Journal of Constructional Steel Research 154 (2019) 67–83

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Journal of Constructional Steel Research

Behaviour and design of spiral-welded stainless steel tubes subjected

to axial compression
Dongxu Li a,⁎, Brian Uy a, Farhad Aslani b,c, Chao Hou a
a
School of Civil Engineering, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia
b
School of Civil, Environmental and Mining Engineering, The University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia
c
School of Engineering, Edith Cowan University, WA 6027, Australia

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Spiral welded stainless steel tubes are produced by helical welding of a continuous stainless steel strip. Recently,
Received 3 August 2018 spiral welded stainless steel tubes have found increasing application in the construction industry due to their
Received in revised form 25 November 2018 ease of fabrication and aesthetic appeal. However, an in-depth understanding of the behaviour of these types
Accepted 25 November 2018
of structural elements is still needed due to the insufficient experimental evidence and lack of rational design
Available online 3 December 2018
guidance. In the present paper, an extensive experimental program was carried out to investigate the behaviour
Keywords:
of axially loaded hollow and concrete-filled spiral welded stainless steel tubes. The effects of various design
Concrete-filled columns parameters were investigated throughout the test program. In addition to the experiments, this paper presents
Stainless steel a finite element model for the prediction of these columns. Specifically, the proposed finite element models
Spiral welded tube take into account the effects of material and geometric nonlinearities. The helical welding is modelled as an in-
Finite element model dependent part that is further tied to the stainless steel tube. Moreover, the initial imperfections of the stainless
Design codes steel tube and the residual stresses resulting from helical welding are included. Enhancement of the understand-
ing of the experimental results can be achieved by extending the parametric studies based on the developed fi-
nite element model. Furthermore, a comparison of the ultimate strength between the experimental results and
those obtained from existing codes of practice is conducted.
© 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Over the past few decades, the wide implementation of stainless
steel as the main structural member has been limited due to the high
manufacturing cost [1]. Nevertheless, the unique benefits of stainless
steel, such as aesthetic appearance, high corrosion and fire resistance,
as well as superior ductility over mild steel keep attracting the attention
from architectural and structural engineers [2]. The hollow stainless
steel tube is one form of stainless steel and has been commonly used
in water and drainage pipelines, fume and dust extraction ductwork,
as well as structural columns for buildings and bridges. Theofanous
and Gardner [3] conducted a series of tests on short and slender lean du-
plex stainless steel hollow columns. It was concluded that the current
design provisions were found to be adequate but conservative for stain-
less steel hollow columns. Theofanous et al. [4] reported another set of
experimental results on six stainless steel circular hollow sections
under three-point bending tests. In addition to the recorded moment-
rotation curves that were used for assessing the structural performance,
finite element models were developed to supplement the experimental
results. Recently, Zhao et al. [5] presented a comprehensive
⁎ Corresponding author.
E-mail address: dongxu.li@sydney.edu.au (D. Li).
experimental and numerical study into the stainless steel circular hol-
low beam-columns subjected to combined compression and flexure.
Various design methods in existing codes of practice were compared
with the experimental results, and it was found that specific design
guidance on stainless steel hollow beam-columns is necessary.
To further strengthen the hollow stainless steel tubes and encourage
subsequent wider structural applications, concrete can be filled inside
stainless steel tubes to form composite components [6]. The structural
performance of these types of composite columns in terms of stiffness,
strength and ductility can be greatly enhanced. Foundation piling with
concrete-filled stainless steel tubes is a typical example of this structural
form. Young and Ellobody [7] experimentally investigated concrete-
filled longitudinal-welded stainless steel tubes under axial compression.
The effects of various design parameters on the strength of composite
columns were examined. Moreover, a nonlinear finite element model
to predict the behaviour of axially loaded concrete-filled stainless steel
tubes was presented in the above study. A wider range of parametric
studies was carried out to propose a design equation for these kinds of
composite columns [8]. Lam and Gardner [9] further tested a series
of short concrete-filled longitudinal-welded stainless steel tubes.
The comparison between experimental results and Eurocode 4 [10] in-
dicated that the strength predictions based on design codes are over-
conservative. A continuous strength method was thus proposed and

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcsr.2018.11.029
0143-974X/© 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
68 D. Li et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 154 (2019) 67–83

was found to be accurate in terms of strength prediction. More recently, have been found to exhibit superior performance in fatigue and ductile
Dai and Lam [11] and Lam [12] extended the research into the behaviour crack propagation tests to that of tubes with longitudinal seams [23,24].
of concrete-filled elliptical stainless steel tubes under axial compres- For these reasons, Aslani et al. [25] carried out a series of tests to inves-
sion; the corresponding numerical model was developed. Comparison tigate the performance of concrete-filled spiral welded mild steel tubes
regarding the load bearing capacities of such columns between experi- under axial compression. The experimental results demonstrated the
mental results and design codes were made. Uy et al. [6] presented an excellent mechanical performance of these types of columns and design
extensive experimental program on short and slender concrete-filled recommendations were proposed.
stainless steel tubular columns. Similarly, conservative predictions In the present study, a series of hollow and concrete-filled spiral
were found when comparing the experimental results against different welded stainless steel tubes have been tested under axial compression.
design provisions worldwide. Nevertheless, the test results showed Initial stiffness, axial compressive capacity and ductility were evaluated
good structural performance that allowed these composite columns to through experimental results. Moreover, a non-linear finite element
be used widely in engineering practice. model based on ABAQUS [26] incorporating initial imperfections and re-
In addition to the aforementioned studies on the fundamental sidual stresses, was developed to predict the behaviour of hollow and
behaviour of concrete-filled longitudinal-welded stainless steel tubes, concrete-filled spiral welded stainless steel tubes. Furthermore, experi-
additional research investigating the behaviour of composite columns mental results were compared with existing codes of practice in terms
with various materials and loading conditions were performed over of ultimate axial bearing strength.
the last decade [13–18]. However, it can be noted that previous research
focused on cold-formed stainless steel tubes with longitudinal welding, 2. Experimental programs
which were limited by the tube diameter and length due to the
manufacturing methodology. In engineering practice, to increase the This section first presents the results of the material property tests,
length of stainless steel tubes and allow them to be applicable for which include a total of sixteen stainless steel coupon tests and four
advanced construction, two separate tubes are normally girth-welded concrete cylinder tests. A detailed review of tested specimens on hollow
together. Lee et al. [19] experimentally and numerically investigated and concrete-filled spiral welded stainless steel columns is then de-
the bending behaviour of girth-welded stainless steel hollow tubes. scribed followed by the test set-up illustration.
The residual stress induced by the girth-welding has been determined
and utilised for the development of corresponding finite element 2.1. Material properties
models. On the other hand, for the purposes of manufacturing stainless
steel hollow tubes with the desired diameter, the spiral welding ap- 2.1.1. Tensile coupon tests
proach was developed [20]. Spiral welded stainless steel tubes are Unlike longitudinally welded stainless steel tubes, spiral welded
manufactured from a stainless steel coil strip. The coil is positioned on stainless steel tubes with various tube diameters can be manufactured
a mandrel to be flattened and edge trimmed. Afterwards, the strip is from a single stainless steel strip, which is mainly dependent on the
guided into a forming station at a predetermined angle and spiralled
to form a hollow tube with proper welding gap between abutting
edges. The strip is then welded both internally and externally with a Table 1
Material test results for stainless steel coupons.
metal inert gas (MIG) process. The fabricated spiral welded stainless
steel hollow tubes are cut to a specific length using an automatic cutting Tensile tests results on coupons - Thickness = 1.7 mm Strain
device. The fabrication of spiral welded tubes followed the current hardening
Coupons Young's 0.01% 0.2% 0.5% Tensile
exponent
Australian Standards AS1579 [21], through which the welding quality modulus proof proof proof stress,
n
can be assured and potential initial imperfections can be minimised. E (MPa) stress, stress, stress, σu
Compared with cold-formed and longitudinal-welded stainless steel σ0.01% σ0.2% σ0.5% (MPa)
(MPa) (MPa) (MPa)
hollow tubes, spiral welded tubes exhibit significant structural and
economic benefits. Different tube diameters and lengths can be L-1 198,000 155 210 256 540 9.9
L-2 193,000 159 215 278 565 9.9
manufactured from a single stainless steel coil strip. The ease of fabrica-
Mean 195,500 157 213 267 553 9.9
tion allows the spiral welded stainless steel tubes to be manufactured T-1 191,000 158 213 271 554 10.0
onsite, which can eliminate the costly transportation of long structural T-2 193,000 149 204 262 538 9.5
components [22]. Furthermore, hollow tubes with helical welding Mean 192,000 154 209 267 546 9.8
AW-1 193,000 162 216 279 523 10.4
AW-2 195,000 154 210 272 541 9.7
Mean 194,000 158 213 276 532 10.0
TW-1 190,000 152 207 279 569 9.7
TW-2 194,000 166 217 282 582 11.2
Mean 192,000 159 212 281 576 10.4

