Experimental investigation of concrete-filled aluminum stub columns

Abstract

This paper presents an experimental investigation of concrete-filled aluminum tube columns. The structural performance of the concrete-filled aluminum tube columns was investigated using different concrete cylinder strengths of 40, 70 and 100 MPa. A series of tests was conducted to investigate the effects of the shape of the aluminum tube, plate thickness and concrete strength on the behaviour and strength of concrete-filled aluminum tube columns using square and rectangular hollow sections. The tubes were fabricated by extrusion using 6061-T6 heat-treated aluminum alloy. The overall depth-to-thickness ratio of the tube sections ranged from 24.5 to 63.8. The tube column lengths were chosen so that the length-to-depth ratio generally remained at a constant value of 3 to prevent overall column buckling. The concrete-filled aluminum tube specimens were subjected to uniform axial compression. The column strengths, load-axial shortening relationship and failure modes of the columns were presented. The test strengths were compared with the design strengths calculated using the American specifications and Australian/New Zealand standards for aluminum and concrete structures. It is shown that the design strengths generally do not agree well with the experimental results.