Journal of Constructional Steel Research 57 (2001) 11411168

www.elsevier.com/locate/jcsr

Concrete-filled circular steel tubes subjected to

pure bending
M. Elchalakani*, X.L. Zhao, R.H. Grzebieta
Department of Civil Engineering, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria 3800, Australia
Received 19 February 2001; revised 26 June 2001; accepted 25 July 2001

Abstract
Current design codes and standards provide little information on the flextural behaviour of
circular concrete filled tubes (CFT) as there have been few experimental studies. There are
significant differences in d/t-limits recommended in various codes for CFT under bending.
This paper presents an experimental investigation of the flexural behaviour of circular CFT
subjected to large deformation pure bending where d/t = 12 to 110. The paper compares the
behaviour of empty and void-filled, cold-formed circular hollow sections under pure plastic
bending. It was found that for the range of d/t40, void filling prevented local buckling for
very large rotations, whereas multiple plastic ripples formed in the inelastic range for specimens with 74d/t110. In general, void filling of the steel tube enhances strength, ductility
and energy absorption especially for thinner sections. Based on the measured material properties, the plastic d/t-limit was found to be 112. A simplified formula is provided to determine
the ultimate flexural capacity of CFT. The existing design rules for the ultimate moment
capacity of CFT may be extended conservatively to a new slenderness range of 100ls
188. 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Circular tubes; Composite section; Plastic bending; Thin-walled sections

1. Introduction
Composite members consisting of circular steel tubes filled with concrete are
extensively used in structures involving very large applied moments, particularly in
zones of high seismicity. Composite circular concrete filled tubes (CFT) have been
* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: mohamed.elchalakani@eng.monash.edu.au (M. Elchalakani).
0143-974X/01/$ - see front matter 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
PII: S 0 1 4 3 - 9 7 4 X ( 0 1 ) 0 0 0 3 5 - 9

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Nomenclature
a
CHS
d
eu
E
Es
Ec
fy
fc
fu
Im
L
M
Mu
Mp
Mpt
MptH
Mtheory
Mu
N
N0
rm
ri
R
Ru
SH
t
a
ap

pt
ls
g0
q
qmax
qy

shear span defined in Fig. 2(a)

circular hollow sections
outside diameter of CHS
percentage elongation at fracture
modulus of elasticity of CFT section
measured initial Youngs modulus of steel tube
predicted elastic modulus of the concrete
measured yield stress (0.2%)
concrete cylinder strength
measured ultimate tensile strength
second moment of area based on measured dimensions
beam length under constant moment
applied moment
ultimate moment
plastic moment
plastic moment based on measured dimensions and material
properties
plastic moment of hollow tubes
predicted ultimate moment capacity
ultimate moment obtained in a test
axial force
squash load
mean radius of the tube
inside radius of the tube
rotation capacity
limit rotation angle
plastic section modulus for hollow tubes
thickness of CHS
slenderness parameter
slenderness parameter plastic limit
curvature
curvature corresponding to Mpt
section slenderness defined in AS4100 [39]
angular location of the plastic neutral axis
relative angle of rotation
rotation corresponding to Mu
rotation corresponding to My

M. Elchalakani et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 57 (2001) 11411168

1143

used increasingly as columns and beam-columns in braced and unbraced frame structures [1]. Their use worldwide has ranged from compression members in low-rise,
open floor plan construction using cold-formed steel circular or rectangular tubes
filled with precast or cast-in-place concrete, to large diameter cast-in-place members
used as the primary lateral resistance columns in multi-story buildings. Concrete
filled steel box columns fabricated from four welded plates and concrete filled steel
fabricated circular sections have been used in some of the worlds tallest structures
[2]. In addition, concrete filling is widely used in retrofitting of damaged steel bridge
piers after the 1995 Hyogoken-Nanbu earthquake in Japan and the Northridge earthquake in 1994 in the USA [3].
The CFT structural members have a number of distinctive advantages over conventional steel reinforced concrete members. CFT members provide excellent seismic
resistance in two orthogonal directions as well as good damping characteristics.
These members also have excellent hysteresis behaviour under cyclic loading, compared with hollow tubes [1]. The use of CFT members in moment resisting frames
eliminates the use of additional stiffening elements in panel zones and zones of high
strain demand. The CFT columns have been proven to be cost effective in building
structures compared to conventional reinforced concrete ones [4]. In general, void
filling is an efficient way to delay premature local buckling and to enhance ductility
of tubular structures built with cold-formed hollow sections. Concrete filling not only
delays local buckling but also prevents the detrimental effect of ovalization on the
bending capacity of circular hollow sections (CHS).
In spite of the bulk literature written over the last four decades on the technique
of concrete filling of circular steel tubes, little of it was devoted to the large deformation flexural behaviour of these members. CFT beams were studied under 3-point
bending by Kilpatrick and Rangan [5] and 4-point bending by Hosaka et al. [6].
CFT stub columns were studied by Furlong [7], Gardner and Jacobson [8], Schneider
[9], Uy [10] and Bridge and OShea [11]. CFT beam columns were investigated by
Prion and Boehme [12], Neogi et al. [13], Eltawil et al. [14], Tomii [15] and Trezona
and Warner [16]. Bonds between concrete and steel tubes stub columns have been
experimentally studied by Shakir-Khalil [17]. Hajjar [1] has recently provided a stateof-the-art literature review, where the results of research on CFT members under
monotonic and cyclic loading over the last four decades are summarised.
The plastic slenderness limits are widely used in the current design rules to classify
the cross-sectional behaviour. Three types of sections are commonly used in this
classification: compact, non-compact and slender. The plastic d/t-limit is used to
identify a compact section suitable for plastic design of frames. Currently, there are
large differences in this limit for CFT members specified in different codes and
standards as shown in Table 1. The plastic d/t-limits specified by most of the international design codes for a nominal yield strength of 350 MPa (grade C350) are
consistent and lower than 70. However, the AIJ [18] adopts a larger plastic d/t-limit
of 120 for C350. It is worth noting that this limit results from beam column tests
[19]. In Japan, the limit values are about 1.5 times larger than those for unfilled steel
tubes. This recommendation stems from the concept of ensuring fully plastic strength
of CFT cross section [19]. This means that the cross section can locally buckle before

