Vol. 21, No. 4, pp. 327-335 (2025)
NUMERICAL MODELLING AND DESIGN OF SQUARE CONCRETE-FILLED
QN1803 STAINLESS STEEL TUBULAR STUB COLUMNS
UNDER AXIAL COMPRESSION
Yao-Hui Chi 1, You-Tian Wang 2, *, Le-Tian Hai 3, Xiang Zeng 4, Bo-Wen Chen 5 and Bo-Shan Chen 4
1 College of Harbour and Coastal Engineering, Jimei University, Xiamen, China
2 Department of Building and Real Estate, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong SAR, China
3 Research Institute of Urbanization and Urban Safety, School of Civil and Resource Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing, China
4 School of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Hainan University, Haikou, China
5 School of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Guangxi University, Nanning, China
*(Corresponding author: E-mail:This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)
Received: 15 December 2024; Revised: 5 June 2025; Accepted: 7 June 2025
DOI:10.18057/IJASC.2025.21.4.5
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ABSTRACT
A new generation of concrete-filled steel tubular (CFST) columns with steel tubes manufactured from QN1803 high-strength stainless steel (HSSS) was developed, which has the potential to be used extensively in demanding marine environments, and such newly developed material QN1803 offers notable advantages over traditional stainless steel including lower material cost and higher yield strength. However, no work or design rules were available for such concrete-filled QN1803 stainless steel stub columns. This study reports the results of a comprehensive numerical analysis aimed at developing new calculation formulas for concrete-filled QN1803 stainless steel square stub columns under axial compression. A nonlinear finite element (FE) model was established and validated against the existing experimental data reported by many researchers. An extensive parametric analysis comprising 460 FE models was undertaken using the validated FE models to investigate the axial loading response of CFST stub columns with QN1803 stainless steel tubes. The variables examined in the parametric analysis include the different stainless steel, wall thicknesses of the steel tube and concrete strengths. The results suggested that the ultimate bearing strength of CFST QN1803 stub columns increased by 25.3%, compared to corresponding S30408 members. The study further utilized the parametric analysis results to assess the accuracy of existing design criteria, including the Eurocode (EN 1994–1-1) (2004), American Specification (ANSI/AISC) (2022), and Australian/New Zealand standard (AS/NZS) (2017). The comparison results indicated that the existing design criteria tended to underestimate the ultimate strength of CFST stub columns with QN1803 tubes relative to the numerical results. Finally, new calculation formulas were proposed by modifying the current design standards, offering accurate and reliable predictions for these new CFST columns.
KEYWORDS
Concrete-filled QN1803 stainless steel tube, Axial compression, Square stub columns, Numerical analysis, Proposed calculation formulas
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