Concrete-Filled Steel Tubular Structures and Behavior
Summary
Concrete-filled steel tubular (CFST) structures combine the compressive strength of infill concrete with the tensile and confinement properties of a surrounding steel tube. This composite action enhances load-bearing capacity, ductility and energy dissipation, making CFST members particularly attractive for high-rise buildings, seismic-resistant framing, bridge piers and offshore platforms. The steel tube provides lateral restraint to the core concrete, delaying crack initiation and reducing local buckling, while the concrete infill prevents inward buckling of the tube and contributes to overall stiffness. Advances in manufacturing, such as high-strength steels and tailored cross-sectional shapes (circular, square, rectangular and elliptical), have broadened design options and improved resilience under axial, bending and cyclic loading. Current design practices are underpinned by a combination of experimental data, finite-element simulations and analytical models, with global codes gradually harmonising provisions for confinement effects, slenderness limits and material interactions. Practical applications increasingly exploit CFSTs’ rapid erection, reduced maintenance requirements and long-term durability, supporting sustainable construction goals.
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Concrete-Filled Steel Tubular Structures and Behavior publication trend
The graph below shows the total number of articles in concrete-filled steel tubular structures and behavior across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).
Technical terms
Concrete-filled steel tube (CFST): A composite structural member in which concrete is cast inside a closed steel section to achieve confinement and composite action.
Confinement: The lateral restraining effect provided by the steel tube, which enhances the compressive strength and ductility of the core concrete.
Hoop stress: Circumferential stress in the steel tube induced by lateral expansion of the infill concrete under axial load.
Axial load: A force applied along the longitudinal axis of a member, producing compressive or tensile stress.
Ductility: The ability of a structural element to undergo large deformations before failure, critical for energy dissipation under seismic or cyclic loading.
References
- Bearing Capacities of Different‐Diameter Concrete‐Filled Steel Tubes under Axial Compression. Advances in Materials Science and Engineering (2016).
- Optimization of Artificial Intelligence System by Evolutionary Algorithm for Prediction of Axial Capacity of Rectangular Concrete Filled Steel Tubes under Compression. Materials (2020).
- Prediction of Ultimate Axial Capacity of Square Concrete-Filled Steel Tubular Short Columns Using a Hybrid Intelligent Algorithm. Applied Sciences (2019).
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