Nonlinear analysis of biaxially loaded rectangular concrete-filled stainless steel tubular slender beam-columns

Rectangular concrete-filled stainless steel tubular (CFSST) beam-columns utilized as supporting members for building frames may experience axial compression and biaxial moments. A numerical simulation considering the local buckling effects for thin-walled rectangular CFSST slender beam-columns has not been performed. This paper reports a stability modeling on the structural characteristics of rectangular CFSST slender beam-columns accounting for different strain-hardening of stainless steel under tension and compression. The influences of local buckling are considered in the simulation utilizing the existing effective width formulations. The developed numerical model simulates the strength interaction and load-deflection behavior of CFSST slender beam-columns. Comparisons of computed results with test data provided by experimental investigations are performed to validate the proposed fiber model. The influences of different geometric and material property on ultimate strengths, ultimate pure moments, concrete contribution ratio, strength interaction and load-deflection responses of CFSST slender beam-columns are examined by utilizing fiber model. A design formula considering strain hardening of stainless steel is derived for calculating the ultimate pure moment of square CFSST beam-columns.