Post-fire performance of circular steel tube confined steel-reinforced concrete slender columns: Testing, simulation and design

Steel tube confined steel-reinforced concrete (STCSRC) stub columns offer good residual bearing capacity, great ductility, and large stiffness after fire exposure because inner steel profiles are unaffected by exterior temperature. Nonetheless, instability issues exist in STCSRC slender columns, and study into the mechanical characteristics of post-fire slender specimens is critical. At present, no relevant study on the axial performance of STCSRC slender columns after fire exposure has been reported. In this paper, nine circular STCSRC slender columns that had been exposed to fire were tested under axial load. The failure modes, axial load–displacement relationship, and lateral deflections of STCSRC columns were discussed. Furthermore, heat transfer analysis models and mechanical analysis models were established, and the effects of crucial variables on the buckling responses of STCSRC slender columns were explored. Among the parameters studied, sectional diameters and steel profile to concrete area ratio have a significant impact on buckling capacity. To calculate the buckling capacity of the post-fire STCSRC slender column, a simplified calculation method according to JGJ/T 471–2019 was proposed.