ISO Standard Fire Tests of Concrete-Filled Steel Tube

Columns with Solid Steel Core

Martin Neuenschwander 1; Markus Knobloch 2; and Mario Fontana 3
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Abstract: Concrete-filled steel tube columns with solid steel core are prefabricated innovative composite columns that are especially
designed to achieve high fire resistance, even with high slenderness ratios and load levels. These features make them architecturally and
economically appealing for use in high-rise buildings. Conceptually, their exceptional structural fire behavior is attributed to a process of
gradual load redistribution to the solid steel core during fire that is thermally protected by the concrete infill. In this paper the results of a series
of four ISO fire tests with concrete-filled steel tube columns with solid steel core of three different cross-sectional types and two different end
conditions are presented. This novel experimental database for this type of composite column (1) validates the concept of their structural fire
behavior; and (2) shows that, without additional fire protection, extraordinary fire resistance of almost 180 min can be achieved with common
slenderness and load ratios with respect to building practice. DOI: 10.1061/(ASCE)ST.1943-541X.0001695. © 2016 American Society of
Civil Engineers.
Author keywords: Fire tests; Concrete-filled steel tube columns with solid steel core; Thermomechanical behavior; Fire resistance;
Structural fire design; Steel-concrete composite columns; Boundary conditions in fire tests.

Introduction
Concrete-filled steel tube columns with solid steel core are
composite columns, designed to achieve high fire resistance times
without additional fire protection material. As shown in the cross-
sectional drawing of Fig. 1(d), they are composed of an outer steel
tube, a concentric solid steel core, and concrete infill in between.
Conceptually, their singular structural fire behavior can be attrib-
uted to the beneficial effects of composite action between the differ-
ent components of the column: at the start of a fire exposure, the
components carry load shares according to their axial rigidities.
However, this initial load distribution is affected during the fire ex-
posure because steel and concrete lose their stiffness and strength
with increasing temperature (at different rates). Furthermore, with
ongoing fire exposure, the temperature increase varies greatly be-
tween the components. Whereas the steel tube is heated quickly, the
core temperature lags markedly behind because of the insulating
properties of the concrete infill. According to these specific temper-
ature changes in the components, their stiffness degrades at differ-
ent rates. Consequently, the load shares of the tube and the concrete
1
Postdoctoral Researcher, Dept. of Civil, Environmental and Geomatic
Engineering, Institute of Structural Engineering, Swiss Federal Institute of
Technology (ETH) Zurich, Stefano-Franscini-Platz 5, CH-8093 Zürich,
Switzerland (corresponding author). E-mail: neuenschwander@ibk.baug.
ethz.ch
2
Professor and Chair of Steel, Lightweight and Composite Structures,
Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Ruhr-Universität Bochum,
Universitätstraße 150, D-44801 Bochum, Germany. E-mail: markus.
knobloch@rub.de
3
Professor and Chair of Structural Engineering for Steel, Timber
and Composite Structures, Dept. of Civil, Environmental and Geomatic
Engineering, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) Zurich, Stefano-
Franscini-Platz 5, CH-8093 Zürich, Switzerland. E-mail: fontana@ibk.
baug.ethz.ch
Note. This manuscript was submitted on March 24, 2016; approved on
September 11, 2016; published online on November 16, 2016. Discussion
period open until April 16, 2017; separate discussions must be submitted
for individual papers. This paper is part of the Journal of Structural En-
gineering, © ASCE, ISSN 0733-9445.
are gradually redistributed to the steel core, which will eventually
carry the entire load alone before the column fails. Even though
the tube loses its load-bearing capacity at an early stage of the fire
exposure, it can still reliably prevent spalling of the concrete, which
in turn ensures crucial thermal insulation of the steel core. Besides
their exceptional structural behavior in fire, concrete-filled steel
tube columns with solid steel core have a number of advantages:
they are architecturally appealing, enabling the realization of
slender solutions at relatively high load levels, and they are eco-
nomically attractive because they can be prefabricated.
Composite columns in general and especially concrete-filled
steel tube columns (without a solid steel core) are suitable to meet
fire resistance requirements and thus have been and are used in-
creasingly in the construction of high-rise buildings. In the litera-
ture, there is extensive experimental research on the structural
fire behavior of concrete-filled steel tube columns, which has been
developed in the past 40 years: a joint European research project
was undertaken in the 1970s and 1980s involving fire test labora-
tories mainly in France and Germany (Grimault and Tournay 1976;
Granjean et al. 1980; Kordina and Klingsch 1983), and in the 1990s
in North America, the National Research Council of Canada
conducted a large experimental campaign (Lie and Chabot 1992;
Chabot and Lie 1992; Myllymäki et al. 1994; Kodur and Lie 1995).
More Recently, Han et al. (2003), Romero et al. (2011), Moliner
et al. (2013), and Espinos et al. (2015) extended the database,
studying parameters such as high-strength concrete infill, very high
slenderness ratios, eccentric load application, and very large eccen-
tricities. Chu (2009), Lu et al. (2010), and Romero et al. (2015)
presented results of fire tests with a tube-in-tube composite column
system with concrete-infill either in both the inner tube and be-
tween the tubes (double-tube concrete-filled steel tube columns) or
only between the tubes, known as concrete-filled double-skin steel
tube columns in Australia and Asia. Finally, Imani et al. (2014)
experimentally studied the post-earthquake fire resistance of double-
skin steel tube columns showing different degrees of predamage
due to quasi-static cyclic lateral loading prior to fire exposure.
However, the experimental database of concrete-filled steel tube
columns with solid steel core is extremely scarce for both ultimate

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 (c)
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(a) (b) (d)

