FA concrete had higher compressive strength compared with Class III FA concrete when the water-binder ratios and cement replacement ratios were the same. It should be noted that the values of fcu,f are smaller than those of corresponding fcu owing to a 7 month longer curing period of concrete when conducting bond tests. 2.3. Specimen preparation Cold-formed steel tubes were used in the construction of circular specimens, while each square tube was fabricated by welding four plates using a full penetration groove weld [15]. The tubes were as received from the mill and no specific measures were taken to treat the inner surfaces. The overall length (L) of a tube was designed to be 50 mm longer than its length of the steelconcrete interface (Li ). The air gap of 50 mm located at the bottom of a column allowed the slip between the steel tube and concrete. Wooden plugs were fitted at the bottom of the specimens to support the wet concrete during casting. The plugs were removed later to allow for travel of the concrete in the bond tests. The steel tubes were held upright and were filled with concrete flush to the top. To investigate the influence of concrete curing conditions, eight specimens (Series C7 and S7) presented in Table 1 were sealed immediately after the concrete was filled. This was achieved by sealing their ends with polyethylene and wrapping an additional thick plastic sheet to avoid possible moisture loss. Other specimens were not sealed and just kept in indoor environment to cure. 2.4. Heat treatment After being cured for about 4 months, the corresponding specimens were heated by exposing them to heat in a furnace at Structural Fire Resistance Laboratory in Tianjin Fire Research Institute, China. Prior to the fire exposure, both ends of the specimens were covered by a layer of mineral wool. This was to reduce the heat transfer from the specimen ends to the steelconcrete interface. The furnace heating was controlled as closely as possible to the ISO 834 standard fire curve. The fire duration times (T ) were set to be 90 and 180 min, leading to a target furnace temperature of 1006 C and 1110 C at the end of the fire tests, respectively.

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Table 1 Specimen labels and test results. No. Specimen label 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 C1-0a C1-0b C1-90a C1-90b C1-180a C1-180b C2-0 C2-90 C2-180 C3-0 C3-90 C3-180 C4-0a C4-0b C4-90a C4-90b C4-180a C4-180b C5-90a C5-90b C5-180a C5-180b C6-90a C6-90b C6-180a C6-180b C7-90a C7-90b C7-180a C7-180b C8-90a C8-90b C8-180a C8-180b C9-90a C9-90b C9-180a C9-180b S1-0a S1-0b S1-90a S1-90b S1-180a S1-180b S2-0 S2-90 S2-180 S3-0 S3-90 S3-180 S4-0a S4-0b S4-90a S4-90b S4-180a S4-180b S5-90a S5-90b S5-180a S5-180b S6-90a S6-90b S6-180a S6-180b S7-90a S7-90b S7-180a S7-180b S8-90a S8-90b D t Li (mm) 194 5.5 582 194 5.5 582 194 5.5 582 194 5.5 582 194 5.5 582 194 5.5 582 194 5.5 582 194 5.5 582 194 5.5 582 194 5.5 582 194 5.5 582 194 5.5 582 377 8.1 1131 377 8.1 1131 377 8.1 1131 377 8.1 1131 377 8.1 1131 377 8.1 1131 194 5.5 582 194 5.5 582 194 5.5 582 194 5.5 582 194 5.5 582 194 5.5 582 194 5.5 582 194 5.5 582 194 5.5 582 194 5.5 582 194 5.5 582 194 5.5 582 194 5.5 970 194 5.5 970 194 5.5 970 194 5.5 970 194 5.5 1350 194 5.5 1350 194 5.5 1350 194 5.5 1350 200 5 600 200 5 600 200 5 600 200 5 600 200 5 600 200 5 600 200 5 600 200 5 600 200 5 600 200 5 600 200 5 600 200 5 600 400 10 1200 400 10 1200 400 10 1200 400 10 1200 400 10 1200 400 10 1200 200 5 600 200 5 600 200 5 600 200 5 600 200 5 600 200 5 600 200 5 600 200 5 600 200 5 600 200 5 600 200 5 600 200 5 600 200 5 1000 200 5 1000 Li /D 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 5 5 5 5 7 7 7 7 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 5 5 fcu (MPa) 52.3 52.3 52.3 52.3 52.3 52.3 72.1 72.1 72.1 53.2 53.2 53.2 52.3 52.3 52.3 52.3 52.3 52.3 46.1 46.1 46.1 46.1 63.3 63.3 63.3 63.3 52.3 52.3 52.3 52.3 52.3 52.3 52.3 52.3 52.3 52.3 52.3 52.3 52.3 52.3 52.3 52.3 52.3 52.3 72.1 72.1 72.1 53.2 53.2 53.2 52.3 52.3 52.3 52.3 52.3 52.3 46.1 46.1 46.1 46.1 63.3 63.3 63.3 63.3 52.3 52.3 52.3 52.3 52.3 52.3 fy (MPa) 380 380 380 380 380 380 340 340 340 340 340 340 363 363 363 363 363 363 380 380 380 380 380 380 380 380 380 380 380 380 380 380 380 380 380 380 380 380 320 320 320 320 320 320 297 297 297 297 297 297 427 427 427 427 427 427 320 320 320 320 320 320 320 320 320 320 320 320 320 320 T (min) 0 0 90 90 180 180 0 90 180 0 90 180 0 0 90 90 180 180 90 90 180 180 90 90 180 180 90 90 180 180 90 90 180 180 90 90 180 180 0 0 90 90 180 180 0 90 180 0 90 180 0 0 90 90 180 180 90 90 180 180 90 90 180 180 90 90 180 180 90 90 Nu (kN) 567.0 634.5 199.0 215.8 500.0 448.1 372.3 122.6 654.2 929.7 344.5 673.2 612.3 549.7 978.8 886.5 1465.0 1239.3 241.0 379.4 515.2 567.7 181.0 288.4 578.4 562.3 170.2 437.1 549.0 519.7 522.6 602.6 594.2 595.8 611.6 545.8 740.6 651.9 140.3 195.6 126.1 95.2 173.2 136.5 165.8 164.8 347.1 148.7 128.4 349.0 269.7 308.2 194.1 305.8 403.5 407.4 76.8 79.4 71.6 78.7 121.6 135.5 230.3 252.3 78.7 56.2 250.6 211.3 202.9 102.2 Nmax (kN) u (MPa) 249.4 754.2 941.3 1072.0 225.4 324.5 170.0 299.0 215.2 272.9 166.1 512.6 587.4 350.8 510.6 570.3 580.0 98.1 102.6 102.9 141.6 141.9 152.6 110.0 356.4 354.2 1.69 1.90 0.59 0.64 1.49 1.34 1.11 0.37 1.96 2.78 1.03 2.01 0.48 0.43 0.76 0.69 1.14 0.97 0.72 1.13 1.54 1.70 0.54 0.86 1.73 1.68 0.51 1.31 1.64 1.55 0.94 1.08 1.07 1.07 0.79 0.70 0.95 0.84 0.31 0.43 0.28 0.21 0.38 0.30 0.36 0.36 0.76 0.33 0.28 0.77 0.15 0.17 0.11 0.17 0.22 0.22 0.17 0.17 0.16 0.17 0.27 0.30 0.51 0.55 0.17 0.12 0.55 0.46 0.27 0.13 Su (mm) 0.93 1.64 1.05 1.28 3.72 3.45 1.26 0.72 3.55 2.66 1.76 3.14 1.41 1.34 3.42 1.98 2.22 2.33 1.23 2.85 6.15 6.66 0.56 1.34 2.96 3.21 0.78 3.88 3.57 4.00 2.35 4.29 6.40 2.78 2.62 1.41 2.72 2.94 0.52 0.74 2.36 2.69 2.52 1.52 0.58 2.50 2.87 0.68 2.28 4.47 1.08 1.05 2.68 1.10 1.32 2.83 2.92 3.97 1.88 1.77 2.83 1.68 2.88 2.75 1.73 3.30 2.89 1.92 2.81 0.96 Curve type A A B B A A B B B A B A B B B B B B A A A A B B B A B B A A A B B B B B B B B B A C A B B B A B B A B B C C C B B C A C C B A A C C A B C C Class II fly ash used Class II fly ash used Remarks

