Investigation of concrete-filled aluminum circular hollow section columns

Session 4A: AluminiumABSTRACT: This paper presents finite element analysis of concrete-filled aluminum Circular Hollow Section (CHS) columns.A finite element model has been developed and verified against test results.A parametric study was carried out to study the effects of cross-section sizes on the concrete-filled aluminum CHS columns. The outer diameter-to-thickness ratio of the sections ranged from 10 to 160, and the infilled concrete cylinder strength was 40MPa. The test and numerical results of the concrete-filled aluminum CHS columns were compared with the design strengths to evaluate the reliability of the design rules in the American and Australian/New Zealand specifications for aluminum and concrete structures. Furthermore, the composite column design equations have been proposed. The proposed design equations consider the benefits of composite action between the aluminum CHS tube and the concrete infill. It is shown that the proposed design equations accurately predicted the strengths of the concrete-filled aluminum CHS columns