Tensile tests results on coupons - Thickness = 2.1 mm

Coupons Young's 0.2% proof 0.5% proof Tensile Strain

modulus stress, σ0.2% stress, σ0.5% stress, σu hardening
E (GPa) (MPa) (MPa) (MPa) exponent n

L-1 198,000 150 206 269 544 9.4

L-2 163,000 153 212 275 540 9.2
Mean 180,500 151.5 209 272 542 9.3
T-1 191,000 158 211 262 536 10.4
T-2 193,000 149 204 260 540 9.5
Mean 192,000 153.5 208 261 538 9.9
AW-1 193,000 150 211 277 501 8.8
AW-2 195,000 152 206 271 548 9.9
Mean 194,000 151 209 274 525 9.3
TW-1 190,000 162 220 270 578 9.8
TW-2 194,000 166 223 273 552 10.1
Mean 192,000 164 222 272 565 10.0
Fig. 1. Description and denotations of coupon directions within spiral welded tubes.
 D. Li et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 154 (2019) 67–83 69

Fig. 2. Stress-strain curves for spiral welded stainless steel coupons in various directions.

predetermined angle. The helical seam that runs along the entire length
of the tube is thereafter welded both inside and outside the stainless
steel tube. Sadowski et al. [27] highlighted that the manufacturing pro-
cess of spiral welded tubes might induce a distinctly oriented anisotropy
in the steel that follows the spiral, which can significantly influence the
buckling resistance of the spiral welded tubes. In this study, four spiral
welded stainless steel tubes with two different tube thickness were
used to conduct material tests. Standard coupons at four directions of
each stainless steel tube were extracted and two coupons were tested
along each direction to ensure the accuracy. A total of sixteen 200 mm
Austenitic Stainless steel coupons were extracted from two spiral
welded stainless tubes (varied in tube thickness) in four directions:
a) Parallel to the tube height (denoted as L); b) Transverse to the tube
height (T); c) Along helical welding (AW); d) Transverse to the helical
welding (TW), as shown in Fig. 1. As presented in Table 1, the mean
0.2% proof stress for these Austenitic Stainless steel coupons of
1.7 mm thick along L, T, AW and TW directions are determined to be
213, 209, 213 and 212 MPa, respectively. Moreover, the tests illustrated
an increase in stress after yielding, the average ultimate stress
corresponds to L, T, AW and TW directions was found to be 553, 546,
532 and 576 MPa. The tensile results for coupons with 2.1 mm thickness
can be observed in Table 1, which is similar to those with 1.7 mm thick-
ness. The typical stress-strain curves and failure modes of the tested
coupons are presented in Figs. 2 and 3, respectively. It can be observed
from Fig. 2 that the tensile stress is normally three times the 0.2%
proof stress and favourable ductility can also be seen. Moreover, it can
be found from Table 1 that an isotropic material property would be ac-
ceptable for the stainless steel tubes without welding seam in the fol-
lowing computational analysis.
2.1.2. Concrete cylinder tests
Self-compacting concrete has been widely used in the current con-
struction industry owing to its ease of constructability [28]. It is there-
fore being used in the present study to enhance the performance of
spiral welded stainless steel tubes. Concrete cylinders with 100 mm in
diameter and 200 mm in length were cast and tested to determine the
actual compressive strength of the concrete. A number of concrete cyl-
inders were tested after various curing days and the corresponding

Fig. 3. Failure modes of coupons from spiral welded stainless steel tubes.
70 D. Li et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 154 (2019) 67–83

Table 2
Material test results for concrete.

Concrete Age Average Average Young's

cylinder (days) compressive Modulus Ec
strength f 'c (MPa) (MPa)

CC-1 28 41.3 –
CC-2 28 40.6 –
Mean 41.0 –
CC-3 78 50.6 33,016
(testing)
CC-4 78 49.3 32,766
(testing)
Mean 50.0 32,891

Fig. 5. Capping of the specimens with end-plates.