Class II fly ash used

Normal concrete

Concrete cured in sealed condition

Class II fly ash used

Normal concrete

Concrete cured in sealed condition

Z. Tao et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 67 (2011) 484496 Table 1 (continued) No. Specimen label 71 72 73 74 75 76 S8-180a S8-180b S9-90a S9-90b S9-180a S9-180b D t Li (mm) 200 5 1000 200 5 1000 200 5 1400 200 5 1400 200 5 1400 200 5 1400 Li /D 5 5 7 7 7 7 fcu (MPa) 52.3 52.3 52.3 52.3 52.3 52.3 fy (MPa) 320 320 320 320 320 320 T (min) 180 180 90 90 180 180 Nu (kN) 419.7 400.0 420.3 365.8 610.6 609.7 Nmax (kN) u (MPa) 482.3 554.2 691.0 594.5 0.55 0.53 0.40 0.34 0.57 0.57 Su (mm) 2.41 2.84 3.27 3.07 Curve type C C C C Remarks

487

Table 2 Material properties of steel. Type Type I Type II Type III Type IV Type V Type VI Thickness (mm) 5 5 5.5 5.5 8.1 10 Elastic modulus (kN/mm2 ) 197 195 198 201 187 205 Yield strength (N/mm2 ) 320 297 380 340 363 427 Poissons ratio 0.281 0.276 0.269 0.270 0.282 0.265 Ultimate strength (N/mm2 ) 437 368 433 460 433 383 Elongation percentage (%) 41.7 42.5 28.8 35.4 28.5 24.5 Used in specimen series S1, S5S9 S2, S3 C1, C5C9 C2, C3 C4 S4

Table 3 Mixture and material properties of concrete. Type SCC-I SCC-II SCC-III SCC-IV NC Water (kg/m3 ) 190 170 190 170 210 Cement (kg/m3 ) 260 380 260 380 552 Fly ash (kg/m3 ) 240 170 240 170 Sand (kg/m3 ) 740 800 740 800 611 Aggregate Water reducer (kg/m3 ) (kg/m3 ) 950 835 950 835 1137 5.4 6.08 5.4 6.08 Slump (mm) 265 240 255 260 Slump flow (mm) 640 560 650 590 fcu,f 25.3 45.3 40.0 57.3 50.4 fcu 46.1 52.3 53.2 72.1 63.3 Ec Used in specimen (N/mm2 ) series 27 300 29 500 35 500 38 900 34 500 C5, S5 C1, C4, C7-C9, S1, S4, S7-S9 C3, S3 C2, S2 C6, S6