AIJ [18]
CAIP [41]
AISC-LRFD [20]
ACI 318 [38]
EC4 [22]
CIDECT [40]
BS 5400, Part 5
[33]

Japan
China
USA

fy = 350 MPa, fu = 430 MPa and Es = 200,000 MPa.

fy = 419 MPa, fu = 523 MPa and Es = 204,000 MPa.
F (in MPa ) is the lesser of 0.7fu and fy.

United Kingdom

Europe

Code

Country

Table 1
The d/t-limits for CFT members in international codes

(using nominal properties)a

120
70
68
68
60
60
68

Formulae
36000/Fc
85235/fy
8Es/fy
8Es/fy
90 (235/fy)
90 (235/fy)
8Es/fy

d/t-limit

98
64
62
62
50
50
62

(using measured properties)b

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M. Elchalakani et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 57 (2001) 11411168

1145

reaching the full plastic moment. In the USA, the specified limit (d/t = 68 for C350)
is used to prevent local buckling before attainment of full plastic moment [20]. These
two different concepts may explain the large differences in the plastic d/t-limits. In
Australia, it is proposed [21] to use the same limit specified in EC4 [22] for CFT
under axial compression (d/t = 60 for C350). Therefore, it is required to perform a
series of plastic bending tests on CFT beams to determine a suitable plastic d/t-limit.
Early research at Monash University on square hollow section (SHS) beams subjected to large deformation cyclic bending showed that a plastic mechanism may
form in the flange of SHS and the residual strength rapidly reduces after a few cycles
[23]. This is true even for compact sections that have adequate rotation capacity
under static bending. Recent research on void-filled SHS beams subjected to large
deformation cyclic bending demonstrated the significant increase in ductility of these
members [24]. Similar phenomenon is expected for CHS. Therefore, it is necessary
to investigate empty and void-filled CHS subjected to large deformation pure bending
for a single half cycle test before extending the study to multiple cycle tests.
This paper presents an experimental investigation of the flexural behaviour of
circular CFT beams subjected to large deformation pure bending where d/t = 12 to
110. The paper examines the strength, ductility and energy absorption of CFT constructed from cold-formed steel tubes filled with normal concrete. The failure modes
of hollow and CFT members under pure bending are compared. A suitable plastic
d/t-limit is determined and recommended for the plastic design of CFT subassemblies
and frames. The differences between the design rules in the ultimate bending capacity
of CFT are quantified. A simplified formula is derived to determine the ultimate
flexural capacity of CFT under pure bending.

2. Material properties
The steel sections used for the construction of the specimens are cold-formed
circular hollow sections grade C350 with nominal yield stress of 350 MPa produced
by Palmer Tube Mills in Australia. The tubes are manufactured to meet the quality
of cold-formed standards AS 1163 [25]. Tensile coupons were taken from points
away from the seams in the tubes to avoid the variability in strength due to welding.
The tensile coupons were prepared and tested according to the Australian Standard
AS 1391 [26] to determine the initial Youngs modulus (Es), the yield stress (fy),
the ultimate tensile strength (fu) and the percentage elongation (eu) at fracture. The
average measured mechanical properties are fy = 419 MPa, fu = 523 MPa and
eu = 26%. The average measured yield stress and ultimate tensile strength are 19.7%
and 21.6% larger than their corresponding nominal values, respectively. The average
ratio of the measured fu/fy is 1.25.
A total of eight concrete standard cylinders (100 mm in diameter and 200 mm
long) were tested in a 200 kN capacity Amsler universal testing machine to AS
1012.9 [27] on the day the pure bending experiments were carried out. The average
unconfined compressive strength of concrete cylinder was fc = 23.4 MPa. The density
of the concrete was 2440 kg/m3.

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3. Pure bending test specimens and procedure

3.1. Specimens
A total of 12 specimens (1500 mm long) were tested. The average measured
dimensions of the composite specimens and the calculated effective stiffness EI,
plastic moment capacity (Mpt) and plastic curvature (pt) are listed in Table 2. The
measured material properties are used in calculating Mpt which was determined from
rigid plastic stress block analysis and pt = Mpt/EI. The effective stiffness of the
composite section was determined as [22]:
EI EsIs 0.8EcIc

(1)

Ec 0.043r fc

(2)