Fig. 4. Measurement details of spiral welded stainless steel tubes.
results are summarised in Table 2. The mean compressive strengths of
these concrete cylinders are also given at 28 days and the age of testing
(78 days).
2.2. Column tests
This section described the general information of the experimental
tests carried out in this study, which consist of sixteen specimens with
eight hollow spiral welded stainless steel tubes and eight concrete-
filled ones. All of these spiral welded stainless steel tubes are fabricated
with coiled stainless steel strips of 1.7 and 2.1 mm plate thickness. The
outer diameters of the specimens ranged from 100 to 250 mm. For
specimens with a certain outer diameter, two column heights are con-
sidered for testing. For specimens with the length being three times
the column outer diameter (L/D = 3), the experimental results could
be used to evaluate the cross-sectional performance of hollow and
concrete-filled spiral welded stainless steel columns. On the contrary,
the experimental results of slender specimens can be used to investigate
the axial behaviour of the hollow and concrete-filled tubes with slen-
derness effects. In addition to the nominal dimensions, accurate dimen-
sion measurements were also conducted to evaluate the effects of the
initial imperfections on the behaviour of axially loaded hollow and
concrete-filled spiral welded stainless steel columns. A series of design
parameters were measured (Fig. 4) and reported in Table 3, which in-
clude the length and thickness of the stainless steel tubes (L and ttube),
thickness and width of helical welding (tweld and dweld), as well as the
measured outer diameter of each tube at three different locations (D1,
D2 and D3). In Table 3, the first letter “H” or “C” of the specimen label
represents hollow and composite columns, respectively. The following
number indicates the nominal diameter of the stainless steel tubes;
whilst the last letter “S” or “L” denotes a short or long specimen respec-
tively. After the fabrication of stainless steel hollow tubes and concrete
casting, the hollow and concrete-filled columns were placed in the
centre of end-plates, which was followed by pouring of ultra-high-
strength plaster (Fig. 5). By capping the specimens with end-plates at
both ends, a uniform applied compressive stress on the specimens
was achieved.

Table 3
Geometric details of hollow and concrete-filled spiral welded stainless steel tubes.

Specimens D1 (mm) D2 (mm) D3 (mm) Dave (mm) L (mm) λr ttube (mm) D/ttube Section type tweld (mm) dweld (mm) Dist. to 1 rev (mm)

For hollow columns

H-100S 102.9 103.0 103.2 103 306 0.10 1.7 61 Compact 3.3 7.0 375
H-100L 103.2 103.2 103.1 103 1020 0.33 1.7 61 Compact 4.2 7.1 242
H-150S 153.1 153.1 153.5 153 456 0.10 2.1 73 Compact 4.3 7.3 370
H-150L 154.0 153.8 154.1 154 1522 0.33 2.1 73 Compact 4.0 7.0 375
H-200S 203.2 202.5 203.3 203 608 0.10 2.1 97 Compact 4.2 7.2 332
H-200L 202.5 203.3 203.0 203 2030 0.34 2.1 97 Compact 3.7 7.3 332
H-250S 254.0 254.4 254.0 254 762 0.10 2.1 121 Slender 4.0 7.1 320
H-250L 254.1 254.5 254.0 254 2537 0.33 2.1 121 Slender 3.9 7.0 318

For concrete-filled columns

C-100S 103.1 103.2 103.4 103 307 0.15 1.7 61 Compact 3.3 7.0 375
C-100L 103.1 103.3 103.3 103 1020 0.51 1.7 61 Compact 4.3 7.1 240
C-150S 152.9 153.0 152.8 153 456 0.16 2.1 73 Compact 4.0 7.1 370
C-150L 154.1 154.2 154.4 154 1521 0.52 2.1 73 Compact 4.6 7.3 371
C-200S 203.7 202.5 203.3 203 609 0.16 2.1 97 Compact 4.1 7.2 335
C-200L 202.5 203.3 203.0 203 2030 0.54 2.1 97 Compact 3.9 7.4 330
C-250S 254.0 254.4 254.0 254 762 0.17 2.1 121 Slender 4.2 7.1 320
C-250L 254.0 254.4 254.0 254 2540 0.56 2.1 121 Slender 4.1 7.0 318
 D. Li et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 154 (2019) 67–83 71

Fig. 6. Test set-up for the specimens.

2.3. Experimental set-up and instrumentation
The specimens in the present study were tested under uniaxial com-
pression with a 500 t capacity Amsler Machine at the University of Syd-
ney. Specifically, specimens in Table 3 with end-plates were placed into
the testing machine and the uniaxial compression was applied on top of
the end-plates directly. It should be noted that the loading plates of the
testing machine were restrained against rotation in any direction to
simulate the fixed-supports at both ends. Moreover, no intended load
eccentricity was enforced for the specimens. Therefore, the effective
length (Le) of a specimen shown in Table 3 was taken as half its physical
length (0.5 L). The schematic and experimental view of the test speci-
mens is illustrated in Fig. 6.
A total of six strain gauges were attached to each specimen. As
shown in Fig. 7, three strain gauges (SG2, SG4 and SG5) were attached
vertically at the mid-height of each column at three different locations.

Fig. 7. Location of strain gauges and LVDTs for short and slender columns.
72 D. Li et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 154 (2019) 67–83

Moreover, another two vertical strain gauges (SG1 and SG3) were
placed at the quarter-heights of the column. In particular, the strain
gauge near the top end (SG1) was attached close to the helical welding.
Comparison between SG1 and SG3 is an attempt to illustrate the effects
of spiral welding on the strain development along the height of the
stainless steel tube. Furthermore, a horizontal strain gauge (SG6) at
the mid-height of the tube was utilised for assessing the variation of
Poisson's ratio for hollow and concrete-filled spiral welded stainless
steel tubes. In addition to the strain gauges, two linear variable differen-
tial transformers (LVDT-1 and LVDT-2) were used to measure the axial
shortening of the columns. It should be noted that for slender columns,
two additional LVDTs (LVDT-3 and LVDT-4) were placed at the mid-
height of the columns with an included angle of 90° to record the lateral
displacements.

3. Experimental results

3.1. General behaviour and failure modes

The failure mode for the test specimens was a local failure mecha-
nism on stainless steel tubes. Unlike the stainless steel hollow tubes,
composite columns with infilled concrete exhibited outward local buck-
ling only, as shown in Fig. 8. Compared with Specimen C\\250S, Speci-
men C\\100S showed less local buckling. This is due to the lower D/t
ratio of Specimen C\\100S resulting in higher confinement effects to
the infilled concrete and consequently better ductility performance.