In a real fire situation, thermal creep deformation will occur for the steel and concrete materials in a loaded column. Owing to the limitation of the furnace facility, the specimens were not loaded during the fire exposure in the current test program. Further research is required in the future to address this issue. 2.5. Test setup and instrumentation Bond tests were conducted about 7 months later after the heat treatment. Prior to the bond tests, the top surfaces of all specimens were ground smooth to provide a level surface and to ensure even distribution of the applied load. A 2000 kN capacity testing machine was used to conduct the bond tests as shown in Fig. 1. The specimen was set up in the testing machine in a vertical position with the air gap at the bottom. A steel block was placed between the specimen and the top platen of the testing machine. The steel block had a cross-section which was a little smaller than that of the concrete core. This assured the load to be applied only on the concrete core and allowed the concrete core to be pushed downward when testing. The load was measured using a load cell which was placed on the steel block. All specimens were tested under monotonic loading with a loading rate of about 0.5 mm/min. Axial strains in the steel were measured using strain gauges installed along the length of steel tubes. The spacing between two adjacent strain gauges ranged from 125 to 150 mm. It is possible to analyse the load transfer mechanism from the concrete core to the steel tube based on the strain readings. In the current tests, both slip values at the loaded and free ends were measured. This was achieved by readings of seven linear variable displacement transducers (LVDT) mounted on the specimen as shown in Fig. 1. LVDT 1 and LVDT 2 were used to measure the slip at the loaded end, while LVDT 3 to LVDT 6 were used to monitor initial settlements of the steel tube at the bottom. Therefore, the free end slip was calculated from the readings of LVDT 7 by subtracting the obtained initial settlements.

3. Test results and discussion A general view of the specimens after testing is shown in Fig. 2. The failure mode was characterised by the slip between the steel tube and concrete, which could be observed on the top of a specimen. There was no other visible change in appearance for the steel tubes except the spalling off of oxide layers formed during the fire exposure. 3.1. Bond stress ( ) versus slip (S) curves Average bond stress ( ) is used in this paper to evaluate the bond behaviour between a steel tube and its concrete core, which is the push load divided by the area of the interface. Therefore, in this paper refers to the average bond stress unless otherwise indicated. Although the distribution of local bond stress along a tube and across its perimeter may not be uniform, the concept of average bond stress is quite straightforward and can be interpreted and used by engineers very easily. Fig. 3 shows typical average bond stress ( ) versus loaded-end slip (S) curves. For clarity, a slip in this paper refers to the one measured at the loaded end in the following unless otherwise noted. Generally, the obtained S curves can be classified into three types, which depend on the mutual influences of different parameters. The corresponding curve types for all circular and square specimens are summarised in Table 1. It should be noted that no curve type is assigned to the specimens S9-180a and S9180b. This is owing to the fact that these two square specimens were the longest and had been exposed to fire for 180 min. Due to the fire damage to the steel, the tubes buckled unexpectedly at the end of the bottom before the ultimate bond strength could be developed between the steel tube and concrete. Without concrete at the bottom to support the steel tube, a pre-mature weld fracture occurred at the end of testing. Thus, particular attention should be paid in any further bond tests to avoid this problem.

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Fig. 1. Push-out test setup.

(a) All specimens after testing.

(b) Typical circular section. Fig. 2. A general view of specimens after testing.

(c) Typical square section.

(a) Type A and type B.

(b) Type C. Fig. 3. Typical bond stress ( ) versus slip (S) curves.

Type A curve shown in Fig. 3(a) is the typical S relationship with a falling branch beyond the maximum bond stress. In the current tests, about one-third of circular specimens and one-fifth square specimens demonstrated this feature. The majority of the specimens are those without fire exposure or with a fire exposure of 180 min. For a Type A curve, it has an initial linear portion (OA) up to 50%80% of the peak bond strength, followed by a transitional portion (AB). After reaching the peak strength (Point B), a rapidly declining portion BC appears before relatively stable residual strength can be achieved. Although the residual strength keeps decreasing from Point C to Point D, the curve tends to flatten as it approaches Point D. In some cases, the curve can be a nearly horizontal flat one after reaching Point C. The residual strength at the end of the testing is about 35%65% of the peak strength for Type A circular specimens, while that for the square specimens ranges from 60% to 85% of the peak strength.

The S curves of about two-thirds of circular specimens and two-fifths of square specimens can be classified into Type B group. Compared with Type A curves, a Type B curve shows quite similar features except the existence of the second ascending portion C D . At Point C , the minimum residual strength is attained, which is about 40%80% of the bond strength at Point B for circular columns, and 50%90% of that for square columns. The bond stress increases once again beyond Point C . Compared with the residual strength at Point C , the bond stress at the end of testing (Point D ) generally increases by 20%120%. Therefore, of the Type B curves, the residual strengths of three circular specimens and the majority of square columns are even much higher than their corresponding bond stresses at Point B . The strength increase ranges from 20% to 80%. The maximum push-out loads (Nmax ) recorded at the end of testing are presented in Table 1 if they are larger than their corresponding ultimate loads.

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(a) Circular specimen (C9-90b).

(b) Square specimen (S9-90b).

Fig. 4. Axial strain variations along length of tubes.

