The Investigation on Mechanical Performances of High-Strength Steel Reinforced Concrete Composite Short Columns under Axial Load

At present, the existing standards (AISC360-16, EN1994-1-1:2004, and JGJ138-2016) lack relevant provisions for steel-reinforced concrete (SRC) composite columns with high-strength steel. To investigate the axial compressive mechanical performance of short high-strength steel-reinforced concrete (HSSRC) columns, the axial load test was conducted on 12 short composite columns with high-strength steel and ordinary steel. The influences of steel strength, steel ratio, and the section form of steel on the failure modes, bearing capacity, and ductility of the specimens were studied. Afterward, the experimental data were compared with the existing calculation results. The results show: compared with the specimens with Q235 steel, the bearing capacity of the specimens with Q460 steel increases by 7.8–15.3%, the bearing capacity of the specimens with Q690 steel increases by 13.2–24.1%, but the ductility coefficient increases by 15.2–202.4%; with the increase of steel ratio, the bearing capacity and ductility of specimens are significantly improved. A change of the steel cross-section could influence the ductility of SRC columns more than their bearing capacity. Moreover, the calculation results show that present standards could not predict the bearing capacity of HSSRC columns. Therefore, a modified method for determining the effective strength of steel equipped in HSSRC columns was proposed. The results of the ABAQUS simulation also showed that the addition of steel fibers could significantly improve the bearing capacity of Q690 HSSRC columns. The research results provide a reference for engineering practices.