Fig. 1. Overview of test setup and measurement layout

load tests at ambient temperature and fire tests with preloaded In view of the limited available fire test data on concrete-filled
columns. The scarcity is related to the high load-bearing capacity steel tube columns with solid steel core in the literature and the fact
of this type of composite column, impeding experimental investi- that this type of composite column is used in European building
gations because of test facility limits and cost. In the literature, practice, there is room for an extensive experimental program, pro-
Klingsch (1984) reported two ultimate load tests at ambient temper- viding in a first stage a database that is necessary for a systematic
ature; Hanswille and Lippes (2008) published a series of six ultimate understanding of the singular structural fire behavior of this type of
load tests at ambient temperature with high-strength concrete-filled composite column. In a second stage, it will eventually lead to ex-
steel tube columns with solid high-strength steel core under various pansion of code coverage, including this type of composite column,
eccentric loading conditions. Besides other possible proprietary tests, and facilitation of its use in engineering practice. However, taking into
Klingsch (1984), to the best of the authors’ knowledge, reported one account fire test facility limits and cost, a limited primary test program
single fire test with a preloaded rectangular concrete-filled steel should be undertaken first, to validate the singular fire resistance
tube column with a round solid steel core, which was exposed concept of concrete-filled steel tube columns with solid steel core.
to ISO fire until failure. Schaumann and Kleibömer (2015) pub- In this paper, the results of a principal experimental study with
lished the results of one single thermomechanical test with a pre- four preloaded concrete-filled steel tube columns with solid steel
loaded concrete-filled circular steel tube column with a round solid core exposed to ISO fire until failure are presented and the fire re-
steel core, which was exposed to ISO fire for 108 min (but not until sistance concept of this type of composite column is validated.
failure) and then (with the furnace turned off) loaded until failure. The specimen parameters in this study were chosen such that
(1) the tests encompassed most of the specific mechanical charac-
Table 1. Overview of Specimen Properties teristics of the structural fire behavior of this type of composite
column in order to obtain a substantial validation data set for ad-
Property (unit) Specimen 1 Specimen 2 Specimen 3 Specimen 4 vanced numerical modeling, conditionally allowing expansion of
Dtube (mm) 133.0 219.1 219.1 219.1 experimental databases (Neuenschwander 2016); and (2) the tests
t (mm) 4.0 4.5 4.5 4.5 also included application examples of common slenderness and
Dcore (mm) 60.0 110.0 110.0 150.0 load ratios with respect to high-rise building practice.
tc (mm) 32.5 50.1 50.1 30.1
L (mm) 3,540.0 3,600.0 3,600.0 3,600.0
λ̄20°C (-) 1.515a 0.687a 0.687a 0.652a
N pl;20°C (kN) 1,876.4a 4,911.0a 4,911.0a 6,683.5a Test Setup
N R;20°C (kN) 579.6 3,497.2a 3,497.2a 4,972.5a
P0 (kN) 85.0 2,000.0 1,500.0 1,900.0 The test program consisted of four standard fire tests according to
μ (-) 0.16 0.57 0.43 0.38 the temperature-time relation adopted by ISO 834 (ISO 1999),
tf (min) 92 24 169 179 which is similar to ASTM E119 (ASTM 1985) in North America,
Age (days) 33 39 139 43 with preloaded columns of three different cross-sectional types.
End condition Pinned-pinned Pinned-fixed Pinned-fixed Pinned-fixed The preload was applied with an eccentricity, e, of 10 mm to ensure
a
According to EN 1994-1-2 (CEN 2008), calculated with experimentally a predefined direction of global buckling failure. Table 1 summa-
established mean values of material properties. rizes the geometric properties of the cross sections examined:

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 (1) the diameter, Dtube , of the steel tube; (2) the wall thickness, t, of
the steel tube; (3) the diameter, Dcore , of the steel core; and (4) the
thickness, tc , of the resulting concrete infill. The smallest cross-
sectional type (Specimen 1) was chosen to cover specific thermo-
mechanical characteristics of this type of composite column
observed in preliminary numerical studies (Neuenschwander
et al. 2012), whereas the other two cross-sectional types
(Specimens 2–4) are for use in axially loaded columns of braced
high-rise building structures. Reference tests at ambient temper-
atures of the slender buckling strength can only be performed for
the specimen type with the smallest diameter because of test rig
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capacity limits. Two different end conditions were investigated:
pinned at the bottom end and fixed at the top and pinned at both
ends. The specimens with pinned-fixed end conditions exhibited a
length, L, of 3,600 mm between the end plates, whereas the length
of specimens with pinned-pinned end conditions needed to be
reduced to 3,540 mm because of length constraints of the test
rig. The end plate thickness, tplate , measured 40 mm for all spec-
imens. For the tube, cold-formed structural hollow sections of
steel grade S235 were used that featured vent holes at the bottom
and at the top to avoid explosive failure of the tube caused by
steam pressure building up when the concrete’s moisture content
vaporizes during fire exposure. The core consisted of round solid
sections of grade S355 steel without heat treatment after rolling
for the 110- and 150-mm sections; the 60-mm section was
additionally normalized. For the concrete infill, a self-compacting
concrete of grade C25/30 containing only fine aggregates
(0–4 mm) and filler was used. The detailed mixture proportions
are given in Neuenschwander et al. (2016).
Specimen Fabrication and Instrumentation
The steel tubes and cores for the different specimens were each
ordered with excess length so that, after cutting to length, coupon
specimens for tensile tests could be retrieved from material iden-
tical to that used in the column specimens. In a first assembly step,
the sandblasted steel core was fixed centrically to the bottom end
plate by a circumferential fillet welding, and stirrups were welded
onto the core [Fig. 1(c)]. These stirrups served as supports for the
thermocouples in the concrete layer, which were displayed in vary-
ing radial depths. The layout of the temperature measurement
positions within the cross section is shown in Fig. 1(d): starting
from the core surface, θcore , thermocouples were displayed in
the concrete layer in increments of 10 mm in the radial direction,
θi , and on the outer surface of the steel tube in increments of
90°, θext;i . Along the longitudinal axis of the specimen, nine cross
sections [CS1−CS9 in Fig. 1(b)] were equipped with this thermo-
couple layout in order to record variations in the temperature field
in the axial direction. The spacing between the cross sections was
decreased toward the specimen ends, where cooler ends were ex-
pected because of protective measures for the surrounding test
equipment [thermal insulation at the bottom and the top of the
specimen is shown in Fig. 1(a)]. After mounting all interior ther-
mocouples with stainless steel wire against the stirrups, the core
was inserted carefully into the tube and the bundled cables of
the thermocouples, some of which are shown in Fig. 1(c), were
conducted outside of the tube through the vent hole at the bottom
of the column. Then the components of the columns were adjusted
to their planned positions relative to each other: The tube was
aligned concentrically with respect to the core by means of aux-
iliary positioners that were welded against the bottom and top
end plates, and the core featured a concentric thread on the top face
and could therefore be adjusted and fixed centrically to the top end
plate by bolting. This bolting was removed after hardening of the
© ASCE 04016211-3
J. Struct. Eng., 2017, 143(4): 04016211
concrete and served only to position the core concentrically during
concrete casting. After adjustment, the tube was fixed with
circumferential fillet welds against the bottom and top end
plates, and the mounting positioners were removed from the
end plates. Then the columns were placed vertically, and the
concrete was cast into the void between the core and the tube
through a 40-mm-diameter inlet hole in the top end plate. A sec-
ond vent hole in the top end plate with a diameter of 25 mm served
as air exhaust during the casting. Two days after casting, the
columns were stored horizontally for a curing period of 28 days.
No special curing measures were applied. Before shipping the
specimens to the test facility, the remaining outer thermocouples
were placed in the nine temperature measurement cross sections
[CS1−CS9 in Fig. 1(b)] on the tube surface by means of stainless
steel cable-straps. Insulating material was placed between the
thermocouples and the cable straps to measure the tube surface
temperature rather than the furnace gas temperature during the
test.
Test Rig and End Conditions
The fire tests were performed at the fire test facility of the Material
Test Establishment of the Technical University of Brunswick
in Germany (MPA TU Braunschweig). The test rig consisted of
a steel reaction frame around a masoned furnace chamber, under-
neath of which a hydraulic jack with a capacity of 3 MN was in-
stalled that pressed the specimen upward against the beam of the
reaction frame.
Fig. 1(a) shows the inside of the furnace chamber with a built-in
specimen prior to the fire test. The furnace chamber features a
square ground plot with a width of 3.6 m and a modular height of
up to 5.7 m. For the present tests, the actual height was 3.7 m. Six
fuel oil burners were embedded in the ground face of the chamber,
two of which are visible in Fig. 1(a). The furnace gas temperature
was closed loop–controlled via the temperature readings of six
plate thermometers to follow the ISO fire curve during the tests.
The plate-thermometers were positioned at a quarter, a half, and
three-quarters of the column height on two opposite sides of the
specimen [plates with white marking on rods sticking into the fur-
nace chamber in Fig. 1(a)]. Before the tests the plate thermometers
were moved to a position with a distance of 100 mm from the speci-
men surface. The two openings in the bottom and top face of the
furnace chamber necessary to connect the specimen with the load-
ing device and the reaction frame were covered with insulation
material [shown in Fig. 1(a)] in order to minimize heat losses
and prevent damage to the hydraulic jack or the connecting struc-
ture of the reaction frame.
The columns nominally featured a pinned end condition at the
bottom as shown in the schematic of the test setup in Fig. 1(b).
The pinned end condition was realized as a rocker bearing by
placing a half-cylinder (with the curved surface pointing upward)
between the loading platen of the hydraulic jack and the bottom
end plate of the specimen. Fig. 2(a) shows the loading platen of
the hydraulic jack on which the half-cylinder is mounted. The ec-
centric application of the preload, P0 , was realized with an addi-
tional steel end plate that featured a milled channel in the direction
of the tipping axis of the rocker bearing as shown in Fig. 2(b). The
centerline of this channel, which contacted the half-cylinder of
the rocker bearing, was offset by an eccentricity, e, of 10 mm from
the centerline of the specimen’s end plate. Using an additional
plate allowed adjustments before fixing the plate by welds against
the specimen’s end plate. At the top end, the columns nominally
exhibited a fixed end condition as shown in Fig. 1(b), whereas the
axial displacement of the fixed end was only partially constrained
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(a)
(b)
Fig. 2. (a–c) Specimen end conditions; (d) test procedure
by the reaction frame, indicated in Fig. 1(b) by the translational
spring. The rotational constraint of the fixed upper end was real-
ized as a surface-to-surface contact between the specimen’s end
plate and the load-bearing face of the connecting structure to the
beam of the reaction frame. Fig. 2(c) shows the beam of the
reaction frame with the connecting structure, dismounted from
the test rig.
Displacement Measurements
During the fire tests, three displacements of the specimens were
recorded as shown in Fig. 1(b): (1) the lateral deflection, w, at a
height of 0.44 · L (given by an available outlet in the furnace cham-
ber wall); (2) the axial displacement of the left edge of the bottom
end plate, u1 ; and (3) the axial displacement of the right edge of the
bottom end plate, u2 . As indicated in Fig. 1(b), the axial displace-
ment of the specimen, u, was calculated from the edge displace-
ment measurements by assuming a rigid end plate. Furthermore,
the rotation of the bottom end plate, φ, was determined from
the edge displacement measurements according to small displace-
ment theory.
The displacements were measured with LVDTs located outside
of the furnace chamber. The transmission of the displacement of the
measurement positions on the specimen to the LVDTs was realized
with a fused quartz glass rod in a high-temperature resisting
housing in the case of the lateral deflection [case placed on high-
temperature resisting masonry stones in Fig. 1(a)], whereas in
the case of the axial displacements, it was possible to use stainless
steel wire because heat protection was provided by thermal insu-
lation material disposed at the bottom of the columns.
© ASCE 04016211-4
J. Struct. Eng., 2017, 143(4): 04016211
(c)
(d)
Test Procedure
First the specimen was built into the test rig, the thermocou-
ples were wired, and the displacement sensors were connected
to the data acquisition systems. Then the test procedure illus-
trated in Fig. 2(d) was executed. The applied procedure, compli-
ant with EN 1363-1 (CEN 2012), consisted of two phases: (1) the
preloading of the specimen and (2) the ISO fire exposure until
failure.
In the first phase, the column was loaded with a constant load
rate , Ṗ, of 2 kN=s in four stages to the target load, P0 , as illustrated
in Fig. 2(d). In Stage 1, 10% of P0 was applied followed by a hold-
ing time of 1 min. In Stages 2 and 3, the load increment was in-
creased to 30% of P0 and the holding times between the stages
remained 1 min. In Stage 4, the last load increment of 30% of
P0 was applied and a holding time of at least 15 min was observed
to comply with EN 1363-1.
Then the second phase of the test procedure started with ignition
of the furnace burners. In Fig. 2(d), this point corresponds to the
origin of the time axis of the fire test. Subsequently, the increase in
the furnace gas temperature, θgas , was controlled to follow the ISO
fire curve as soon as the mean value of the plate thermometer read-
ings exceeded 50°C. This lag between the time axis of the ISO fire
curve and the time axis of the fire test led to increased accuracy of
the control system for the furnace gas temperature during the first
5 min of the fire test, where EN 1363-1 imposes no specific tol-
erance limits. During the fire exposure, the load on the specimen
was kept constant at a magnitude of P0 , and failure of the specimen
occurred as soon as the load could not be maintained by adjusting
the loading jack’s position.
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Fig. 3. Overview of material property test setups

(a) (c)

(b) (d)