A typical Type C S curve is depicted in Fig. 3(b), which is characterised by the lack of any falling branch. For the tests presented in this paper, Type C curves are only observed for about two-fifths of square specimens, and most of them had been exposed to fire for 90 min. No circular specimens can be classified into this group. Initially, there is an elastic response until reaching Point A , where the bond stress is about 60%80% of the ultimate bond strength at Point B , followed by the inelastic response with gradually decreasing slope. After reaching the transitional Point B , the S response is almost linear up to the end of the testing (Point C ). Generally, the bond stress at Point C is 1.31.9 times the bond strength at Point B . 3.2. Bond mechanisms and bond stress distribution To understand the different responses in terms of S relationship, it is necessary to check the bond mechanisms between the steel tube and concrete first. It is well known that bond can be considered as a result of three different mechanisms: chemical adhesion, friction and macro-interlocking [6,16]. The friction, which was also called as micro-interlocking by some researchers [6], mainly arises from the roughness of the steel surface, while the macro-interlocking is owing to the surface irregularities related to the manufacturing tolerances. Both friction and macrointerlocking can cause mechanical keying of the concrete core with the steel tube, and therefore macro-interlocking can also be viewed as friction. From another point of view, the macro-interlocking, somehow, is comparable to the mechanical interlocking between the ribs of deformed reinforcement bars and concrete. In practice, it is very difficult to separate the three components of bond since the distribution of surface irregularities is quite variable and uneven. Moreover, there is no practical criterion that can be used to distinguish between the micro-interlocking and macrointerlocking. To make matters more complicated, the shrinkage of concrete has significant influence on the bond behaviour and may affect the bond contribution of different components. However, some efforts were made by Virdi and Dowling [6], where three circular specimens of Group ST had their inside surfaces machined to a smooth finish, and another group of three circular specimens (Group PH) had their inner surfaces covered with a lubricant in five coats. Therefore, the surface roughness of Group ST was greatly diminished, and the bond strength was believed to have been resulted mainly from the chemical adhesion. On the other hand, the bond for specimens in Group PH was largely contributed by the macro-interlocking effect. The test results of Group ST and PH were further compared with those of normal specimens (Group CS) without any surface treatment. It seems that the bond strength from chemical adhesion only (Group ST) could attain a value of about 19% ultimate bond strength in normal conditions,

but it failed and decayed rapidly. The slip corresponding to the peak bond strength was about 0.5 mm for Group ST. The response of Group PH showed a near absence of an initially stiff region, but the bond resistance resulted from macro-interlocking kept increasing until the end of testing. After compared with the tests results of Group CS, Virdi and Dowling [6] postulated that the ultimate bond strength for CFST columns was mainly contributed by friction. To further understand the bond mechanisms, it is necessary to check the bond stress distribution along the length of tubes. The bond stresses can be obtained based on the axial strain gradients in the steel tube [8]. According to Roeder et al. [8], the axial strain gradients are related by statics to the interface bond stress distribution. If Nx is the axial load in the steel tube at location x, then the bond stress, (x), can be given by

(x) =

dNx C dx

(1)

where C is the perimeter of the concrete section in contact with the steel tube, and is equal to (D 2t ) and 4(B 2t ), respectively, for circular and square sections. Figs. 4 and 5 demonstrate the axial strain variations and bond stress distributions along the length of two typical specimens, respectively. It should be noted that the axial strains measured at the bottom were normally smaller than the expected values. This is owing to the influence of the constraint conditions at the bottom as shown in Fig. 6, where the steel tube had a tendency to deform outwardly due to the Poissons effect, but was restrained at the end. Therefore, the measured strains near the bottom were not used to calculate the bond stresses at that location, which were alternatively determined based on the assumption that all the push load was carried by the steel tube alone at the bottom. Apparently, the trends of the axial strain distributions shown in Fig. 4 for the circular and square specimens are quite different. For the circular specimen C9-90b, the axial strain of the steel tube increased very fast within a short distance away from the loaded end. It indicates the fast development of local bond stress between the steel tube and concrete in this area. Since only the concrete was loaded on the top, it would dilate under compression, and generated radial contact pressure (p) between the steel tube and concrete, as shown in Fig. 6. The radial pressure resulted from the confinement of the steel tube could further enhance the frictional resistance and therefore bond stress at the top, as shown in Fig. 5(a). In other words, strong composite action was formed between the circular steel tube and concrete. As the majority of the load was transferred from the concrete to the steel tube at the top, the compression was low in the concrete and high in the steel in the lower part of the column. Therefore, small or even no contact pressure would be formed between the steel tube and concrete there. This led to the much slower increase of axial strain

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(a) Circular specimen (C9-90b).

(b) Square specimen (S9-90b).

Fig. 5. Bond stress distributions at different load levels.

in the lower part of the tube, and the bond stresses in this area were also much smaller than those at the top. As far as the square specimen S9-90b is concerned, the axial strain distribution along the length was close to a simple triangle as shown in Fig. 4(b). This demonstrates that the square column was not so efficient in transferring load between the steel tube and concrete as its circular counterpart. Friction could be formed uniformly around the perimeter of a circular tube, but mainly formed only in the vicinity of the corners of a square tube [7]. Therefore, the square column S9-90 took a much longer length to develop reliable bond, and the bond stresses, in general, distributed more evenly along the length of the specimen. The fluctuation in the stress distribution shown in Fig. 5(b) was attributed to the strain measurement errors and especially the irregularities of the steel tube. It is worth noting that the bond stresses at the bottom were often larger than those at its adjacent measure points. This is somewhat owing to the pinching effect as shown in Fig. 6. But this effect was not expected to be critical since the steel tube remained elastic during the tests. Another important reason is that there was local slip and bond stress transfer occurred at the bottom since the total load of the specimen was resisted by the steel. In the current test program, the free-end slip was also measured. A typical bond stress versus free-end slip curve for specimen C4-0a is shown in Fig. 7. Therefore, the initiation of the slip at the free end can be recognised. Generally, very small slip at the free end occurs in the initial loading stage. The slip at the free end develops much more quickly after Point A is reached, which approximately coincides with the termination of the elastic responses of S curves shown in Fig. 3. Therefore, during the elastic stage, the bond resistance is contributed mainly by chemical adhesion and friction. In most cases, the chemical adhesion is only active in the initial loading stage since the average loadedend slip at the end of elastic stage for all the test specimens is 1.65 mm in the current tests. This value is much larger than the value of 0.5 mm corresponding to the peak bond strength for Group ST reported by Virdi and Dowling [6]. Although the marointerlocking mechanism also starts to work in this stage after the slip initiates at the top, it is not significant according to the test results presented by Virdi and Dowling [6]. After the notable slippage occurred at the free end, a second stage of behaviour develops characterised by a gradual softening of the stiffness of S response. The reason is that the adhesion is now negligible, and the bond capacity coming from the friction begins to reduce as well. The friction reduction could be attributed to the shearing off of mortar which extends into small pits in the steel tube. Now, the macro-interlocking starts to play an important role in this stage. After the ultimate bond strength has been achieved, a third stage of behaviour develops, during which the friction is diminishing rapidly in most cases while the bond resistance from macrointerlocking keeps increasing. For specimens with high ultimate