1.5

where Es and Ec are the elastic moduli of steel and concrete in MPa, respectively.
Is and Ic are the moments of inertia of the steel tube and the concrete, respectively
and r is the concrete density in kg/m3.
An end cap (thin steel plate) was used to cast the concrete while the steel tube
was in the vertical position. The specimens were cast from two batches and cured
under polyethylene until the time of testing. The end cap was removed and the ends
of the specimens were left uncapped to allow slippage to occur. This was believed
to be the worst case in regards to loss of composite action. The necessary d/t ratio
required to examine slender specimens (CBC0-A, B, C) was obtained by machining
a CHS 114.33.2 to the required thickness. Machining of circular tubes was used
in the past [28] to examine the effect of section slenderness on the inelastic flexural
behaviour of CHS. Machining was found to have a negligible effect on the behaviour
of the members [28]. The free deformation length for the non-machined specimens
is equal to the pure-moment span in the tests. This distance is equal to the distance
between the internal supports in the rig (LABa = 800 mm as shown in Fig. 2(a)).
The free deformation length for the machined specimens was 600 mm. This makes
the minimal free deformation length-to-diameter ratio 7.86 for non-machined specimens and 5.41 for machined ones. These ratios were believed to be adequate to
allow the formation of local buckles without end effects and the development of full
inelastic rotation of the cross section.
3.2. Test procedure
A unique pure bending rig was used to test the bending specimens. This rig was
designed and fully commissioned at Monash University [29]. The advantage of this
rig is its ability to apply a pure bending moment over the middle span of the test
specimen without inducing significant axial or shear forces. A front view on specimen CBC9 during the test is shown in Fig. 1(a). It can be seen that the rig comprises
two load application wheels mounted on right and left carriages at either end of the
specimen. The right carriage is fixed in place by holding down bolts and the left one
is attached to floor wheels by a needle bearing to reduce friction during movement of

CBC0-C
CBC0-B
CBC0-A
CBC1
CBC2
CBC3
CBC4
CBC5
CBC6
CBC7
CBC8
CBC9
Mean
COV

Specimen
no.

109.91.0
110.41.25
110.91.5
101.832.53
88.642.79
76.322.45
89.263.35
60.652.44
76.193.24
60.673.01
33.661.98
33.782.63

dt (mm)

109.9
88.3
73.9
40.2
31.8
31.2
26.6
24.9
23.5
20.2
17.0
12.8

d/t

Table 2
Mechanical properties of CFT specimens

400
400
400
365
432
415
412
433
456
408
442
460
419
0.06

fy (MPa)

533
533
533
469
538
534
502
508
548
503
511
568
523
0.05

fu (MPa)

30
30
30
30
23
24
28
24
24
28
23
22
26
0.12

eu (%)

Properties of steel tube

191
191
191
200
210
218
211
211
205
204
207
209
204
0.04

Es (GPa)

6.71
8.61
10.47
9.96
9.60
6.00
10.94
3.82
8.25
4.33
0.92
1.21

23.0
25.5
28.1
28.0
18.5
10.4
21.4
4.8
12.3
5.5
0.5
0.7

Mpt (kN m) EI (1010 N

mm2)

2.92
3.38
3.73
3.56
5.19
5.77
5.11
8.05
6.71
7.90
19.17
18.11

kpt (mm1)

2.7
2.7
2.7
3.0
3.4
3.9
3.4
5.0
3.9
5.0
8.9
8.9

a/d

Properties of composite section

M. Elchalakani et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 57 (2001) 11411168

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M. Elchalakani et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 57 (2001) 11411168

Fig. 1. The pure bending rig. (a) Front view on the rig while testing CBC 9. (b) Side view on the rig
while testing specimen CBC3.

the carriage. This movement is necessary to prevent any significant axial force from
building up during the full course of the experiment, particularly at large deformations. A side view on specimen CBC3 during the test is shown in Fig. 1(b). The
bending moment, shear force diagrams and relative angle of rotation (q) of a test
specimen are shown in Fig. 2.
Adequate modelling of the boundary conditions is of prime importance in the
analysis of buckling problems. Therefore, the test specimen was carefully mounted
on the two load application wheels and positioned using saddle clamps that were

M. Elchalakani et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 57 (2001) 11411168

Fig. 2.

Bending moment, shear force diagrams and load transfer model.

1149

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M. Elchalakani et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 57 (2001) 11411168

fabricated to suit each tube size. The intention of these clamps was to provide full
bearing of the load onto the specimen thus reducing the localised stress raiser particularly at the inside 40 mm diameter loading pins. The specimen was positioned
horizontally on the saddles to have its weld seam levelled with its centroid. The
moment was applied to the specimen using a hydraulic pump connected to two
hydraulic jacks through a manifold. The presence of the manifold ensured that the
load applied by both jacks was approximately the same. The jacks are connected to
the load application wheels on either side of the test specimen. Extension of the
jacks causes the load application wheels to rotate opposite to each other and hence
apply a bending moment to the specimen via four load application pins.
In order to determine the M curve, it was necessary to measure the change of
six key angles, jack loads and strains. Four inclinometers were attached to the rig,
one on each side of the load application wheels and one on each side of the hydraulic
jacks. In addition, two inclinometers where attached directly (by a magnet) to the
top side of the specimen to measure the relative angle of rotation. The applied bending moment was determined from the measured angular rotations and forces from
the load cells attached to the jacks. The inclinometers were calibrated using a Divided
Head set to a 30 range and 2.0 kN intervals. The load cells were calibrated using
a Mohr and Federhaff Universal testing machine set to a 10 kN range and 1.0 kN
intervals. Two electric resistance strain gauges at the top and bottom of the section
at the middle of the specimen were used to determine the point at which buckling
occurred. The curvatures were determined from the inclinometers (attached directly
to the ends of the specimen) and then were used in plotting M curves. The curvature was determined as = q/(LABa). The load cells, strain gauges and inclinometers were connected to a standard data logger through an amplifier. The sampling rate was done at 2-s intervals. The test was stopped for a few minutes at 5
relative rotation to allow for measurements and photographs.