Fig. 4. Experimentally established temperature-dependent material properties

Material Properties
The temperature-dependent material properties of the tube steel, the
core steel, and the concrete infill were assessed in an additional
experimental research program at ETH Zurich, using a combined
setup of a universal test machine and a split-tube electric furnace
[Fig. 3(a)]. Steady-state strain rate–controlled tensile tests at
temperatures of 20, 400, 550, 700, and 900°C were performed
with coupon specimens of the tube and core steel. The displace-
ment measured directly on the specimen surface [Fig. 3(b)] was
used as a feedback signal for the strain rate–controlled test setup.
The resulting temperature-dependent stress-strain relationships
and the thermal strain–temperature relationships are shown in
Figs. 4(a–c); the temperature-dependent material properties of
the tube and the core steels are given in Tables 2–4 per composite
column specimen.
With the cylindrical concrete specimens, steady-state strain
rate–controlled cyclic compression tests [Fig. 3(c)] were carried
out at elevated temperatures of 300, 400, 500, 600, 700, and
800°C, along with reference tests at ambient temperature. The ob-
tained set of stress-strain lines are shown in Fig. 4(d) and the
temperature-dependent material properties are listed in Table 5.
Full details of the test setup and additional results from the test
series (e.g., temperature-dependent damage evolution relations) are
reported in Neuenschwander et al. (2016).
Results
In this section, the experimental results of the fire tests are pre-
sented in three subsections. In the first subsection, the results of
the temperature recordings from the different measurement cross
sections are presented and the uniformity of the measured temper-
ature fields in the axial direction are discussed. In the second sub-
section, the structural fire behavior of concrete-filled steel tube
columns with solid steel core, which can be divided into three

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 Table 2. Temperature-Dependent Material Properties of Tube and Core Steel of Specimen 1
Property (unit) Core steel, RND 60, ε̇ ¼ 0.2%=min Tube steel, ROR 133.0–4.0, ε̇ ¼ 0.2%=min
θ (°C) 20 400 550 700 900 20 400 550 700 900
−2
Eθ ðNmm Þ 208,722 179,373 155,430 133,668 74,870 N/A 178,652 129,644 110,938 48,669
f p;θ ðNmm−2 Þ 262.2 134.5 87.2 39.5 10.6 330.9a 120.3 54.1 25.3 10.1
f y;0.2;θ ðNmm−2 Þ 323.5 231.1 185.0 69.0 29.7 374.8a 249.7 124.9 63.0 22.5
f u;θ ðNmm−2 Þ 504.9 501.7 234.1 71.0 35.0 432.1a 284.1 126.1 64.3 24.5
εu;θ (%) 18.19 12.67 3.75 0.60 4.30 10.52a 17.14 9.87 0.29 2.03
a
Performed with 0.5%/min strain rate.
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Table 3. Temperature-Dependent Material Properties of Tube and Core Steel of Specimen 2

Property (unit) Core steel, RND 110, ε̇ ¼ 0.2%=min Tube steel, ROR 219.1–4.5, ε̇ ¼ 0.2%=min
θ (°C) 20 400 550 700 900 20 400 550 700 900
Eθ ðNmm−2 Þ 207,196 183,357 152,430 131,887 95,457 N/A 177,698 138,046 105,720 N/A
f p;θ ðNmm−2 Þ 272.6 139.8 64.2 20.3 11.7 302.6a 153.6 72.3 25.7 N/A
f y;0.2;θ ðNmm−2 Þ 303.3 240.4 166.0 59.0 28.5 357.6a 274.7 147.4 50.0 N/A
f u;θ ðNmm−2 Þ 506.6 431.4 204.8 66.0 34.2 429.0a 349.7 149.1 51.0 N/A
εu;θ (%) 15.85 10.37 4.40 1.27 3.65 8.21a 13.57 0.53 0.27 N/A
a
Performed with 0.5%/min strain rate.

Table 4. Temperature-Dependent Material Properties of Tube and Core Steel of Specimen 4

Property (unit) Core steel, RND 150, ε̇ ¼ 0.2%=min Tube steel, ROR 219.1–4.5, ε̇ ¼ 0.2%=min
θ (°C) 20 400 550 700 900 20 400 550 700 900
Eθ ðNmm−2 Þ 212,231 187,418 160,475 144,845 80,983 N/A 172,215 138,742 106,326 51,197
f p;θ ðNmm−2 Þ 265.6 132.7 103.3 41.0 11.2 320.1a 141.8 81.5 25.1 10.5
f y;0.2;θ ðNmm−2 Þ 282.0 247.4 197.3 69.7 31.6 350.3a 293.6 148.3 51.3 24.1
f u;θ ðNmm−2 Þ 509.9 500.9 239.5 74.1 40.4 421.0a 353.2 150.1 50.0 26.5
εu;θ (%) 17.32 12.56 3.20 0.69 4.44 9.16a 11.84 0.65 0.26 8.52
a
Performed with strain rate of 0.5%=min.

Table 5. Temperature-Dependent Material Properties of Concrete

Heated stressed,
Property (unit) Heated unstressed, ε̇ ¼ 0.1%=min ε̇ ¼ 0.1%=min
θ (°C) 20 300 400 500 600 700 800 600 700
Eθ ðNmm−2 Þ 17,195 13,660 13,915 12,192 10,460 6,102 2,077 13,757 10,109
f c;θ ðNmm−2 Þ 37.5 40.6 40.7 37.0 30.9 15.6 4.6 35.2 19.4
εcu;θ (%) 0.324 0.555 0.628 0.846 1.200 1.646 4.538 0.897 0.664
εce;θ a (%) 0.663 — — 5.072 2.801 4.740 9.486 2.416 4.022
a
Strain at 0.2 · f c;θ , according to RILEM recommendations (RILEM TC 200-HTC 2007).

different phases, is outlined and validated qualitatively with the de-
formation histories of the tested specimens. In the third subsection,
the posttest examination of the specimens is outlined, which con-
sisted of the measurement of the specimens’ residual bending lines
and the opening of the steel tubes at various locations.
Temperature Histories
Fig. 5 is an example of the temperature readings in all measured
cross sections of Specimen 1 during the fire test: from the top of the
specimen with cross section 9 (CS9), shown in Fig. 5(a), down to
the bottom of the specimen with cross section 1 (CS1), shown in
Fig. 5(i). Every graph in Fig. 5 gives the temperature-time curves
recorded at the measurement points displayed in the cross sections
according to the general layout shown in Fig. 1(d). Additionally
given is the mean furnace gas temperature, θgas , measured with
the plate thermometers, which follows closely the ISO fire curve
(dashed line).
The raw data presented in Fig. 5 were complemented by
extrapolation when a measurement became unreliable—for exam-
ple, the surface temperatures in CS6–CS9 that stop at some point
in the fire test [Figs. 5(a–d)]. Furthermore, the sudden drop in tem-
perature of the outermost concrete measurement points, which can-
celed out again with ongoing test time as observable in CS4 and
CS5 after 15 min of fire exposure [Figs. 5(e and f)], was bypassed
by a linear segment. This behavior was observed only in the outer-
most measurement points of the concrete and could be attributed to
crack formation. The summaries of the temperature recordings of
Specimens 1, 2, and 4, shown in Figs. 6(d), 7(d), and 8(d), respec-
tively, were evaluated according to this methodology.
The influence of the thermal insulation material disposed at the
bottom and at the top of the specimen [Fig. 1(a)] is reflected in the