Fig. 6. Deformation of steel tube under push-out force.

bond strength, the effect of diminishing friction will outweigh the beneficial influence of the increasing macro-interlocking. In this case, the S response will be a Type A or Type B curve with an obvious declining branch. Otherwise, it will show the feature of Type C curves. Actually, the transition between the second and the third stages was not always as smooth as that shown in Fig. 3. Sometimes, sudden decrease in bond strength was observed after the ultimate bond strength had been reached, as shown in Fig. 8. But part of the bond strength recovered soon. This phenomenon was also observed and reported by some other researchers [9,10]. In this paper, three circular specimens (C1-90a, C1-90b, and C490b) and almost all the unheated square specimens demonstrated this feature. For these specimens, it seems the adhesion and friction reduced too fast before the macro-interlocking could absorb the energy stored in the specimens. All these specimens are classified into Type B group in this paper. As mentioned earlier, the only difference between Type A and Type B curves is the existence of a second ascending portion. For a Type B curve, it seems that the residual strength is mainly contributed by the macro-interlocking, thus the residual strength increases during the later loading stage. This might happen if the residual bond resistance contributed by friction is minor or the macro-interlocking grows very fast for specimens with large fabrication tolerances. Identical specimens have been prepared to conduct push-out tests for most test series. Generally, the agreement is reasonable for each pair of duplicate specimens in terms of ultimate bond strength and S curve. Therefore, bond strengths obtained from the average of two individual push-out results are used and compared in the following discussion. It is worth noting that,

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(a) Full-range S curves.

(b) Initial S curves.

Fig. 7. Comparison of slip at loaded end and free end (C4-0a).

Fig. 8. Sudden load reduction after peak loads were reached for some specimens.

Fig. 9. Discrepancy in S curves for identical specimens.

in some cases, a notable discrepancy can be spotted, which is consistent with the observation presented by other researchers [8]. A typical example is shown in Fig. 9, where the S curve of specimen S7-180a can be classified into Type A while that of specimen S7-180b was recognised as Type B. Moreover, there is a difference of 18.6% in the measured peak bond strength between the two specimens, although the initial slopes are quite close. Obviously, this discrepancy can be attributed to the variation in the surface roughness of the two specimens. 3.3. Bond strength (u ) Currently, there is no single definition for bond strength that is universally accepted. Virdi and Dowling [6] conducted push-out tests on over 100 concrete-filled circular steel tubes, where the maximum stresses were achieved at the end of the tests when the concrete core attained its travel limit. In other words, all curves demonstrated by Virdi and Dowling [6] can be identified as Type C curves, as shown in Fig. 3(b). This observation is not consistent with that observed by others. The explanation is that the tubes used by Virdi and Dowling [6] had very small diameter-to-thickness ratios ranged from 24 to 36. So they were highly resistant to lateral expansion and therefore could resist high interface shear stress and the macro-interlocking were magnified as well. The

reported bond strengths ranged from 1.4 to 2.8 MPa, in general, are also higher than those reported by others. A conservative estimation of bond strength was made by Virdi and Dowling [6] on the basis of a critical bond strain of 0.0035. Aly et al. [12] believed that the chemical bond is unstable, and post-peak residual bond stress was recommended to be taken as the bond strength. However, this method is only applicable to Type B curves in defining reliable residual bond strength. For other types of curves, the determination of residual strength will be rather arbitrary. The bond between the circular steel tube and concrete was investigated by Roeder et al. [8], where bond stress capacity was defined as the average interface stress associated with the initial rigid body slip of the concrete core relative to the steel tube. According to Roeder et al. [8], the behaviour of concrete was of rigid body motion between the core and the tube with reducing mechanical resistance from interface shear after the slip was greater than that at the peak load. For this reason, maximum average bond stress was used by Shakir-Khalil [7], Roeder et al. [8], Nezamian et al. [10], and Nardin and El Debs [11]. According to the above discussion, maximum average bond stress is also adopted in this paper to represent ultimate bond strength (u ) for Type A and Type B curves. The average values of the corresponding slip (Su ) for circular specimens with a fire exposure of 0 min, 90 min and 180 min are 1.54 mm, 1.97 mm and 3.74 mm, respectively, while those for square specimens are 0.78 mm, 2.35 mm, and 2.64 mm, respectively. However, the bond strength definition is not so straightforward for Type C curves since the bond stress keeps increasing during the whole loading process. In this paper, the bond stress at the transitional Point B shown in Fig. 3(b) is defined as the ultimate bond strength. This is justified by the fact that the average value of Su is 2.45 mm for all Type C curves, which is quite close to the average value of other firedamaged square specimens. The values of u and Su for all circular and square specimens are summarised in Table 1. At the same time, the ultimate push-out loads (Nu ) corresponding to u are also given in this table. 3.4. Critical bond stress The average stress corresponding to Point A on the bond stress versus free-end curve shown in Fig. 7 is designated as critical bond stress (cr ) in this paper. As mentioned earlier, the termination of the elastic response of a S curve normally corresponds to the fast development of the slip at the free end. Therefore, the critical bond stress is one of the important characteristics of S curves. As can be seen from Fig. 7, the slip at the free end is much smaller than that at the loaded end before cr is reached. This is owing to the fact that the slip at the free end during this stage is mainly generated from the compressive deformation of the steel tube at the bottom. But beyond Point A, it suggests the change in slip mechanisms and indicates that the concrete core begins to slip along the whole interface.

