Bond strength of concrete plugs embedded in tubular steel piles under cyclic loading

Investigation of the load transfer of concrete plugs to tubular steel piles subjected to tension and compression and cyclic loading has been conducted at Monash University over the past 3 years. The work presented in this paper reports on the results of the combination of pull-out, push-out, and cyclic loading tests carried out on 15 steel tube specimens filled partially with reinforced concrete with variable lengths of embedment. The pull-out force was applied through steel reinforcing bars embedded in the concrete plug, and push-out forces were applied through a thick top circular plate on the top of the concrete plug. Test results included the cyclic loading, ultimate pull-out and push-out forces, slip of concrete plugs, and longitudinal and hoop strains along the piles for some specimens. The tests clearly showed that average bond strength significantly exceeds expectations and is higher than the results of previous investigations using plugs without reinforcement. The test results also indicated that cyclic loading tests reduced the bond strength due to the accumulation of damage to the plug-pile interface. The push-out and pull-out tests conducted under symmetric cyclic loading demonstrated that slip between the concrete plug and the steel tube increased with repeated loading, and the rate of slip growth increased with an increase in the peak load