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 (a) (d)
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(b) (e)
(c) (f)
Fig. 5. Specimen 1 temperature measurements
flat gradients in the radial direction present in CS9 [Fig. 5(a)] and
especially CS1 [Fig. 5(i)]. However, visual comparison of the
graphs in Figs. 5(c–g) indicates a uniform temperature distribution
in the axial direction from CS3 to CS7, covering 87% of the total
specimen length. This observation is emphasized by the summariz-
ing graph in Fig. 6(d), where all the temperature-time curves from
CS3 to CS7 are plotted simultaneously with thin lines of different
type per cross-section measurement point. Furthermore, the result-
ing mean values are given with thick lines of corresponding type
in Fig. 6(d). Comparison with the equally evaluated results of the
two other specimens shown in Figs. 7(d) and 8(d) indicates that
deviation from a uniform temperature distribution in the axial
direction is higher for specimens with greater diameters. Further-
more, the graphs in Figs. 6(d) and 7(d) in particular show that the
scatter in the temperature measurements in the concrete decreases
by trend toward the inside, where cracking, which adversely affects
the temperature measurement, is less likely to occur.
Finally, the aggregated data in Figs. 6(d) and 8(d) allow deriva-
tion of a concept of the general temperature-time behavior of
concrete-filled steel tube columns with solid steel core during
ISO fire, which can be characterized by three stages: in the first
stage, extending from the start of the fire exposure until 15 min,
increasingly steeper radial temperature gradients develop in the
composite section because the directly exposed tube is heated
quickly whereas the concrete and core temperatures more and more
lag behind. This lag in temperature is related not only to the thermal
properties of the concrete but also to the development of a gap in
the interface of the concrete and the steel tube, mainly as a conse-
quence of the tube’s thermal expansion. It is assumed that the
© ASCE
J. Struct. Eng., 2017, 143(4): 04016211
(g)
(h)
(i)
presence of an insulating gap gives a plausible explanation for
the magnitude of the temperature discontinuity observed between
the tube surface, θsurf , and the outermost point in the concrete layer,
θ3 , in Figs. 6(d) and 8(d). This is especially noteworthy in the case
of Specimen 4 [Fig. 8(d)], where this point in the concrete layer
practically coincides with the steel tube’s inner surface. In the
second stage, 15–30 min of fire exposure, the moisture in the
concrete is vaporized. This leads to formation of a plateau in
the temperature-time curves at approximately 150°C, effectively
lagging the temperature increase in the steel core. Because the pla-
teau extends longer in the points in the inner concrete layers, the
temperature gradient first steepens locally in the outermost layers
but then equalizes toward the end of this stage to a sagging line in
the radial direction. The third stage starts with the re-onset of the
temperature increase of the steel core. The radial temperature gra-
dient still steepens toward the outer side, but eventually stabilizes
toward a final form that is maintained until the end of the fire test,
reflected in the graphs in Fig. 6(d) by temperature-time curves
running almost parallel from 45 min on. This transition phase to
a spatially stable transient radial temperature gradient takes
longer in the thicker Specimen 4, which shows parallel running
temperature-time curves only after 60 min, as can be observed in
Fig. 8(d). Because of the short duration of the second fire test (speci-
men with a high load ratio), the temperature recordings of Specimen
2 given in Fig. 7(d) show only the first stage and part of the second
with an onset of a plateau (e.g., temperature readings of θ3 and θ4 ).
In summary, the temperature readings confirm the concrete’s
main conceptual role as a robust inhibitor of the temperature in-
crease of the steel core during fire exposure. This quality is related
04016211-7 J. Struct. Eng.
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(a) (c)

(b) (d)

Fig. 6. Summary of test results for Specimen 1

(a) (c)

(b) (d)

Fig. 7. Summary of test results for Specimens 2 and 3

to (1) its moisture content, which effectively lags the core temper-
ature increase when vaporized and (2) its stable thermal properties
up to temperatures of 950°C (in these tests), enabling the thermal
insulation (spatially stable transient temperature gradients in the
concrete) of the steel core to be maintained.
Deformation Histories
The load-carrying behavior of concrete-filled steel tube columns
with solid steel core in fire is influenced mainly by two effects
of temperature on the material behavior: (1) thermal expansion

© ASCE 04016211-8 J. Struct. Eng.