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(a) Circular specimens.

(b) Square specimens. Fig. 10. Normalized critical bond stress.

(a) Inner surface of the circular tube.

(b) Inner surface of the square tube.

Fig. 11. Friction marks observed on steel tubes.

Fig. 10 shows the normalized cr with respect to the corresponding ultimate bond strength (u ). Obviously, there is considerable scatter in cr /u values across the sample. But cr /u values are, in general, bigger than 0.5. For circular columns, smaller cr /u values were achieved for those fire-damaged specimens compared with those undamaged ones. But for square columns, the trend is just the opposite. The explanation could be that friction contributes significantly to the bond strength for circular columns before cr is reached, while for square columns, the friction is less effective. This is confirmed by the fact that friction marks were observed around the perimeter of a circular tube, but mainly found in the vicinity of the corners of a square tube, as shown in Fig. 11. This phenomenon was also observed by Shakir-Khalil [7]. It looks like that concrete strength has strong influence on friction according to its formation mechanism mentioned earlier. Long-time fire exposure will decrease the concrete strength, which in turn causes the earlier shearing off of the bonding mortar and reduces the friction between the steel tube and concrete. For this reason, the fire-damaged circular specimens attained their ultimate state soon after cr was reached, and cr /u increased accordingly. But for the square specimens, chemical adhesion was more important in contributing to the bond strength before cr was reached since friction was less effective in this case. Not like friction, the whole interface can provide adhesion to resist the push-out load. This is proved by the fact that the inner surfaces of square steel tubes were still covered with the remainder of mortar after the pushout testing, as shown in Fig. 11(b). Therefore, the square tubes had larger cr /u values at ambient temperatures since chemical adhesion was likely to be conquered just before the rigid body slip of the concrete occurred. But after exposure to fire, the chemical adhesion was affected by fire damage, leading to the earlier occurrence of slip and smaller cr /u . It can also be found from Fig. 10 that there is no statistically significant difference between the cr /u ratios for

fire-exposed circular and square specimens, and the fire exposure period has no significant influence on cr /u either. 3.5. Influence of different parameters 3.5.1. Effects of fire exposure time and cross-section type It is no doubt that fire exposure has impact on the chemical adhesion and friction between the steel tube and concrete. Furthermore, it can lead to the change of concrete volume, and thus affects the composite action between the steel tube and concrete. The volume change of concrete causes a radial reduction or enlargement. Its influence on the bond behaviour has been well documented by Roeder et al. [8]. According to the test results reported by Khoury [17], after initial expansion, cement pastes could undergo considerable shrinkage above 100 C, as they lost evaporable water and as dehydration of the various hydrates occurred at different temperatures. Meanwhile, substantial residual expansion was observed for aggregates in concrete. The tests conducted by Khoury [17] indicate that limestone aggregate exhibited residual expansion after cooling from about 350 C demonstrating thermal instability at that temperature. A third contributing factor to the volume change of concrete is crack development. Micro-cracking formed during cooling can lead to significant residual expansion of concrete. Therefore, residual strain of concrete after exposure to fire will greatly depend on the temperature history, aggregate type, cement type, waterbinder ratio, and cement replacement ratio used. It is worth noting that post-fire concrete may also experience some volume change after absorbing moisture from the atmosphere. However, this influence is minimized for CFST columns since the concrete is cast in the steel tubes. At this moment, it is still very difficult to accurately predict the residual strain of concrete after fire exposure. This is owing

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493

Fig. 12. Residual strain of quartz and limestone concrete after cooling [18].

to the limited test results available and the substantial number of affecting parameters involved. Generally, residual shrinkage can be expected for concrete subjected to lower temperatures while residual expansion occurs when exposed to higher temperatures (Fig. 12). According to Schneider [18], the first case occurred for most concretes after heating up to less than 400 C, and the second case was observed by cooling of concretes being heated above 400 C. A residual dilation of up to 6000 was reported by Schneider [18] for unloaded limestone concrete experienced a heating of 800 C, as shown in Fig. 12. Fig. 13 depicts the temperature distributions along the x axis for specimens with different cross-sectional dimensions at the end of fire exposure. The temperatures were calculated based on heat transfer analysis by using the ABAQUS software [19]. More details about the analysis can be found in [20]. Since concrete has a relatively low thermal conductivity, it is not surprising that the temperatures are much lower within the concrete core than those near the concrete surface (Point 3 shown in Fig. 13), especially for these big columns. In Fig. 13, Point 1 is the centre point of the cross-section and Point 2 is the midpoint between Point 1 and Point 3. The temperatures of these characteristic points calculated are summarised in Table 4. It seems that section type or cross-sectional dimension has no significant influence on the temperatures at the interface. For columns with 90 min fire exposure, the calculated temperature at Point 3 ranges from 877 to 925 C, while that for columns with a T of 180 min ranges from 1016 to 1050 C. Since the temperature distribution across the whole section is uneven, the temperature at Point 2 is chosen as the characteristic temperature (Tchar ) of the section to simplify the analysis. Therefore, for the smaller circular and square columns, the values of Tchar are all larger than 500 C. It is expected that substantial residual expansion occurred for the concrete in these columns. But for the bigger columns, all Tchar are under 400 C