4. Pure bending test results

In the following, the results are given in two sections. The first one is devoted to
those CFT constructed using compact tubes where d/t40. The second section
describes the results for those specimens constructed using slender tubes where
74d/t110.
4.1. CFT constructed from compact steel tubes
In general, the CFT specimens (from CBC1 to CBC9) had a better performance
than the hollow tubes (from BC1 to BC9 [30]). Figure 3 shows a kink typically
formed in the hollow tube after a considerable inelastic rotation [30]. Unlike the
hollow tubes, the CFT did not exhibit any form of buckling, plastic ripples or a
single local buckle, or even a tensile fracture during the test.
The numerical values of the ultimate moment (Mu) obtained in the tests for the
CFT are listed in Table 3. Figure 4 shows three typical responses of the normalised

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1151

Fig. 3. Flexural behaviour of unfilled [BC1 100.62.6 (top) to BC9 33.72.6] and filled circular tubes
[CBC1 100.62.6 (top) to CBC9 33.72.6].

bending moment (M/Mpt) versus the normalised curvature (/pt) for the filled and
unfilled tubes. The term pt is the plastic curvature (pt = Mpt/EI) and the term Mpt
is the plastic moment capacity.
The behaviour of the filled and unfilled specimens was similar until a point, where
the filled curve separated from the corresponding curve of the hollow specimen. The
ratio of the maximum normalized curvature obtained for the filled section
[(/pt)maxfilled] to the normalized curvature at the separation point [(/pt)separation]
is given in Table 3. This ratio is larger for specimens with larger slenderness. This
indicates that there is more enhancement in ductility due to concrete filling for thinner sections.
The ratios of the maximum moment, ductility and energy absorption obtained in
the tests for CFT and the corresponding values for hollow tubes are also given in
Table 3. There is a considerable increase in the bending strength of CFT over the
hollow tubes, particularly for large slenderness. The maximum increase is 37% for
BC3 (ls = 54.92), while the minimal increase is 3% for BC9 (ls = 23.85). The term
ls is the section slenderness which is given by ls = (d/t)(fy/250). This level of
increase in strength is consistent with the range of 1030% reported by Lu and

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Table 3
Test results and comparison between filled and unfilled sections
Specimen Maximum Ultimate
no.
rotation
moment
qmax ()
Mu (kN
m)
CBC0-C
CBC0-B
CBC0-A
CBC1
CBC2
CBC3
CBC4
CBC5
CBC6
CBC7
CBC8
CBC9

11.10
17.5
36.9
38.2
69.2
66.6
30.5
71.0
70.9
66.6
63.6
60.8

7.60
9.10
11.00
11.33
10.86
6.92
10.47
3.78
9.87
4.75
0.90
1.17

(/pt)maxfilled (Mu)filled
(/pt)separation (Mu)unfilled

5.63
7.08
4.72

3.84
3.01
1.0

1.29
1.36
1.37
1.06
1.23
1.30
1.14
1.12
1.03

(qmax)filled
(qmax)unfilled

2.27
6.87
7.94
2.29
2.29
5.44
2.42
1.76
1.12

Efilled
Eunfilled
(to max)

4.34
9.36
9.31
2.36
2.51
1.80
1.90
1.52
1.09

Fig. 4. Typical normalized moment versus curvature response for filled and unfilled tubes with
d/t40.

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1153

Kennedy [31] for flexural tests on rectangular CFT, and 1535% obtained by Zhao
and Grzebieta [24] for square CFT beams. In addition, Kilpatrick and Rangan [5]
found that concrete filling increases the strength by 47% over the hollow steel tube
for ls = 64 and 31% for ls = 75. Prion and Boehme [12] measured a larger increase
of the order of 93% for ls = 96.4 and 67% for ls = 121 where fc = 73 MPa. Hosaka
et al. [6] measured an increase of 65% for CFT for ls = 108 where fc = 46 MPa
under 4-point bending.
The ductility of the CFT under pure plastic bending was determined using the
maximum inelastic rotation qmax, which was the maximum stroke of the machine.
qmax for the CFT corresponds to the maximum moment (Mu) obtained at the end of
the test. The numerical values of qmax for the CFT and its normalised values using
the corresponding values for the hollow tubes are given in Table 3. qmax for the
hollow tubes is measured up to a rotation which corresponds to Mu. It can be seen
that the CFT has a significant increase in the inelastic rotation over the hollow tubes,
particularly for larger slenderness (larger values of d/t). The absorbed energy of the
CFT was determined from the momentcurvature response (up to qmax) and it was
normalised using the energy absorbed by the hollow tubes (again up to qmax for the
hollow tubes). This ratio is given in Table 3, which is larger for the CFT with larger
slenderness. Due to capacity limitations of the testing machine, specimens CBC1
and CBC4 were not tested to the desired q = 60 bend angle. This explains the small
ratio of energy absorption obtained for these two specimens.
The maximum measured ovalization in the tests of CFT was 1.5% for CBC5, but
generally less than 1% for the other eight specimens. This is significantly less than
the 10% uniform ovaling measured in bending tests of hollow tubes [30]. The radial
deformation of the steel tube in the CFT tests was mostly outward, i.e. away from
the tubes axial centre line. Unlike hollow tubes, the ovaling of the CFT was small,
non-uniform with loading and asymmetric due to the opposing effect of concrete
dilation (Poissons ratio effect). Therefore, the effect of ovalization can be neglected
in any theory to predict the flexural strength of CFT sections.
4.2. CFT constructed from slender steel tubes
Figure 5 shows the graphs of normalized bending moment (M/Mpt) versus the
normalized curvature for the specimens constructed using slender tubes, i.e. CBC0A, B, C. Based on strain measurements, the behaviour of CFT beams constructed
from thin CHS can be idealised as shown in Fig. 6. The CFT beam first followed
a linear elastic response during which the yield stress was reached first at the extreme
tensile fibres (bottom) at point B. The extreme compressive fibres then yielded at
point C. The tube starts to bend at point D at an angle of rotation of q = qy. At early
rotations, a plastic ripple started to form in one location when q1.5qy at point F.
Between points F and G, the specimen exhibited significant strain hardening in the
tension zone, particularly for larger slenderness. The ripples were uniformly growing
with loading and also were uniformly distributed along the length of the tube. The
ultimate moment was reached at point G. Between G and I the load slightly dropped
and the unloading curve was gradual, while the tensile strains were accumulating at