J. Struct. Eng., 2017, 143(4): 04016211

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(a)
(b)
Fig. 8. Summary of test results for Specimen 4
and (2) temperature-induced degradation of stiffness and strength.
The simultaneous superposition of these two effects creates the spe-
cific characteristics of the load-carrying behavior of this type of
composite column. During fire exposure, the steel tube is heated
very quickly while steep temperature gradients develop in the con-
crete layer that lag the temperature increase of the steel core. This
characteristic temperature distribution is maintained during the en-
tire fire exposure and leads to differential thermal expansion of the
components: the steel tube expands the most; the steel core, the
least. The relative motion of the components with respect to each
other originates from the bottom of the column, where the core and
the tube are welded against the end plate. The initial axial load
shares of the components are redistributed, proportionally to this
differential thermal expansion, toward the outer components. In
an extreme case, the tube could even carry the load alone because
the expanding tube lifts off the top end plate that is not connected
with the steel core or the concrete. With ongoing fire exposure,
however, the temperature-induced degradation of material stiffness
and strength counteracts this trend: the axial rigidity of the tube
starts to decrease because of local buckling and/or extension of
the plastic zones and the load is redistributed toward the inner
axially still more rigid components. Finally, the steel core mainly
carries the load.
According to this concept of load-carrying behavior, three
distinct phases of continuous expansion and subsequent leveling
off should be observable in the readings of the global axial defor-
mation, u, of the columns. These phases correspond to (1) the ex-
pansion of the steel tube until yielding and/or local buckling leads
to a partial load transfer to the concrete; (2) the subsequent expan-
sion of the concrete until onset of concrete softening triggers partial
redistribution of the load to the core; and (3) the expansion of
the steel core until global runaway failure occurs because of
temperature-induced loss of stiffness of the steel core. Further-
more, depending on the load ratio, μ, the phenomenon of load
© ASCE 04016211-9
J. Struct. Eng., 2017, 143(4): 04016211
(c)
(d)
redistribution due to differential thermal expansion should prevail
in the case of specimens with a low load ratio and (therefore)
spare elastic load-bearing capacity in the steel tube. The measured
evolutions in time of the specimen deformations of all fire tests are
investigated next, to qualitatively validate this concept of the load-
carrying behavior in fire.
The results of all fire tests are summarized per specimen type in
Figs. 6–8 in a common format of presentation, which will be ex-
plained on the basis of Fig. 6, which shows the data of the first fire
test (Specimen 1): Fig. 6(a) shows the primary deformation read-
ings during the fire test time, t, which consisted of the lateral de-
flection, w, plotted against the left axis and the axial deformation, u,
plotted against the right axis; Fig. 6(b) presents the evolution in
time of the derived bottom end plate rotation, φ, plotted against
the left axis and of the load, P, carried by the specimen, plotted
against the right axis; Fig. 6(c) is a detailed view of local buckling
observed on the specimen after the fire test; and Fig. 6(d) plots the
temperature readings in the specimen cross section, as described in
the subsection “Temperature Histories.” Fig. 7 encompasses the re-
sults of the second and third fire test, performed with identical spec-
imens (2 and 3) but different magnitudes of preloading. Fig. 8
shows the results of the fire test with Specimen 4.
Specimen 1
Fig. 6(a) shows the recorded deformations of the most slender of all
specimens, which additionally featured an extremely low load ratio,
μSP1 , of 16% as indicated in Table 1. The evolution in time of the
axial deformation, u, shows that the specimen first expanded with a
nearly constant rate, du=dt, from the start of the test until a point in
time in the range of 14–15 min, while the lateral deflection, w,
remained almost constant. Then, the rate of expansion started to
decrease until 24 min, with the lateral deflection markedly increas-
ing simultaneously. This indicates that the stresses in the steel tube
exceeded the proportionality limit and, accordingly, that the bend-
ing stiffness of the steel tube decreased. Subsequently, from 24 to
J. Struct. Eng.
 27 min, the rate of expansion continued to decrease while the lateral
deflection restabilized, which could be attributed to the onset of
local buckling of the steel tube. Eventually, local buckling of the
steel tube fully developed from 27 to 30 min and led to an abrupt
decrease in the axial deformation with a simultaneous increase in
the lateral deflection. Both deformations then stabilized at 30 min,
when the force closure between the top end plate and the concrete
was re-established, which can be identified as the end of the first
phase of the load-carrying behavior. During this first phase, the top
end plate was lifted off the concrete and the steel core by the ex-
panding steel tube, which was carrying the entire load alone until it
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collapsed from local buckling. Fig. 6(c) is a detailed view of the
local buckling after the test. During the second phase, extending
30–50 min, the specimen started to expand again after 35 min be-
cause of the thermal expansion of the concrete. Simultaneously, the
lateral deflection began to increase slowly, reflecting a degradation
of the bending stiffness of the concrete component due to concrete
softening as a consequence of the partial redistribution of the load
formerly carried by the tube. The start of the third phase of the load-
carrying behavior can be identified in the test data at 50 min. From
50 to 65 min, the specimen expanded steadily because of the ther-
mal expansion of the steel core, while the horizontal deflection re-
mained stable. After 65 min, however, the lateral deflection began
to increase again, indicating the onset of stiffness degradation of
the steel core that at this point exceeded a temperature of 400°C.
After 75 min, the specimen’s rate of expansion started to slow down
while the rate of lateral deflection significantly increased simulta-
neously. Eventually, the column failed with a runaway failure
after 92 min.
Specimens 2 and 3
Fig. 7 summarizes the test results with the second specimen type,
which was tested two times (Fire tests 2 and 3) with different mag-
nitudes of preloading. The load ratio, μSP2 , of 57% of the specimen
in the second fire test (Specimen 2) was high, whereas the specimen
of the third fire test (Specimen 3) exhibited a common load ratio,
μSP3 , of 43%. Both specimens showed a first expansion phase of
the tube, which was leveled off presumably with onset of local plas-
tic buckling. It can be observed in Fig. 7(a) that, in line with the
smaller preload, the expansion of Specimen 3 stopped slightly later,
at 5 min, than that of Specimen 2. The simultaneous increase in the
lateral deflections of both specimens almost from the very start of
the fire exposure until 10 min indicates that the tubes were quickly
overstressed by the load redistribution because of differential ther-
mal expansion and therefore started losing their bending stiffness.
The subsequent stabilization and temporary decrease in the lateral
deflection of both specimens, from 10 to 15 min, reflects load re-
distribution to the expanding concrete. A possible explanation for
the decreasing lateral deflection could be the activation (by expan-
sion) of a compressive strut in the concrete infill between the end
plates on the convex side along the deflected column. For both
specimens, the re-onset of the increase in lateral deflection after
15 min indicates that the concrete was stressed beyond the elastic
limit. In the case of Specimen 3, the load redistribution could be
accomplished at 20 min, when the first phase of the load-carrying
behavior was over, the decrease of the specimen expansion
stopped, and the lateral deflection temporarily stabilized.
Afterwards, Specimen 3 entered the second phase of the load-
carrying behavior, which was determined first by the concrete’s
thermal expansion, leading to an increase in the specimen’s axial