except that of the circular columns with a diameter of 377 mm and a fire exposure of 180 min. In this exceptional case, Tchar is 501 C. Hence, the bigger columns are not expected to have obvious volume change according to Schneider [18]. Fig. 14 demonstrates the effect of fire exposure time (T ) on S curves. As can be seen, the ultimate bond strength u generally decreased after exposure to fire for 90 min. For circular columns, significant loss of bond strength occurred with a strength loss of 7377%. The strength loss for square columns was comparatively much less, which ranged from 12% to 34%. The deterioration in bond strength was mainly owing to the detrimental influence of fire exposure on chemical adhesion and friction. The greater loss of bond strength for circular columns indicates that the fire exposure has much more profound influence on friction. For specimens with a fire exposure of 180 min, it is interesting to note that the bond strength began to reversely increase, rather than to decline any further. In some cases, the strength could be fully recovered, which was especially true for those square columns. Two main reasons can be used to explain this. On the one hand, the values of Tchar for the smaller specimens were quite close to 900 C, therefore, significant residual expansion would be expected. On the other hand, the more severe the concrete damaged, the easier the concrete dilates under axial compression. The radial expansion of concrete could increase the contact pressure and therefore friction resistance. Another possible beneficial effect resulted from the residual expansion is that it could counteract the influence of concrete shrinkage formed during the curing stage. Fire exposure also affected the initial slope of S curves, which mainly came from chemical adhesion between the steel tube and concrete. Generally, the stiffness degradation could be as high as 50%. But it seems that the fire exposure time had no significant influence on the initial slope. This is owing to the fact that the interface temperatures were quite close when the specimens were exposed to fire either with a time of 90 or 180 min. Therefore, the damage to the chemical bond were expected to be quite close. Fig. 15 compares the bond strength of circular specimens with those of square specimens. It is clear that circular columns generally had much higher bond strength than square columns. This can be explained by the aforesaid different bond mechanisms for circular and square columns, i.e., circular columns are much more effective in transferring the interface shear stress. The flat parts of a square tube are susceptible to bend outwardly, once contact pressure is formed between the steel tube and concrete. This has an adverse effect on the actual contact between the steel tube and concrete. Therefore, the effective contact likely forms only in the vicinity of the corners for a square tube, which can be called effective contact area.

(a) Circular specimens.

(b) Square specimens. Fig. 13. Temperature distribution along x axis.

494 Table 4 Calculated temperatures at different locations. Section type

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Cross-sectional dimension (mm)

T = 90 min Point 1 Point 2 620 257 531 178 Point 3 925 898 913 877

T = 180 min Point 1 886 354 803 251 Point 2 933 501 867 393 Point 3 1050 1029 1044 1016

Circular Square

194 377 200 400

489 130 429 76

S3 S3 S3

(a) Circular specimens.

(b) Square specimens. Fig. 14. Effect of fire exposure time on S curves.

(a) Circular specimens.

(b) Square specimens. Fig. 15. Effect of cross-section type on bond strength.

(a) Circular specimens.

(b) Square specimens. Fig. 16. Effect of cross-sectional dimension on bond strength.

3.5.2. Effect of cross-sectional dimension The effect of cross-sectional dimension on u is depicted in Fig. 16. In general, the bond strength decreased significantly when D or B increased. This is consistent with the observation made by Roeder et al. [8]. The larger the tube size, the bigger the gap forms between the steel tube and concrete due to the shrinkage of concrete. For this reason, the bond stress distribution for big circular specimens is now quite different from that shown in Fig. 5(a). Owing to the existence of the gap, there was no bond stress formed near the loaded end initially, and the longitudinal distribution of bond stress became much more uniform when u

was reached compared with that for specimen C9-90b shown in Fig. 5(a). It is worth noting that there is an exception to this size effect observed for specimens C4-90a and C4-90b, which had even higher bond strength (increased by 17.9%) compared with their counterparts C1-90a and C1-90b. A possible explanation for this is that macro-interlocking effect was more significant for C4-90a and C4-90b since they had a much longer length than C1-90a and C1-90b. This phenomenon was not observed for corresponding square columns since they had much smaller effective contact area and thus the influence of macro-interlocking was less significant.

Z. Tao et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 67 (2011) 484496 Table 5 Design bond strength (Rd ) specified in different design codes. Code Circular CFST Rectangular CFST AIJ [21] 0.225 0.15 AS 5100 [22] 0.4 0.4 EC4 [23] 0.55 0.4 BS 5400 [24] 0.4 0.4 AISC [25] 0.4 0.4

495

DBJ/T13-51-2010 [26] 0.225 0.15

(a) Circular specimens.

(b) Square specimens. Fig. 17. Effect of Li /D or Li /B ratio on bond strength.