3.2. Load-axial shortening results

The load-axial shortening behaviour provides information on the

maximum load (Nmax) and apparent ductility of each specimen. The
load-axial shortening curves for specimens in Table 3 are compared in
Fig. 9. As can be observed, the load-axial shortening relationships
showed a similar trend, where a strain-softening response can be ob-
served. These curves have initial linear parts, transitional and plastic
parts, which are followed by a load decrease after the peak capacity
was achieved. The nonlinear response during the transitional part is
due to the yielding and local buckling of the stainless steel tubes, as
well as the nonlinear behaviour of confined concrete after the elastic re-
gion. It can be observed that the ductility behaviour after the peak load
is influenced by the D/t ratio. Moreover, compared with the composite
columns, the hollow sections lead to smaller stiffness and much less ul-
timate compressive capacity. The ductility performance of specimens
with and without infilled concrete is similar, which is due to the
crushing of the concrete at the peak loading point.

3.3. Load-strain results Fig. 8. Failure modes of spiral welded stainless steel hollow and concrete-filled tubes.

The trend of the axial and lateral strain development in the hollow
spiral welded stainless steel tubes is similar, which is illustrated in
Fig. 10. The load-axial strain curves can be used to identify the onset
of stainless steel tube yielding, as well as the initiation of local buckling.
As can be seen in Fig. 10, all the hollow stainless steel tubes reached
yield before the ultimate compression was achieved. In addition, for
specimens H\\100S and H\\200S, the local buckling of the hollow
stainless steel tubes occurred close to the top end of the specimens. Sim-
ilarly, the load-axial strain curves and load-lateral strain curves for
concrete-filled spiral welded stainless steel tubes are plotted in Fig. 11.
Due to the infilled concrete, large deformation of composite columns
is observed and the axial strains of the composite columns are signifi-
cantly higher than those for hollow spiral welded stainless steel tubes.
Furthermore, it can be observed that the development of vertical strains
at various positions is similar. This means the helical welding has no sig-
nificant effect on the load transfer within the hollow and composite col-
umns. In addition, load versus lateral-to-axial strain curves for short
concrete-filled spiral welded stainless steel columns were compared
and presented in Fig. 12. Measurement of the lateral-to-axial strains of
the stainless steel tubes allowed the concrete confinement effects
from the stainless steel tubes to be evaluated. As can be observed, spiral
welded stainless steel tubes with small D/t ratio (C\\150S) provided
confinement to the infilled concrete until the plastic stage; whilst the
specimens with high D/t ratios (C\\250S) did not induce any confine-
ment to infilled concrete until ultimate load was achieved, where the
concrete crushed and tended to expand.
4. Finite element model
Experimental studies on hollow and concrete-filled spiral welded
stainless steel tubes are expensive and time-consuming; it is thus diffi-
cult to conduct a wide range of parametric studies through the experi-
mental program to evaluate the effects of every key design parameters
on the performance of such columns. Therefore, there is a need to
carry out an accurate and complementary numerical investigation to
 D. Li et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 154 (2019) 67–83 73

Fig. 9. Load-shortening relationships for hollow and composite specimens.

assist the development of proper design guidance, which is based on
both experimental and numerical results. In this study, the commercial
program ABAQUS was used to develop an accurate finite element model
for predicting the behaviour of hollow and concrete-filled spiral welded
stainless steel tubes under axial compression. For the purposes of accu-
rate analysis, element type, element mesh, boundary condition, stain-
less steel tube-concrete interface, material properties for the stainless
steel tube and the confined concrete, initial imperfections and residual
stresses must all be properly considered.
4.1. Element type, element mesh, boundary condition and interaction
Appropriate element type and mesh size play an important role in
determining the accuracy of the proposed numerical model. Unlike
the conventional steel tubes with longitudinal welding, stainless steel
hollow tubes with helical features induce a significant challenge for
the development of the numerical model. Dong et al. [29] analysed spi-
ral welded mild steel hollow tube with ABAQUS using a double-helix
mesh type. On the contrary, Wirth and Arif et al. [30,31] utilised a
single-helix mesh type based on ANSYS [32] to mirror the behaviour
of spiral welded steel tubes. However, all of these studies simplified
the model by neglecting the spiral welding itself, where the tubes and
welding were modelled as a single component. However, as suggested
by Aslani et al. [25], the study herein proposed a numerical model
based on ABAQUS, in which the hollow stainless steel tube and helical
welding were simulated separately (Fig. 13). This allowed the failure
modes of spiral welded stainless steel tubes can be better reflected. In
addition, Brown [33] found that the eight-node linear solid element
74 D. Li et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 154 (2019) 67–83

Fig. 10. Strain development on spiral welded stainless steel hollow tubes.

with incompatible modes (C3D8I) was less sensitive to the mesh thick-
ness and would be suitable for simulating the local buckling of stainless
steel tubes. In the present study, the stainless steel tubes and spiral
welding were modelled with three-dimensional solid elements of ac-
tual thickness, which means that the C3D8I elements over-performed
than C3D8R elements in terms of predicting the local instabilities of hol-
low tubes. Moreover, according to the mesh sensitivity study, the ratio-
nal mesh size for slender stainless steel tubes and in-filled concrete is
determined to be L/200, with L representing the length of the column.
The proper mesh size for the short stainless steel tubes and in-filled con-
crete is chosen as 0.08D, with D representing the diameter of the
column.
In terms of the contact interactions, similar selections with tradi-
tional concrete-filled steel tubes were used. Surface-to-surface contact
with a Hard Contact model in the normal direction was considered for
all contact surfaces where no penetration was allowed. A Coulomb fric-
tion model in the tangential direction was assumed with a friction coef-
ficient assigned. The authors herein determined the coefficient of
friction between the stainless steel tube and concrete to be 0.6 [34].
Moreover, fixed boundary conditions were applied to both ends of the
columns, except that the top ends of the columns were allowed to de-
form vertically. Furthermore, specimens in this study are loaded under
displacement control, which can facilitate the capture of the descending
branch of the axial load-shortening curve [35].
 D. Li et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 154 (2019) 67–83 75

Fig. 11. Strain development on concrete-filled spiral welded stainless steel tubes.
76 D. Li et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 154 (2019) 67–83

Fig. 14. Material properties of structural steel and confined concrete for finite element
analysis.

stress-strain curve for stainless steel is presented in Fig. 14(a).

Fig. 12. Load versus lateral-to-axial strain curves for short concrete-filled spiral welded
stainless steel tubes.