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M. Elchalakani et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 57 (2001) 11411168

Fig. 5.

Normalized moment versus curvature response for filled tubes with 40d/t110.

the extreme tensile fibres. The drop in load was 6.5% and 2% for CBC0-A and
CBC0-C, respectively. The unloading curve (between points G and I) was not
obtained for specimen CBC0-B. This may be because the weld seam was slightly
below the centroid of the tube, thus it may have triggered the fracture at a relatively
smaller curvature. The failure occurred at point I suddenly when fracture strain of
the steel tube was reached accompanied with significant thinning in the tubes wall.
Measurements indicated 2530% thinning. The failure mechanism of CBC0-C and
the plastic ripples after failure are shown in Fig. 7. The fracture occurred at the
dominant buckle. The fracture extended from the extreme tensile (bottom) fibres to
slightly above the predicted location of the neutral axis.
4.3. Bond between concrete and steel tube
The effects of slip on the flexural behaviour of square hollow sections (SHS) under
4-point bending were studied by Lu and Kennedy [31]. They found that slip has
slightly reduced the ultimate bending capacity. A model similar to that shown in
Fig. 2(e) was suggested to explain the load transfer. In this figure, the load transfer
from the loaded steel tube (at the outside loading pins) to the concrete is solely by
friction (i.e. no mechanical means such as shear keys, bolts, etc.) by friction and
adhesion within the shear span (distance a in Fig. 2). The values of the shear span
to diameter ratio (a/d) are given in Table 2. Strain gauge measurements in the tests

M. Elchalakani et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 57 (2001) 11411168

1155

Fig. 6. Idealised behaviour of CFT under pure bending where 74d/t110.

indicated no sudden increase in strains and no sudden drop was observed in the
momentcurvature responses. These observations suggest that no slippage occurred
during testing of CFT specimens. This emphasises the significance of the binding
action arising from longitudinal curvature. Similar phenomenon was observed in tests
by Kilpatrick and Rangan [5]. It seems that a value of a/d = 2.7 was sufficient for
a full load transfer without slip. Test results from Kilpatrick and Rangan [5] on noncompact circular tubes filled with high strength concrete (fc = 80 MPa) under 3- or
4-point bending showed that the bond between concrete and the steel tube has little
effect on the strength of CFT under flexure. Therefore, a perfect bond between concrete and CHS is assumed in the ultimate strength model discussed in Section 6.

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M. Elchalakani et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 57 (2001) 11411168

Fig. 7.

Progressive bending of specimen CBC0-C, d/t = 110.

5. Determination of plastic slenderness limits

5.1. Plastic hinge rotation capacity
Two different methods are compared in this paper to determine the rotation
capacity (R) for CFT members. One is based on normalised rotation angles determ-

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1157

ined from pure or constant moment bending tests. This method was found to be
suitable for the plastic analysis of circular hollow tubes [30, 32]. The other method
is based on a limit rotation angle determined from beam column tests. This later
method is used for the plastic analysis of CFT members as part of the USJapan
Cooperative Research Program [34, 35]. These two methods are discussed to some
depth in the following.
5.1.1. Method based on normalized rotation angle
R = qu/qp1 was used by Stranghoner and Sedlacek [36] for rectangular hollow
section (RHS) beams and Gioncu et al. [37] for wide flange I-beams. The term
qu/qp is the dimensionless rotation angle at which the dimensionless momentrotation
angle test curve falls through M/Mp = 1. The term qp is the rotation corresponding
to Mp (the plastic moment). R = qu/qy was used by Sherman [32] for CHS beams
subjected to constant bending. The term qu = qmaxqy where qmax is the rotation
corresponding to the maximum moment obtained in the test (Mu) and qy is the
rotation corresponding to the first yield moment (My). The expression of R can be
rewritten as R = qmax/qy1. The value of qy can be determined using the elastic
2fyL
for a CHS beam under 4-point bending, where fy is the
beam theory, i.e. qy =
Ed
yield stress, L is the beam length under constant moment region and d is the diameter
of the CHS.
5.1.2. Method based on limit rotation angle
Sakino [34] and Toshiyuki et al. [35] reported beam column tests with
0N/N00.5 to examine the effect of axial force on the deformation capacity of
CFT members. N0 is the squash load of the composite section. They used the limit
rotation angle (Ru) to classify the CFT section. It is a characteristic point on the
envelope curve of the shear force versus rotation angle. It is defined as the slope of
a line connecting the two ends of the beam column segment at a point where 95%
of the maximum shear is maintained after reaching maximum shear (see Fig. 8). The
CFT members are classified using Ru into four classes from the viewpoint of ductility,
i.e. FA (very ductile) when Ru2.0, FB (ductile) when 1.5Ru2.0, FC (semi
ductile) when 1.0Ru1.5 and FD (semi brittle) when Ru1.0. For circular CFT:
N
d
Ru 8.86.7 0.04 0.012fc
N0
t