Furthermore, compared with the reference specimens C4-0a and C4-0b, C4-90a and C4-90b also had higher bond strength. This is attributed to the fact that the gap between the steel tube and concrete resulted from concrete shrinkage in large-size columns was offset by the residual expansion of concrete in C4-90a and C490b. Therefore, bond stress due to friction developed very fast for these specimens. But this is not the case for specimens C4-0a and C4-0b without fire exposure. Currently, different design bond strengths (Rd ) for CFST columns are specified in different design codes as summarised in Table 5, i.e. AIJ [21], AS 5100 [22], EC4 [23], BS 5400 [24], AISC [25], DBJ/T13-51-2010 [26]. Within the limitations of the current tests, 0.4 MPa and 0.15 MPa can be adopted as Rd for circular and square CFST columns, respectively. From the comparison shown in Fig. 15, there is no need to consider the fire exposure influence if Rd is so specified. It is worth noting that three codes including AS 5100, AISC and BS 5400 have specified a same value of 0.4 MPa for both circular and square columns. Since the bond mechanisms for circular and square columns are quite different, the assigned value of 0.4 MPa for square columns often exceeds measured bond strength, especially for those big columns. Actually, in this paper, 0.4 MPa is the upper bound for both the unheated specimens and those with a 90 min fire exposure as shown in Fig. 15. 3.5.3. Effect of Li /D or Li /B ratio The relationship between u and Li /D or Li /B ratio is shown in Fig. 17. For circular columns, the trend is that u decreased with increasing Li /D ratio. But the trend for square columns is just the opposite. Since bond strength is mainly provided by the steelconcrete interaction near the loaded end for circular columns, the average bond strength will decrease if the interface length increases. Compared with circular tubes, the bond stresses distribute more evenly along the length of square tubes. The increase of average bond strength as a function of Li /B ratio for square columns could be explained by the increasing influence of macro-interlocking. The longer the column, the higher the tolerance of surface irregularities and overall imperfections are. 3.5.4. Effect of concrete type Two types of concrete, i.e., SCC and NC, were used in the current test program. The effect of concrete type on u can be found in Table 1. It seems that SCC can have a higher or lower bond strength than NC, which greatly depends on the type of FA, water-binder

ratio, and cement replacement ratio used for the SCC. In general, the bond strength of NC was bigger than that of SCC when Class III FA was used, but was smaller than the bond strength of SCC when Class II FA was used. Therefore, within the limitation of the current tests, the bond strength of SCC is comparable to that of NC. 3.5.5. Effects of fly ash type and different SCC mixtures Generally, Class II FA concrete had higher bond strength than Class III FA concrete except specimens C2-0 and C2-90. Since Class II FA is finer and more active than Class III FA, concrete made from Class II FA is expected to have higher chemical cohesion and residual strength, which can enhance the bond behaviour between the steel tube and concrete. For series C2, the concrete used had higher strength and smaller water-binder ratio when compared with the concrete used in series C3. Therefore, the bond strength of C2-0 and C2-90 was greatly affected by concrete shrinkage, and the gap thus had an adverse effect on the friction. Due to the residual expansion of concrete, there was no gap influence for specimen C2-180. For the square columns, their bond strength was less sensitive to concrete shrinkage. Hence, no exception was found for the square columns with respect to the influence of FA type. It can also be found from Table 1 that cement replacement ratio and water-binder ratio have some influence on u . For the circular specimens, bond strength increased when the cement replacement ratio increased from 31% to 48% and water-binder ratio increased from 0.31 to 0.38. But the trend was just the opposite for the square specimens. Undoubtedly, the concrete strength decreased with increasing cement replacement ratio or water-binder ratio. This might also result in the reduction in chemical adhesion which contributed greatly to the bond strength of the square columns. But for the circular columns, higher concrete shrinkage resulted from the decrease of cement replacement ratio and water-binder ratio led to a decreased bond strength. 3.5.6. Effect of concrete curing condition Concrete moisture could be prevented from dissipating at the ends if a tube was sealed. Generally, smaller shrinkage can be expected for concrete under sealed condition and reduce the possible gap formed between the steel tube and concrete. It can be found from Table 1 that all the four sealed specimens with 180 min fire exposure had higher bond strength than their reference specimens. The increases of average bond strength for the circular

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and square columns were 13% and 49%, respectively. But this phenomenon was not observed for the two sealed square specimens with 90 min fire exposure, and only one circular specimen C7-90b showed extremely high bond strength which was different from its companion specimen C7-90a. Therefore, a total of three sealed specimens with a fire exposure of 90 min had lower u compared with the unsealed ones. At this moment, the variation in the test observations is hard to interpret. More experimental investigations are needed to clearly understand the mechanisms. 4. Conclusions An experimental program of bond characteristics between the steel tube and in-filled concrete is discussed in this paper. The following conclusions can be drawn based on the results of this study. (1) Bond strength generally decreased for specimens after 90 min fire exposure, and a strength recovery was found when the fire exposure time was extended to 180 min. (2) Circular columns generally had much higher bond strength than square columns. Within the limitations of the current tests, 0.4 and 0.15 MPa are recommended as design bond strength for circular and square CFST columns, respectively. In this regard, the influence of fire exposure may be ignored. (3) Due to concrete shrinkage, bond strength of CFST columns was very sensitive to their cross-sectional dimension. More research is needed for columns with large cross-sections, and maybe suitable measures should be taken to improve the bond strength. (4) Fly ash type, water-binder ratio and cement replacement ratio have impact on the bond strength of SCC. In general, the bond strength of SCC is comparable to that of normal concrete. Based on the research results reported in this paper, it seems that fire exposure has significant influence on the initial slope, ultimate strength, and curve shape of the bond stress-slip curves for CFST columns. To carry out accurate nonlinear analysis for fire-damaged structures, further research is needed to put forward a suitable bond stress-slip model incorporating the influence of fire exposure. The experimental work presented in this paper has provided a good basis for the development of the model. Acknowledgements The research reported in the paper is part of the New Century Outstanding Talents Supporting Project of Universities in Fujian Province (XSJRC2007-05) and the Research Fund for the Doctoral Program of Higher Education of China (200803860005). This research work has also been partially supported by the Australian Research Council (ARC) under its Future Fellowships scheme (Project No: FT0991433). The financial support is gratefully acknowledged.

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