σ −σ 0:2 σ 1:0 −σ 0:2 σ −σ 0:2 n0:2;1:0
ε¼ þ 0:008−
E0:2 E0:2 σ 1:0 −σ 0:2
4.2. Material properties þ ε0:2; σ N σ 0:2 ð3Þ

4.2.1. Stainless steel
Stainless steel material properties specified in ABAQUS include the
elastic and plastic components. Young's modulus of stainless steel (E0)
was taken according to Table 1 and Poisson's ratio (v s) is simply
taken as 0.3. For the plastic behaviour, Gardner and Nethercot [36] de-
veloped a two-stage Ramberg-Osgood curve based on Mirambell and
Real's model [37]. This model is more accurate and conservative in
predicting the ultimate strength for concrete-filled stainless steel
tubes when comparing with those developed by Mirambell and Real
[37] and Rasmussen [38]:


σ σ n
ε¼ þ 0:002 ; σ ≤ σ 0:2
E0 σ 0:2
in which σ0.2 is the 0.2% proof stress, n is the strain-hardening exponent
determined by σ0.2 and the 0.01% proof stress σ0.01, as shown in Eq. (2):
ln ð20Þ
n¼
ln ðσ 0:2 =σ 0:01 Þ
For the stress-strain curve beyond the 0.2% proof stress, expression
based on Ramberg-Osgood relationship is used (Eq. (3)). A typical
where n’0.2,1.0 is the strain-hardening exponent representing a curve
that passes through σ0.2 and σ1.0, and its value can be determined
from the measured stress-strain curves.
4.2.2. Confined concrete
For a concrete-filled spiral welded stainless steel tube under axial
compression, the infilled concrete expands laterally and is confined by
the stainless steel tube. This confinement is passive in nature and can in-
crease the strength and ductility of the concrete. Furthermore, the con-
finement effect depends on the D/t ratio of the stainless steel tube and
the material properties. In this analysis, the damage plasticity model de-
fined in ABAQUS is used. The damage plasticity model allows the uniax-
ð1Þ ial compressive stress-strain curve, tensile stress-strain curve and other
parameters to be input. In the present study, a confined concrete model
proposed by Tao et al. [39] with developed compressive and tensile
stress-strain curves is utilised, which is shown in Fig. 14(b). Other pa-
rameters required to define the damage plasticity model include the
elastic modulus (Ec), Poisson's ratio (vc), dilation angle (ψ), flow poten-
ð2Þ tial eccentricity (e), the ratio of initial equibiaxial compressive yield
stress to initial uniaxial compressive yield stress (fb0/f 'c), shape factor
of yield surface (Kc) and viscosity parameter. As suggested by [40],
Poisson's ratio is adopted as 0.2 and the elastic modulus of concrete is
determined as Ec = 3320f '0.5 c + 6900, where f 'c is in MPa. For fb0/f 'c

Fig. 13. Finite element model for hollow and concrete-filled spiral welded stainless steel tubes.
 D. Li et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 154 (2019) 67–83
and Kc, the values used in the finite element analysis can be calculated
based on Eqs. (4)–(5), and ψ is normally taken as 40° as suggested by
Tao et al. [39].
f b0  0 −0:075
0 ¼ 1:5 f c
fc
5:5
Kc ¼  0
5 þ 2 f c 0:075
4.3. Effects of residual stress and initial imperfection
Residual stress is often a cause of premature failure of critical com-
ponents, which will significantly affect the mechanical performance of
structural members [40,41]. Khan et al. [42] employed a non-
destructive neutron diffraction method to test the residual stresses of
fabricated high strength box columns and it was found that the residual
stress near the welding centre could be as high as the yield stress.
Forouzan et al. [43] developed a finite element model to simulate the
procedure of submerged arc welding. The residual stress induced was
predicted and compared with the experimental results. The authors
simplified the work by converting the spiral welded steel plates into a
new flat space, thus the spiral welding curve turned into a straight
line. Similarly, it was found that the maximum tensile residual stress
near the weld centre was close to the yield stress of the steel plates. In
this study, an initial tensile residual stress was thus applied along the
helical welding, whilst the stainless steel plates between the adjacent
two helical welding were applied with compressive residual stress
[44]. Due to the insufficient test data on residual stress of spiral welded
stainless steel tubes, the residual stress pattern adapted from Forouzan
et al. [43] and Wang et al. [44] was utilised in the present study, which is
shown in Fig. 15.
Apart from the residual stress induced by the welding, initial
manufacturing imperfection is another inevitable parameter that will
exhibit a significant influence on the behaviour of structural members.
Despite the spiral welded stainless steel hollow tubes are fabricated
based on the dimensional and tolerance requirements of AS1579 [21],
some imperfections more or less exist (Table 3), which can be attributed
to the fabrication procedures of such hollow tubes. These initial imper-
fections might have a negative effect on the behaviour of axially loaded
columns. Especially the unevenness of column ends could result in un-
desirable additional bending moments even when the columns are sub-
jected to axial compression. In order to address these issues, both ends
of the columns were ground and capped with high strength plaster.
Moreover, the effects of imperfections due to the out-of-straightness
along the columns were simulated by including an eigenvalue buckling
Fig. 15. Residual stresses distribution pattern of the spiral welded stainless steel tubes.
77
analysis. The deflection of all nodes was recorded in the first eigenvalue
buckling analysis, which was then served as the input for the nonlinear
static analysis [25,45,46]. It should be noted that the meshing is identical
in both eigenvalue buckling analysis and nonlinear static simulation.
The eigenvalue buckling mode for short and slender stainless steel hol-
ð4Þ
low tubes is depicted in Fig. 16. In this study, the magnitude of initial
geometric imperfection for the slender column was taken as L/5000,
which was suggested by [47,48]; whilst for the short columns, the mag-
ð5Þ
nitude of initial imperfection was determined as 0.003D [25].
4.4. Validation of finite element model
The experimental results in this study were used to validate the fi-
nite element model. Figs. 17 and 18 illustrate the comparisons between
the finite element predictions and the measured load-shortening rela-
tionships for the test specimens. It can be observed from Figs. 17–18
that the results from the finite element model agree reasonably well
with the experimental results in terms of ultimate strength and initial
stiffness. In terms of the post-peak behaviour, the numerical predictions
for short columns agree well with the experimental results, while the
numerical results for slender columns dropped suddenly and earlier
than the experimental results (Fig. 18). Based on the observation in
Fig. 17, it can be concluded that the material properties, initial imperfec-
tions utilised in the numerical model are correct. For the experimental
results, the slender columns underwent small horizontal movement at
the mid-height of the columns during the loading stage. However, in
the FE modelling, these slender columns exhibited more significant hor-
izontal displacement. This is the major reason that the slender columns
collapsed earlier and sudden than that of the experimental specimens.
To assess the accuracy of the developed numerical model, compari-
sons of the failure modes between the experimental specimens and fi-
nite element analysis results were carried out. The behaviour of
selected specimens from experimental tests is compared with those ob-
tained from the finite element analysis. Fig. 19 presents the comparisons
of the final state and the failure modes for the selected specimens,
which further demonstrates the accuracy of the proposed finite element
model.
5. Discussion of the results
5.1. Comparison of ultimate strengths with various design provisions
Comparisons between the experimental results and finite element
analysis results in terms of the load-axial shortening relationships
have been carried out and illustrated in Figs. 17–18. The ratios of exper-
imental compressive strengths to finite element analysis results are
summarised in Table 4, with a mean value of 1.03. Thus, it can be
Fig. 16. Eigenvalue buckling analysis of stainless steel hollow tubes.
78 D. Li et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 154 (2019) 67–83