(3)

where N is the applied axial force, N0 is the squash load, d is the outside diameter
of the tube, t is the thickness of the tube, and fc is the concrete cylinder strength.
This parameter (Ru) is examined in the current paper to determine its suitability to
predict the rotation capacity under pure flexure.
5.2. Plastic slenderness limits
In this paper, the plastic slenderness limit will be determined from pure bending
tests. The plastic slenderness limit is determined from the graphs of rotation capacity
(R) versus the slenderness parameter (a) which is defined as [32]:

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M. Elchalakani et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 57 (2001) 11411168

Fig. 8.

Limit rotation angle method, Sakino [34].

Es/fy
d/t

(4)

The transition between sections that have large rotation capacity (compact) and
those where it is limited (non-compact and slender) is rather sharp. The value of a
which corresponds to this sharp transition is called the slenderness parameter limit
(ap). This limit can be converted to the plastic slenderness limit (lp) where E is
expressed in MPa:
lp

d
t

limit

Es
fy
Es/fy
fy

250
ap
250
ap250

(5)

The rotation capacity is defined in this paper as

R

qmax
1
qy

(6)

where qmax is the rotation corresponding to the maximum moment (point G) and qy
is the rotation corresponding to the first yield moment (My).
The rotation capacities determined from Eq. (6) are listed in Table 4. They are
plotted against the slenderness parameter (a) in Fig. 9. Specimens CBC4 and CBC1
are excluded for the same reasoning stated in Section 4.1. Figure 9 also shows the
measured rotation capacity in 4-point bending by Prion and Boehme [12] where
R = 25.2 for a CFT having a slenderness parameter of a = 8.3. They also measured

M. Elchalakani et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 57 (2001) 11411168

1159

Table 4
Rotation capacity of CFT beams
Specimen

CBC0-C
CBC0-B
CBC0-A
CBC1
CBC2
CBC3
CBC4
CBC5
CBC6
CBC7
CBC8
CBC9

ls

184.33
147.87
123.84
57.05
59.08
54.92
45.78
45.41
43.38
33.93
29.79
23.85

Fig. 9.

4.34
5.41
6.46
14.02
13.54
14.57
17.47
17.62
18.44
23.57
26.85
33.54

qmax (deg.)

qy (deg.)

R [Eq. (6)]

11.14
17.50
36.85
38.20
69.20
66.60
30.54
71.00
70.88
66.60
63.56
60.80

1.81
1.78
1.82
1.67
2.13
2.28
1.96
3.04
2.56
3.04
5.76
5.42

5.15
8.83
19.25
21.85
31.56
28.21
14.58
22.36
26.66
20.91
10.03
10.22

Ru [Eq. (3) with

N=0]
4.08
4.99
5.56
6.91
7.25
7.27
7.45
7.52
7.58
7.71
7.84
8.01

Variation of the inelastic rotation with the slenderness parameter.

slightly lesser R = 22.3 for the same a under 3-point bending. In Fig. 9, a sharp
transition is observed to occur around a = 4.34. The plastic slenderness limit can be
determined using Eq. (5) with ap = 4.34 and the average measured elastic modulus
Es = 204,000 MPa given in Table 2, i.e.
lp

Es
204,000

188
ap250 4.34250

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M. Elchalakani et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 57 (2001) 11411168

This limit corresponds to d/t = 112 based on the average measured fy of 419 MPa,
which is slightly higher than d/t = 98 (Table 1) specified in AIJ [18] if the average
measured material properties are used. A plastic d/t-limit of 134 is obtained if the
nominal yield stress of 350 MPa is used, which is slightly higher than the d/t-limit
of 120 specified in AIJ [18] if the nominal material properties are used. This difference in the plastic d/t-limit may arise from the presence of axial forces in beam
column tests used to derive the limit specified in AIJ [18]. The axial force tends to
limit the inelastic rotation of CFT beams [34, 35]. The value of lp = 188 is approximately three times the limit obtained recently for CHS from plastic bending tests
[30]. Concrete filling fully prevents local buckling and ovalization for cold-formed
steel tubes when 13d/t40, whereas multiple plastic ripples formed in the inelastic
range for CFT with 74d/t110. The rotation capacity determined for hollow tubes
[30] is also shown in Fig. 9, where a similar trend is observed with a sharp transition
occurs at a = 14.
A comparison is made between the rotation capacity determined from the pure
moment setup [Eq. (6)] and the beam column setup [Eq. (3)]. The R and Ru values
determined from Eqs (6) and (3) are given in Table 4. In general, the Ru values are
smaller than the corresponding R values for the same d/t. The Ru values for all the
CFT specimens are larger than 2.0, thus they are classified as Class 1, very ductile.
This conclusion is consistent with the experimental observation, i.e. all 12 sections
tested in this paper are ductile and achieved full plastic moment. A plastic d/t-limit
of d/t = 111 can be obtained from Eq. (3) by using the minimum Ru of 4.08 (Table
4) and substituting fc = 24.30 and N/N0 = 0. This value is in good agreement with
that of 112 obtained from the first method when using the measured yield stress.

