Construction and Building Materials 81 (2015) 187197

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Construction and Building Materials

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/conbuildmat

Structural behaviour of geopolymeric recycled concrete lled steel

tubular columns under axial loading
Xiao-Shuang Shi a,b,, Qing-Yuan Wang b,c, Xiao-Ling Zhao d, Frank G. Collins d
a

College of Architecture and Environment, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610065, PR China

Key Laboratory of Energy Engineering Safety and Disaster Mechanics, Ministry of Education, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610065, PR China
c
Advanced Research Institute, Chengdu University, Chengdu 610106, PR China
d
Department of Civil Engineering, Monash University, Clayton, VIC 3800, Australia
b

h i g h l i g h t s
 The geopolymeric recycled concrete (GRC) is a new constructional material.
 The structural properties of GRCFST columns were rstly tested and analysed.
 The inuence of RCA replacement ratio to GRCFST and RACFST columns were discussed.
 A theoretical simulation model of GRCFST columns under axial loading was proposed.

a r t i c l e

i n f o

Article history:
Received 1 August 2014
Received in revised form 18 January 2015
Accepted 18 February 2015
Available online 2 March 2015
Keywords:
Geopolymer concrete
Recycled aggregate
Steel tubular column
Load capacity
Ductility
Load-deformation relationship

a b s t r a c t
Geopolymeric recycled concrete (GRC) is a new construction material which takes environmental sustainability into account. In this paper, an experimental study was carried on 12 concrete lled steel tubular columns under axial loading, in order to ll a knowledge gap on the engineering and structural
properties of GRC lled steel tube (GRCFST). Two section sizes of square hollow sections lled with
GRC and recycled aggregate concrete (RAC) respectively, with different recycled aggregate (RA) replacement ratios of 0%, 50% and 100%, were used in the experiments. The test results indicated that the ultimate strength was reduced when adding more RAs in the columns, while the peak strain increased. The
ductility of the columns was improved by increasing the RA replacement ratio. Overall, the inuence of
RA on the strength and ductility of GRCFST columns is greater than that of RAC lled steel tubular
(RACFST) columns. The assumed theoretical model for predicting load versus deformation relation of
GRCFST columns under axial loading was examined, and a revised theoretical model proposed. The
results of the new model show good correlation with the experimental results.
2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Over the past few decades, human awareness has been
strengthened by the global climate changes resulting from the
rapid expansion of industry and infrastructure, solid waste disposal and greenhouse gas emission, etc. To reuse solid waste and
reduce greenhouse gas emissions, mostly carbon dioxide (CO2),
has become a major target for all the human activities and a key
feature of the sustainable development. Therefore, in infrastructure construction, besides smart structural styles and intelligent
technology, the low carbon concept should also be taken into
Corresponding author at: College of Architecture and Environment, Sichuan
University, Chengdu 610065, PR China. Tel.: +86 13982287467; fax: +86 28
86264996.
E-mail address: shixs@scu.edu.cn (X.-S. Shi).
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2015.02.035
0950-0618/ 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

account. Customarily, concrete is produced by using Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC) as the binder. However, the manufacturing of
OPC is a highly energy consuming process, resulting in cement production releasing nearly 10% of the total worldwide anthropogenic
CO2 emissions [1].
Geopolymer concrete is considered to have a great potential in
the production of green concrete with a lower carbon footprint
[24]. It has better mechanical and chemical properties than OPC
with high compressive strength, low creep, good bonding with
reinforced steel, as well as good resistance to acid sulphate and re
[59]. The application of recycled aggregate concrete (RAC) has
been widely studied and approved, however, geopolymeric recycled concrete (GRC) is less study and in the focus of our study.
In such material, cement is substituted totally by alkali solution
and y ash, and the natural coarse aggregate (NA) is replaced by