Fig. 17. Comparison of load-axial shortening relationships between experimental and finite element analysis for short columns.

concluded that the proposed finite element model leads to a good Eurocode 3 [52] has suggested the maximum D/t ratio as follow:
agreement with the experimental results, and can be further utilised
to conduct parametric analysis with reasonable accuracy and reliability. d
≤ 90ε2 ð6Þ
In addition to the comparison against finite element analysis, ob- t
tained experimental results were also compared with various design
provisions in terms of axial bearing capacity, such as Eurocode 4 [10], " #0:5
235 E
Australian Standards AS/NZS2327 [49] and AS/NZS5100.6 [50], as well ε¼ ð7Þ
f y 210000
as American Institute of Steel Construction AISC-LRFD [51]. For the pre-
diction of axial compressive capacity on hollow spiral welded stainless
steel tubes, the mean values for Nu,exp/NEC4, Nu,exp/NAS/NZS2327, Nu,exp/ As can be seen in Table 3, specimens with a D/t ratio greater than 92
NAS/NZS5100.6, Nu,exp/NAISC are 1.33, 1.33, 1.33 and 1.44, respectively. were classified as slender in section. Thus, the corresponding effective
These similar results illustrate that the prediction models in the current loading strength was calculated. In addition, there is a trend that an in-
design provisions are conservative and safe to be used. It should be creasing D/t ratio will lead to a more conservative prediction in terms of
noted that for hollow spiral welded stainless steel circular tubes, ultimate strength. This over-prediction is mainly attributed to the

Fig. 18. Comparison of load-axial shortening relationships between experimental and finite element analysis for slender columns.
 D. Li et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 154 (2019) 67–83 79

the slenderness limit for concrete-filled stainless steel tubes, the values
used for hollow spiral welded stainless steel tubes are simply
adopted for conservativeness. Similarly, as observed in Table 5, the
value of Nu,exp/NEC4 tends to increase when increasing the D/t ratio.
This is again due to the conservative estimation of the effective area of
the stainless steel tubes. Compared with Eurocode 4 [10], AISC-LRFD
[51] produced closer yet still conservative strength predictions. The
mean values for Nu,exp/NEC4, Nu,exp/NAISC are 1.60 and 1.43, respectively.

5.2. Improvement of design equations

It can be found that with the current design equations, the ultimate
compressive strengths of the hollow and concrete-filled spiral welded
stainless steel tubes are quite conservative. It is therefore encouraged
to propose new design equations to predict the strength for such type
of columns. The authors herein adapted the existing equation based
on the Australian Standards AS/NZS5100.6 [50] by replacing the 0.2%
proof stress with the 0.5% proof stress. It should be noted that the test
stainless steel tubes underwent 0.5% proof stress before reaching their
ultimate loading capacities. The comparisons in terms of the ultimate
strengths with various design equations have been summarised in
Table 5. Another two data sets from previous experimental programs
[6,9] on circular hollow and concrete-filled stainless steel tubes are
utilised for comparison. It can be found that the accuracy of the strength
prediction for compact hollow stainless steel tubes has been enhanced
significantly. However, the strength of the slender hollow stainless
steel tubes is still overestimated. Compared with the prediction for hol-
low spiral welded stainless steel tubes, the ultimate strength prediction
for concrete-filled ones can also be improved by using the proposed
method, as shown in Fig. 20 and Table 5. Similar to the hollow tubes,
the ultimate strength of composite columns with slender stainless
Fig. 19. Comparison of the failure modes between selected specimens and finite element
steel sections are more underestimated than those with compact stain-
models.
less steel sections.

conservative consideration of the effective diameter of the hollow stain-
less steel tubes.
As for concrete-filled spiral welded stainless steel tubes, the use of
design models based on Australian Standards AS/NZS2327 [48] and
AS/NZS5100.6 [50] result in the same and closest prediction among
these four codes, with a mean value for Nu,exp/NAS/NZS2327 and Nu,exp/
NAS/NZS5100.6 being 1.40. Since no research has been carried out into
5.3. Parametric study
To implement the understating of the experimental results, this
paper also undertook a series of parametric studies on concrete-filled
spiral welded stainless steel columns. The main parameters considered
in this analysis include concrete compressive strength, types of stainless
steel, depth-to-thickness ratio and relative slenderness ratio. It should

Table 4
Summary of experimental results on hollow and composite columns.

Specimens D/t Nu,exp NFEM Nu,exp/NFEM NEC4 Nu,exp/NEC4 NAS/NZS5100.6 Nu,exp/NAS/NZS5100.6 NAISC Nu,exp/NAISC NAS/NZS2327 Nu,exp/NAS/NZS2327
(kN) (kN) (kN) (kN) (kN) (kN)

For hollow columns

H-100S 103 160 156 1.03 114 1.41 113 1.41 102 1.57 113 1.41
H-100 L 103 149 141 1.06 114 1.31 114 1.31 98 1.52 114 1.31
H-150S 153 280 283 0.99 209 1.34 209 1.34 187 1.49 209 1.34
H-150L 154 274 262 1.05 210 1.30 210 1.30 181 1.51 210 1.30
H-200S 203 332 322 1.03 278 1.19 278 1.19 250 1.33 278 1.19
H-200 L 203 350 359 0.97 278 1.26 278 1.26 240 1.46 278 1.26
H-250S 254 405 377 1.07 283 1.43 283 1.43 313 1.29 283 1.43
H-250L 254 395 394 1.00 283 1.40 283 1.40 301 1.31 283 1.40
Mean 1.03 1.33 1.33 1.44 1.33
SD 0.33 0.08 0.08 0.10 0.08

For composite columns

C-100S 103 552 520 1.06 334 1.65 400 1.38 362.8 1.52 400 1.38
C-100L 103 552 531 1.04 334 1.65 365 1.51 355.4 1.55 365 1.51
C-150S 153 1138 1078 1.05 702 1.62 836 1.36 776.3 1.47 836 1.36
C-150L 154 1147 1167 0.98 702 1.62 777 1.48 768.7 1.49 777 1.48
C-200S 203 1868 1847 1.01 1158 1.61 1369 1.36 1314.6 1.42 1369 1.36
C-200L 203 1727 1759 0.98 1158 1.49 1269 1.36 1282.6 1.35 1269 1.36
C-250S 254 2796 2510 1.11 1672 1.67 1999 1.40 2007.7 1.39 1999 1.40
C-250L 254 2490 2509 0.99 1672 1.49 1861 1.34 1956.9 1.27 1861 1.34
Mean 1.03 1.60 1.40 1.43 1.40
SD 0.04 0.07 0.06 0.09 0.06
80 D. Li et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 154 (2019) 67–83

Table 5
Comparison of experimental results against various design equations.