6. Ultimate strength model

6.1. Model
A simplified rigid plastic approach was used to determine the flextural capacity
of circular CFT. Local buckling was observed before reaching Mu in the tests for
74d/t110. However, the concrete infill forced the buckles to be outward (away
from the tubes longitudinal centre line) and this increased the effective section
modulus of the steel tube. Therefore, the full section of the CHS was assumed effective in the derivation of the ultimate moment. Strain measurements indicated no slip
has taken place in the tests, thus perfect bond between the steel and concrete was
assumed. Based on a tied arch model, as discussed earlier, the friction between steel
and concrete was sufficient to fully generate the concrete compressive force Fcc (see
Fig. 10). The ultimate bending capacity of the composite section shown in Fig. 10
can be written as
Mtheory Mcc Mst Msc

(7)

where, Mcc, Mst, Msc are the moments due to: concrete in compression; steel in ten-

M. Elchalakani et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 57 (2001) 11411168

1161

Fig. 10. Model for ultimate moment capacity of circular CFT.

sion; and steel in compression, respectively. By performing simple integration of the

rectangular stress blocks over the corresponding area of steel and concrete, the force
and moment components about the centroid of the cross section are:
Fcc fcr2i (p/2g00.5sing0)
Fst fytrm(p 2g0)
Fsc fytrm(p2g0)
2
Mcc fcr3i cos3g0
3
Mst Msc 2fyr2mtcosg0
where fc is the concrete cylinder strength, fy is the yield stress of the steel tube, t is
the tube thickness, and rm [=(r0+ri)/2] and ri are the mean and inside radii of the
tube, shown in Fig. 10.
Force equilibrium results in
Fst Fcc Fsc

(8)

The angular location of the plastic neutral axis (g0) can be found from Eq. (8).
An iterative procedure can be used to determine g0. A closed form solution for g0
can be obtained by assuming sing0 = g0; thus

p fc ri ri
4 fyrm t
g0
1 fc ri ri
2
2 fyrm t

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M. Elchalakani et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 57 (2001) 11411168

The final expression for the bending strength (Mtheory) can be expressed as
2
Mtheory fcr3icos3g0 4fyr2mtcosg0
3

(9)

6.2. Comparison
The specimens constructed using slender sections (CBC0-A, B, C) exhibited significant strain hardening, particularly in the tension side. Therefore, the ultimate tensile strength fu was used to replace fy in Eq. (9) when calculating their Mpt for these
slender sections. A comparison is made between the experimental ultimate moment
(Mu) and the predicted ultimate moment using Eq. (9) in Table 5. Good agreement
is obtained with a mean ratio (Mu/Mtheory) of 1.07 with a COV of 0.07. The average
concrete contribution in bending strength determined by Eq. (9) is 11.8% with
COV=0.52. The maximum error resulting from assuming sing0 = g0 in determining
Mtheory is 11.3% which occurs at specimen CBC0-C with the largest d/t=109.9. Table
5 also lists the ratio of Mu to the corresponding strength determined using four design
rules. The values in brackets were determined using fu instead of fy. Appendix A
shows the design equations as they appear in the codes. Predictions using the original
formulae underestimate the ultimate moment capacity especially for AISC-LRFD
and AIJ codes. This is because some of the terms in the AISC-LRFD code become
zero when no reinforcement bars are used, and a reduction factor of 0.85 is used
for concrete strength in AIJ code. Better predictions are obtained if fu is used for
slender tubes, especially for CIDECT and EC4 formulae.
Table 5
Comparison of flexure strengtha
Specimen

Mu/Mtheory

Mu/MAISC

Mu/MAIJ

Mu/MCIDECT

Mu/MEC4

CBC0-C
CBC0-B
CBC0-A
CBC1
CBC2
CBC3
CBC4
CBC5
CBC6
CBC7
CBC8
CBC9
Mean
COV

1.31
1.28
1.29
1.14
1.13
1.15
0.96
0.99
1.20
1.10
0.98
0.96
1.12
0.11

1.61
1.53
1.53
1.24
1.22
1.25
1.03
1.06
1.25
1.16
1.03
0.99
1.24
0.16

1.53
1.49
1.50
1.24
1.22
1.24
1.03
1.06
1.25
1.16
1.02
0.99
1.23
0.15

1.35
1.31
1.33
1.13
1.14
1.16
0.96
1.00
1.19
1.11
0.98
0.96
1.14
0.12

1.30
1.27
1.28
1.09
1.10
1.12
0.93
0.96
1.16
1.07
0.96
0.94
1.10
0.12

(1.14)
(1.06)
(1.05)

(1.07)
(0.07)

(1.21)
(1.15)
(1.14)

(1.14)
(0.08)

(0.92)
(0.98)
(1.03)

(1.10)
(0.10)

The values in brackets were determined using fu instead of fy.