deformation from 20 to 43 min, with a simultaneous increase in
lateral deflection due to plastic straining of the concrete. Load re-
distribution from the degrading concrete to the steel core followed
lasting 43–70 min. This process was reflected in the specimen’s
© ASCE 04016211-10
J. Struct. Eng., 2017, 143(4): 04016211
expansion temporarily ceasing to increase and the lateral deflection
stabilizing.
Finally, the third phase determined by the thermal expansion of
the steel core was entered with the specimen steadily expanding
and deflecting laterally until the stiffness degradation of the
steel core led to a runaway failure after 169 min. In the case of
Specimen 2 however, the second and third phase of the load-
carrying behavior could not be attained because after completion
of the first phase at 15 min of fire exposure, the increase in lateral
deflection grew at a steep rate until 20 min whereas the specimen
even shortened slowly. At 20 min, the specimen shortening stopped
and was temporarily stabilized, most probably because more and
more load was redistributed from the gradually softening concrete
to the steel core. On the other hand, the full activation of the steel
core could not stabilize the lateral deflection, which continued to
increase at the same rate, indicating the onset of plasticity in the
steel core. Eventually, after 24 min of fire exposure, the specimen
failed with a very abrupt runaway failure [Fig. 7(b)].
Specimen 4
Fig. 8 outlines the results of the Fire test 4 with the third specimen
type, which was tested only once. Specimen 4 exhibited a rather
low load ratio, μSP2 , of 38%. The load-carrying behavior of
Specimen 4 was similar to the load-carrying behavior of
Specimen 3, in terms of both deformation history and reached fire
resistance time, tf;SP4 , of 179 min. The three phases of the generic
load-carrying behavior are all observable in Fig. 8(a): the first phase,
with the steel tube determining the specimen expansion, u, and sub-
sequent partial redistribution of the tube load share on the concrete
component, extended from the start of the fire test until 18 min.
Onset of plasticity and local buckling [Fig. 8(c)] in the steel tube
was reflected in the increase in lateral deflection, w, after 3 min;
the activation of the concrete component can be identified in the sta-
bilization of the lateral deflection by the end of the first phase.
The second phase, characterized by the thermal expansion of the
concrete component, extended from 18 to 40 min. After a steady
specimen expansion from 18 to 30 min paired with a moderate
increase in lateral deflection, onset of concrete softening and sub-
sequent partial redistribution of the concrete’s load share on the
steel core is reflected in Fig. 8(a) in the specimen expansion tem-
porarily ceasing to increase and the lateral deflection being stable
until the end of the second phase.
In the third phase, from 40 min to the end of the fire test, the
specimen first expanded steadily until 160 min. The onset of
temperature-induced stiffness degradation of the steel core led to a
decrease in specimen expansion, in combination with an increasing
rate of lateral deflection, until the specimen failed with a runaway
failure after 179 min.
Specimen Examination after Fire Test
After the fire tests, the specimens were examined in detail at the
structural testing laboratory at ETH Zurich. The primary purpose
of this investigation was to measure the specimens’ residual bend-
ing lines, wres ðxÞ, and their residual end plate rotations, φres;bot and
φres;top . Once this was accomplished, the tube of the specimens was
cut open at specific locations and the concrete layer was removed to
gain more insight about the state of the concrete and the steel core
after fire exposure. These openings were at the peak value of the
residual bending lines and where plastic buckles had developed.
Additionally, the end plate was completely cut off and lifted away
from the top of the columns to investigate the force transmission
from the end plate to the steel core and the concrete. The results of
this posttest investigation are summarized in Figs. 9 and 10: Fig. 9
shows, per specimen, the measured residual bending line drawn to
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(a)
Fig. 9. Specimen view and remaining bending line after fire tests: (a) Specimen 1; (b) Specimen 2; (c) Specimen 4
scale together with an in-scale photographic side view of the
specimen; Fig. 10 shows typical views of the opened specimens.
Methodology
To examine them, the specimens were placed horizontally on
supports mounted on a strong base in the laboratory. In Fig. 9,
the views of the specimens are rotated counterclockwise by 90°
with respect to the position in which they were mounted in the lab-
oratory. At the top and bottom, the supports are visible together
with the square steel bar extensions welded on the end plates.
By means of a self-leveling rotatory laser, the two midpoints of
the bottom and top end plate edges were leveled with a tolerance
of 1 mm to the same height by adjusting the specimen supports.
Then vertical lines were projected one after another with the rota-
tory laser onto the specimen at equidistant increments in the lon-
gitudinal direction and marked [pale lines visible on the specimen
e.g., Fig. 9(c)]. In regions of higher curvature, the increment size
was halved. With a dial indicator gauge, the most outward location
along these curved vertical lines was determined and marked
[black dots visible on the specimen e.g., Fig. 9(b)]. Then the ver-
tical coordinates of these specimen midpoints, wres ðxÞ, (with re-
spect to the height of the leveled midpoints of the end plate
edges) were measured on a staff gauge fixed on one of the vertical
specimen supports, using the rotary laser. As soon as all the speci-
men midpoint coordinates were measured, the bending line was
painted on the specimen and the residual local buckles were marked
with painted grid lines. Finally, the residual rotations of the end
plates, φres;bot and φres;top , were determined with respect to the hori-
zontal strong base surface by means of a digital angle level. The
results of the point-wise measured residual bending lines of Spec-
imens 1, 2, and 4 are drawn to scale in Figs. 9(a–c), respectively.
Furthermore, Figs. 9(a–c) indicate per specimen: (1) the derived
© ASCE
J. Struct. Eng., 2017, 143(4): 04016211
(b) (c)
residual length, Lres ; (2) the location of the peak value of the bend-
ing line, xmax ; (3) the location of the local buckling, xbckl , as well as;
(4) the measured residual end plate rotations, φres;bot and φres;top .
The specimen views in Figs. 9(a–c) were each mounted from 17
overlapping photographs taken at equidistant points along a line
parallel to the specimen’s longitudinal axis. The mounting of
the cropped photographs with respect to each other was carried
out using the measurement grid of the bending line points.
Specimen 1
Fig. 9(a) shows the residual bending line of Specimen 1, which
exhibited a maximum value at a distance of 0.49 · Lres . Within
the measurement accuracy, this result can be regarded as almost
coinciding with the nominal location at midheight because of
the nominally symmetrical end conditions. However, the deviation
between the measured residual end plate rotations, with the rotation
at the top, φres;top , of 2.88° being significantly smaller than the ro-
tation at the bottom, φres;bot , of 3.90°, indicates that (1) the end con-
ditions were not completely symmetrical and (2) the frictional
effects in the rocker bearing at the top must have been greater than
at the bottom. First, these findings are qualitatively consistent with
the measured location of the maximum value situated slightly
below the nominal location at midheight. Second, the higher rota-
tional friction in the rocker bearing at the top end could be related to
the significantly higher temperature of approximately 500°C mea-
sured inside the specimen close to the top end at the end of the test
[Fig. 5(a)], in contrast to a temperature of around 80°C measured
in the corresponding location close to the bottom end [Fig. 5(i)].
Frictional effects in such a rocker bearing can be attributed to
elastic deformations (flattening) of the contact zone of the half-
cylinder. With the temperature increasing more strongly in the
top than the bottom end plate, the same applies for the temperatures
04016211-11 J. Struct. Eng.
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Fig. 10. Detail views of specimens after fire tests