Specimens Ref. Nu,exp (kN) Nσ0.2%, AS/NZS5100.6 (kN) Section type Nu,exp/Nσ0.2%, AS/NZS5100.6 Nσ0.5%, AS/NZS5100.6 (kN) Section type Nu,exp/Nσ 0.5%,AS5/NZS100.6

For hollow columns

H-100S Present test 160 113 Compact 1.41 140 Compact 1.14
H-100L 149 114 Compact 1.31 141 Compact 1.06
H-150S 280 209 Compact 1.34 258 Compact 1.08
H-150L 274 210 Compact 1.30 261 Compact 1.05
H-200S 332 278 Compact 1.19 282 Slender 1.18
H-200L 350 278 Compact 1.26 282 Slender 1.24
H-250S 405 283 Slender 1.43 282 Slender 1.43
H-250L 395 283 Slender 1.40 282 Slender 1.40
CH-50-1.2 [6] 83 54 Compact 1.53 253 Compact 1.29
CH-50-1.6 104 74 Compact 1.41 650 Compact 1.63
CH-100-1.6 178 161 Compact 1.11 76 Slender 1.10
CH-127-1.6 267 164 Slender 1.63 100 Slender 1.04
CH-150-1.6 240 164 Slender 1.47 163 Slender 1.09
CH-200-2 362 256 Slender 1.41 163 Slender 1.64
CHS104-1 [9] 328 254 Slender 1.29 163 Slender 1.47
CHS114-1 1062 559 Compact 1.90 254 Compact 1.42
Mean 1.40 1.27
SD 0.18 0.20

For composite columns

C-100S Present test 552 393 Compact 1.38 434 Compact 1.27
C-100L 552 343 Compact 1.51 391 Compact 1.41
C-150S 1138 821 Compact 1.36 899 Compact 1.27
C-150L 1147 725 Compact 1.48 825 Compact 1.39
C-200S 1868 1344 Compact 1.36 1411 Slender 1.32
C-200L 1727 1171 Compact 1.36 1288 Slender 1.34
C-250S 2796 1960 Slender 1.40 2048 Slender 1.37
C-250L 2490 1696 Slender 1.34 1881 Slender 1.32
C20-50-1.2 [6] 164 95 Compact 1.73 511 Compact 1.37
C20-50-1.6 203 118 Compact 1.72 598 Compact 1.51
C30-127-1.6 790 455 Slender 1.74 675 Slender 1.68
C20-150-1.6 897 477 Slender 1.88 976 Slender 1.63
C30-150-1.6 952 587 Slender 1.62 1066 Slender 1.55
C20-200-2 1397 801 Slender 1.75 1147 Slender 1.46
C30-200-2 1537 998 Slender 1.54 122 Slender 1.35
CHS104-2 [9] 699 480 Slender 1.42 151 Slender 1.35
CHS104-3 901 566 Slender 1.55 504 Slender 1.57
CHS104-4 1133 644 Slender 1.72 538 Slender 1.67
CHS114-2 1593 858 Compact 1.84 646 Compact 1.47
CHS114-3 1648 948 Compact 1.72 922 Compact 1.51
CHS114-4 1674 1029 Compact 1.61 1117 Compact 1.38
Mean 1.57 1.44
SD 0.17 0.12

be noted that the extensive numerical analysis with the first three pa-
rameters is based on short columns; whilst the effects of relative slen-
derness depend on the slender columns with varied length. The
geometric and material details of each specimen were illustrated in
Table 6, where Specimens 1–4 are used to investigate the effects of con-
crete compressive strength on the performance of axially loaded com-
posite columns. In particular, Specimen 2 was determined to be the
control specimen and used to compare with the results for other
specimens. Moreover, Specimens 5–7 and Specimens 8–10 were devel-
oped to evaluate the effects of various types of stainless steel and
depth-to-thickness ratios, respectively. Lastly, Specimens 11–13 were
compared with Specimen 2 to obtain the understanding of the effects
of relative slenderness on the global behaviour of concrete-filled spiral
welded stainless steel columns.
5.3.1. Concrete compressive strength
To study the effect of concrete compressive strength, the finite ele-
ment analyses with concrete compressive strengths of f 'c = 20, 40, 60
and 80 MPa were conducted. Fig. 21(a) shows the axial load-
shortening curves of four specimens from finite element analysis. It
can be seen that increasing concrete compressive strength can enhance
both the initial stiffness and ultimate bearing capacities of the columns.
However, the ductility performance after the peak-load is significantly
reduced when utilising higher concrete compressive strength, which
is similar to conventional composite columns with mild steel tubes. In
addition, on the basis of finite element results, it can be observed that
the infilled concrete commenced to crush earlier than the yielding of
stainless steel tubes. Moreover, an increase in concrete compressive
strength can slightly delay the failure of infilled concrete so that the fail-
ure of concrete occurs almost at the same time when stainless steel
tubes yielded.
5.3.2. Various types of stainless steel
There exists three major families of stainless steel in the current con-
struction market, such as Ferritic Stainless Steel, Austenitic Stainless
Steel and Duplex Stainless Steel. A series of grades of stainless steel
within each family were developed for different purposes. The mechan-
ical properties of various grades of stainless steel in each family may also
differ slightly. Therefore, the present study selected a typical grade of
stainless steel from Ferritic Stainless Steel and Austenitic Stainless
Steel (EN 1.4301 and EN 1.4003). As a relatively new family of stainless
steel, Duplex Stainless Steel has significant advantages over the conven-
tional stainless steel. The numerical analysis herein selected two grades
of stainless steel from this family, namely EN 1.4901 and EN 1.4669. In
particular, with the similar mechanical properties, the initial cost of
Lean Duplex Stainless Steel (EN 1.4901) is lower than the normal Du-
plex Stainless Steel (EN 1.4669). The detailed tensile strength and 0.2%
proof stress of each stainless steel grade is shown in Table 6. Fig. 21
(b) presents the axial load-shortening relationships for concrete-filled
spiral welded tubes with different grades of stainless steel. As can be
 D. Li et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 154 (2019) 67–83 81