(1.08)
(0.98)
(1.00)

(1.05)
(0.08)

(1.00)
(0.98)
(0.99)

(1.03)
(0.07)

M. Elchalakani et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 57 (2001) 11411168

1163

Figure 11 shows a plot of M/MptH ratio versus section slenderness ls, where M is
the moment obtained for CFT (either in the tests or using the design codes) and
MptH = SHfy is the predicted plastic moment of hollow tubes. The plastic modulus
SH = [(d3d3i)/6] is based on the measured dimensions and fy is the measured yield
stress of the steel tube. It is evident that the ratio (M/MptH) increases as the section
slenderness ls increases. The plot is extended beyond the calibrated range (ls100)
for each design code to ls of 188. The curve based on the closed-form solution [Eq.
(9)] is also shown in Fig. 11. This curve is located between the design curves given
by EC4 [22] and CIDECT [40]. A lower bound is given based on the limited tests
available. For 25ls100, the lower bound line lies in-between various codes. For
ls100, the lower bound line lies much higher than those extended curves from
current codes. It seems that the existing design rules can be conservatively applied
to circular CFT with 100ls188.
The lower bound bilinear curve can be expressed as
M/MptH 0.00267ls 0.933
M/MptH 0.00455ls 0.745

Fig. 11.

for 25ls100
for 100ls188

Design rules for CFT beams.

(10)

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M. Elchalakani et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 57 (2001) 11411168

7. Conclusions
The following observations and conclusions are made based on the limited test
results described in this paper.
The plastic limit of d/t=112 (or lp=188) was obtained for CFT constructed from
cold-formed hollow section under pure bending. This value is slightly higher than
d/t=98 specified in AIJ [18] if measured material properties are used.
Concrete filling was found to induce more increase in flexural strength and ductility for thinner CHS than for thicker ones.
Concrete filling was found to fully prevent local buckling and ovalization for coldformed steel tubes with 13d/t40, whereas multiple plastic ripples were
observed in the inelastic range for CFT with 74d/t110.
A simplified formula to determine the ultimate bending capacity of circular CFT
was derived based on plastic stress blocks and was shown to agree with experimental results.
The predicted ultimate moment capacity of cold-formed CHS beams by CIDECT
and EC4 was in good agreement with test results.
The existing design rules for moment capacity of circular CFT (with normal
concrete) can be conservatively extended to a new range of 100ls188.
Acknowledgements
The writers are grateful to the Australian Research Council and Monash University
for their financial assistance for the project. Thanks are given to Palmer Tube Mills
for providing the steel tubes. The experiments were carried out in the Civil Engineering Laboratory at Monash University and the technical assistance of Mr Graham
Rundle and Mr Jeoff Doddrell is gratefully acknowledged.

APPENDIX A. Design rules for CFT

The notation used in this appendix is the same as that used in the original code.

Steel reinforced concrete structures AIJ [18]art. 45

In the original code the following are from equation (173) and Table B1:
Mu sMu Mu
c

Mu

1
( r f )d3sin3q
12 c u c

where Mu is the ultimate moment of CFT cross section;

M. Elchalakani et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 57 (2001) 11411168

1165

Mu

is the ultimate moment due to concrete;

Mu

is the ultimate moment due to steel tube; q is the angular location of the neutral
axis; d is the outside diameter of the steel tube;
Z

s p

is the plastic section modulus of the steel tube; and sy is the yield strength of the
steel tube.

AISC-LRFD [20]commentary, chapter I4

The commentary of the code recommends using a simplified equation for the
ultimate strength of the composite section (original equation C-14-1):

1
h2 Awfy
A f

Mn Zfy (h22Cr)Arfyr
3
2 1.7fch1 w y
where Mn is the ultimate moment of composite cross section; Aw is the web area of
the encased steel (Aw=0 for CFT); Ar is the area of reinforcing steel (Ar=0 for CFT);
Z is the plastic section modulus of the hollow steel tube; Cr is the average distance
to the reinforcement (Cr=0 for CFT); h1 is the width of the member perpendicular
to the plane of bending; h2 is the width of the member parallel to the plane of
bending; fc is the concrete cylinder strength; fyr is the yield strength of reinforcement
steel (fyr=0 for CFT); and fy is the yield strength of the steel tube.
Eurocode 4 [22]Appendix C
The ultimate flexural capacity of circular CFT is given by Mpl.Rd:
Mpl.Rd Mmax.RdMn.Rd
Mmax.Rd wpafyd wpsfsd wpcfcd/2
Mn.Rd wpanfyd wpsnfsd wpcnfcd/2
wpcn (d2t)h2n
wpan bh2nwpcnwpsn
hn

Npm.RdAsn(2fsdfcd)
2bfcd 4t(2fydfcd)

Npm.Rd Acfcd
fcd 1.0fck

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M. Elchalakani et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 57 (2001) 11411168

where wpan is the plastic section modulus of the steel tube; wpsn is the plastic section
modulus of the steel reinforcement; wpcn is the plastic section modulus of the concrete
core (region 2 in the original figure C.2); fyd is the design yield strength of the steel;
fsd is the design yield strength of the reinforcement; fcd is the design yield strength
of the concrete; fck is the concrete cylinder strength; Asn is the area of the reinforcement; Ac is the area of the concrete; t is the thickness of the steel tube; and b is the
diameter of the steel tube.

CIDECT [40]Appendix C
From the original equation 28:
Mpl.Rd m0

d3(d2t)3
fyd
6

where m0 is a factor (see the original Table 11); fyd is the design yield strength of
the steel; and d is the outside diameter of the steel tube.

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