of the contacting half-cylinder in the rocker bearings. This led by
trend to higher deformations in the top support and therefore to
higher rotational friction because the steel of the half-cylinder
became more compliant with increasing temperature. Fig. 10(g)
shows the inside surface of the part of the steel tube that was cut
out on the concave side of the specimen at midheight which showed
a lustrous graphite-gray smooth surface that did not stick at all on
the concrete. The concrete in this opening was not crushed with
longitudinal cracking, which indicates elastoplastic global buckling
failure. Comparison of the residual specimen length, Lres , of
3,551 mm with the initial specimen length, L, given in Table 1,
shows that the specimen experienced a residual elongation after
the test. This can be explained by residual plastic tensile strains
arising in the tube during posttest cooling. The tube cools off
quicker than the core steel and is therefore constrained from shrink-
ing freely (and in turn exhibits tensile stressing) by the imposed
compatibility between the core and the tube length through the
end plates. Additionally, this finding was confirmed by the pres-
ence of a gap between the steel core top face and the top end plate,
observed before removal of the latter. The tube of the specimen
featured a plastic local buckle at a location of 0.84 · Lres , as shown
in the specimen view of Fig. 9(a) and magnified in Fig. 6(c). The
local buckle shows a less sharply concentrated appearance than ob-
served in the other specimens [Figs. 7(c) and 8(c)], most probably
related to the aforementioned posttest stretching of the tube during
the cooling process.
Specimen 2
Fig. 9(b) displays the measured residual bending line of Specimen
2, which featured a maximum value at a location of 0.42 · Lres . This
location is higher than expected on the basis of the nominal end
conditions of a fixed end at the top and a pinned end at the bottom
(0.40 · Lres ). This observation is confirmed by the measured
© ASCE 04016211-12
J. Struct. Eng., 2017, 143(4): 04016211
residual top end plate rotation, φres;top , of 3.78°, which (nominally)
should be equal to zero. At the location of the maximum value of
the residual bending line, the onset of local buckling of the tube
could be examined, as shown in Fig. 10(a). Opening of the steel
tube at this location showed that the column failed via elastoplastic
global buckling by developing a plastic hinge: the concrete on the
concave side of the column exhibited crushing failure, illustrated
in Fig. 10(b), which shows abundant longitudinal cracking in
the compressive zone. On the convex side, tensile failure of the
concrete could be detected by transversal cracking, as shown in
Fig. 10(c). The specimen exhibited a plastic local buckle at a lo-
cation of 0.87 · Lres , as indicated in Fig. 9(b) and as magnified in
Fig. 7(c). The temperature-induced nature of this local buckling,
arising from overstressing of the steel tube when attempting to take
over the entire load because of thermal straining (differential ther-
mal expansion), was confirmed by opening the steel tube at this
location: Fig. 10(f) shows that the concrete neither is crushed in
the region of the local buckling nor shows any casting flaws that
could have caused the local collapse of the steel tube.
Specimen 4
Fig. 9(c) shows that the residual bending line of Specimen 4 ex-
hibited a peak value at a location closer to midheight than to
the nominal location of 0.40 · Lres , corresponding to the end con-
ditions of the specimen (like Specimen 2, pinned-fixed). The mea-
sured residual end plate rotation at the top, φres;top , of 1.49°
indicates that the fixed end condition was better imposed on the
specimen than in the case of Specimen 2. A possible explanation
for this difference can be found in dependence of the stiffness ratio
between the reaction frame and the test specimen on the fire expo-
sure time. With ongoing fire exposure, this stiffness ratio increases,
as only the specimen is heated and gradually loses its bending stiff-
ness. Thus, the stiffness of the reaction frame increases relatively
J. Struct. Eng.
 and the rotational restraint of the specimen becomes more perfect
the longer the fire test takes. Therefore, the measured residual top
end plate rotation for Specimen 2, which failed after 24 min,
when it was still considerably stiff, was higher than in the case
of Specimen 4, which was exposed to fire for 179 min. The side
view of the specimen in Fig. 9(c) shows that the specimen had even
rotated with respect to the top end plate, indicating that at the end of
the fire test a plastic hinge had developed at its fixed upper end.
As marked on the specimen at the top in Fig. 9(c), the steel tube
showed local buckling on the compressive side of the fixed end.
When the top end plate was cut off, it was discovered that the cast-
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ing of the concrete was incomplete, as can be seen in Fig. 10(d),
which additionally favored the development of a plastic hinge. Sim-
ilar casting shortcomings, although not to this extent, could be ob-
served in the other specimens. Fig. 10(e) shows the permanent
color change of the concrete from gray to yellow observed after
opening Specimen 4 at midheight. The change to yellow indicates
a temperature exposure higher than 800°C. This is because, in the
cylindrical specimens exposed to 800°C in the cyclic compression
tests, only the onset of a color change from gray to pale green could
be observed [Fig. 3(c)]. This finding is confirmed as well by the
temperature measurements given in Fig. 8(d). There it can be seen
that, at the end of the fire test, the mean temperature, θ1 , was 700°C
at a radial distance of 10 mm from the steel core, and reached 800°C
at a distance of 20 mm, θ2 .
Summary and Conclusions
The results of a series of four ISO fire tests with three different
cross-sectional types of concrete-filled steel tube column with solid
steel core have been presented, together with the results of material
property tests at various elevated temperatures of the steels and the
concrete used in the tested specimens. The main objective of this
experimental study was to evaluate the soundness of the design
concept of these composite columns and to provide validation data
for advanced numerical modeling, covering different mechanical
characteristics of the columns’ singular structural fire behavior.
The series consisted of one very slender specimen exhibiting
an extremely low load ratio and three other specimens featuring
common slenderness ratios with respect to building practice.
Two of these specimens (of identical cross-sectional type) were
tested with varying load ratios rated as high and common with re-
spect to building practice; the third specimen (of a different cross-
sectional type) also showed common load ratio. The specimens
with the common slenderness and load ratios exhibited extraordi-
nary fire resistance of almost 180 min, whereas the specimen with
the high load ratio did not even achieve a fire rating of 30 min.
The temperature fields measured in the specimens during the
fire tests showed a satisfactory degree of uniformity in the axial
direction along almost 90% of the specimen length, with the scatter
being smaller for the specimen with the smallest outer diameter.
In the temperature-time recordings of all specimens, a distinct
plateau due to moisture vaporization in the concrete was observ-
able, as was a significant temperature difference between the steel
tube and the concrete surface of the outer steel-concrete interface,
indicating the development of an insulating gap between the steel
tube and the concrete during the fire exposure.
The fire resistance concept of concrete-filled steel tube columns
with solid steel core could be validated (1) quantitatively, showing
that the temperature-time curves of the steel core lagged signifi-
cantly behind the temperature increase in the concrete and the steel
tube; and (2) qualitatively with the expansion histories of the tested
specimens, showing three distinct phases accompanied by load
© ASCE 04016211-13
J. Struct. Eng., 2017, 143(4): 04016211
redistributions due to the components’ superposed differential ther-
mal expansion and temperature-induced loss of stiffness.
Acknowledgments
The authors gratefully acknowledge the manufacture and provi-
sion of the test specimens by Tuchschmid AG, Frauenfeld,
Switzerland, as well as assistance in equipping the specimens with
thermocouples.
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