Fig. 20. Comparisons of the tested ultimate strength against different design methods.

seen, specimen fabricated with EN 1.4901 exhibited the highest axial 5.3.4. Slenderness
bearing capacity, while the one with EN 1.4003 led to lowest compres- Another set of finite element analysis was carried out to investigate
sive strength. It can also be observed from the figure that the post-peak the effects of relative slenderness ratio on the behaviour of concrete-
behaviour of specimens with various types of stainless steel is similar, a filled spiral welded stainless steel tubes under axial compression. In
nearly plateau curve after ultimate strength can be obtained. this analysis, both ends of the composite columns were assumed to be
pin-supported and the effective length of the column can therefore be
regarded as the physical length of the column. The relative slenderness
5.3.3. Depth-to-thickness ratio of the composite column was determined through Eurocode 3 [52] and
In order to investigate the effect of various depth-to-thickness ratios Eurocode 4 [10]. Fig. 21(d) exhibits the comparison of the load-
of spiral welded stainless steel tubes, four models have been carried out shortening curves for these specimens. As shown in the figure, the initial
with different D/t as shown in Table 6. Fig. 21(c) is the comparison of the stiffness, ultimate strength and ductility of composite columns will be
axial load-shortening curves for these models. As illustrated in Fig. 21 significantly reduced when increasing relative slenderness. Specimen
(c), Specimens FE-8 and FE-9 experienced a reduction in terms of FE-13 has a length of 5000 mm with a corresponding relative slender-
axial load capacity after ultimate strength, which is different from the ness λr being 1.18, the compressive load capacity of this column is
post-peak behaviour of the Specimens FE-2 and FE-10. This phenome- only 37% of that of the short column (L = 600 mm) with a relative slen-
non can be attributed to the lower D/t ratio, which means confinement derness of 0.14.
effects from the stainless steel tube is more significant. In addition, the
decrease in D/t ratio of stainless steel tube results in the higher compres- 6. Conclusions
sive strength of the composite columns, despite limited effects can be
observed on the initial stiffness. This research is an attempt to investigate the behaviour of hollow
and concrete-filled spiral welded stainless steel tubular columns
Table 6 under axial compression. An experimental program with a total of six-
Details and results of specimens that are simulated with finite element model. teen specimens was performed, where all the specimens were tested
Models D t L Relative Concrete 0.2% Nu,FEM under axial compression. In addition to the experimental tests, exten-
(mm) (mm) (mm) Slenderness compressive proof (kN) sive finite element analysis was carried out to implement the under-
λr strength f 'c strength standing of the behaviour of such columns under axial loading.
(N/mm2) σ0.2%
Specifically, the proposed finite element model takes into account mate-
(N/mm2)
rial nonlinearities, initial imperfections and residual stresses. Moreover,
FE_1 200 4 600 0.14 20 225 1636 the experimental results were further compared with the existing inter-
FE_2 200 4 600 0.14 40 225 1787
FE_3 200 4 600 0.14 60 225 2087
national code provisions to evaluate their suitability in predicting the ul-
FE_4 200 4 600 0.14 80 225 2666 timate axial strength of hollow and concrete-filled spiral welded
FE_5 200 4 600 0.14 40 320 2102 stainless steel columns. The following conclusions can be drawn based
FE_6 200 4 600 0.14 40 450 2650 on the experimental and numerical analysis results, as well as the com-
FE_7 200 4 600 0.14 40 480 2866
parisons against various codes of practice:
FE_8 200 2 600 0.14 40 225 1381
FE_9 200 3 600 0.14 40 225 1555 1) The test specimens were fabricated from a single stainless steel strip
FE_10 200 5 600 0.14 40 225 2035
by helical welding and incorporated the advantages of using infilled
FE_11 200 4 5000 1.18 40 225 666
FE_12 200 4 3500 0.83 40 225 1083 concrete to enhance their mechanical performance. The recorded
FE_13 200 4 2000 0.47 40 225 1455 load-axial shortening curves from the test specimens demonstrated
82 D. Li et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 154 (2019) 67–83
Fig. 21. Parametric study results for concrete-filled spiral welded stainless steel tubes.
that good axial bearing capacities can be achieved when concrete is
filled inside the spiral welded stainless steel tubes.
2) The infilled concrete significantly enhanced the initial stiffness and
ultimate compressive strengths of the spiral welded hollow stainless
steel tubes. The failure mode of the composite columns is local and
global buckling of the stainless steel tubes, rather than the fracture
of the helical welding. These observations ensure the suitability
and feasibility of such type of composite columns to be widely im-
plemented into the engineering practice. The aesthetic appearance,
fire and corrosion resistance, as well as high load bearing capacities
can be fulfilled.
3) The developed finite element models can well predict the behaviour
of hollow and concrete-filled spiral welded stainless steel tubes
under axial compression. The mean value for Nu,exp/NFEM is 1.03,
which indicates the accuracy of the finite element model is reason-
ably well. Thus, the proposed finite element model can be further
utilised to implement the understanding of the performance of
such type of columns.
4) By analysing the parametric analysis results, it can be found that in-
creasing concrete compressive strength can enhance the ultimate
strength of composite columns. However, the post-peak ductility of
such composite columns will be significantly sacrificed. A decrease
in D/t ratio and relative slenderness ratio of stainless steel tube can
enhance the initial stiffness, ultimate strength and ductility perfor-
mance of the concrete-filled spiral welded stainless steel columns.
Furthermore, the use of Lean Duplex Stainless Steel (EN 1.4901) in
such composite columns performed better than those consisted
with Ferritic Stainless Steel (EN 1.4301) and Austenitic Stainless
Steel (1.4003) in terms of ultimate strength.
5) The experimental results in terms of axial ultimate strengths for hol-
low and concrete-filled spiral welded stainless steel tubes demon-
strated the safe but over conservative design by using the existing
international codes of practice. It is therefore recommended to fur-
ther investigate the slenderness limits for both hollow and
concrete-filled spiral welded stainless steel tubes. Consequently, a
new design method based on the revised slenderness limit and
0.5% stainless steel proof stress can be considered for better
prediction.
Acknowledgements
The research described in this paper is financially supported by the
University of Western Australia. The financial support is gratefully ac-
knowledged. The assistance from Zhichao HUANG and Sina
KAZEMZADEH AZAD in preparing and conducting experimental tests
is also gratefully acknowledged. The first author is supported by the
Australian Research Council (ARC) under its Discovery Scheme (Project
No: DP170100001). Assistance from Dr. Mohanad Mursi and staff of
Centre for Advanced Structural Engineering (CASE) at the J.W. Roderick
Laboratory are gratefully acknowledged.
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