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X.-S. Shi et al. / Construction and Building Materials 81 (2015) 187197

recycled coarse aggregate (RA) partially or totally. Therefore, due to

eliminating cement as well as the CO2 absorbing effect of RCA [10],
the CO2 emission problem would be further improved.
Concrete lled steel tubular (CFT) columns are well recognised
and widely applied for intelligent composite action, with the
advantages of both steel tube and in-lled materials. In the past
few decades, many types of materials were encased in the steel
tubes, considering environmentally friendly materials in order to
minimize pollution and energy consumption, For example, steel
tubes lled with RAC [1115] involving the reuse of waste concrete, self-consolidating concrete without vibration benets for
construction and energy saving [16,17], and polymers or polymer-based materials as positively considered to enhance the structural behaviour of columns with higher tensile and adhesion
capacity, lower weight and shrinkage, as well as high ductility
[1820]. So far, research shows that some mechanical properties
and structural behaviour of RAC lled steel tubular (RACFST) columns can be improved with better ductility compare with OPC
lled steel tubes [11,12,2123]. A few studies on the theory of
RACFST under axial loading have been undertaken [12,24], but little theoretical research on geopolymer concrete lled steel tubular
columns has been reported.
In our previous study [25] on the microstructure of GRC, it was
shown that, the mechanical properties of GRC is stronger overall
due to the different formation processes that result in much denser
and stronger reaction products compared with OPC or RAC. In this
present study, axial compression experiments were carried out on
12 concrete lled steel tubular columns, including 6 RACFST columns and 6 GRC lled steel tubular (GRCFST) columns with different recycled aggregate replacement ratios of 0%, 50% and 100%. The
load capacity, structural behaviour and failure mode were tested
and analysed. The theoretical analysis method based on existing
models to simulate the load versus deformation relation of GRCFST
is discussed and compared with experimental results. Furthermore, an improved model is proposed according to the experimental results and the GRC characteristics.

respectively. However, the water absorption of RA is about as 5 times as that of

NA. This is due to the existence of porous and less dense residual mortar lumps
adhering to the RA, as well as much more micro-cracks being produced during
the crushing process in RA production.
2.1.3. Fly ash
Fly ash (ASTM Class F) with 2.8% of CaO was used as the main aluminium and
silicate source for synthesizing the geopolymeric binder, mainly consisting of glass
with some crystalline inclusions of mullite, hematite and quartz.
2.1.4. Alkali solution
Sodium silicate solution (Na2SiO3) with specic gravity of 1.53 and sodium
hydroxide (NaOH) akes of 98% purity were supplied by PQ Australia. Sodium
hydroxide was dissolved using distilled water to provide 8 molarity alkaline solutions. Na2SiO3 and NaOH solutions were prepared one day prior to usage.
2.2. Specimen preparation
2.2.1. Mixture design
Due to the high water absorption of RA, the water determined according to the
effective absorption of RA was used to pre-soak the RAs before mixing, and the
aggregates were introduced to the mixture in a saturated surface dry (SSD) condition. In order to compare the inuence of the RA content on the concrete lled columns, six mixtures were designed with different RA replacement ratios for the RAC
and GRC concrete. The concrete mixture proportions are summarized in Table 3.
The numbers 0, 50 and 100 after the concrete name refer to the RA replacement ratio of 0%, 50% and 100%, respectively. W/G is the ratio of total water to
geopolymeric binder solids, including y ash and solids in the alkali solution. The
mixing of the concrete was undertaken in a mechanical mixer according to the procedure in AS 1012.2 [28].

2.1. Material properties

2.2.2. Manufacturing process

The steel tubes were cut into 750 mm lengths. A 20 mm thick steel plate was
welded on one end of the tubes to ensure the atness of the base, as well as acting
as the mould for the concrete. Following concrete placement in the tubes, the concrete was compacted by an electric poker vibrator. The columns were covered with
polyethylene sheets for curing. The mixture was then poured into the steel cylinder
moulds of 100 mm diameter  200 mm length for compressive strength tests by
applying 20 manual strokes per layer in three equal layers on a vibration table.
For each type of tubular column, at least 3 cylinders were prepared. When the columns were ready for the test, the top surface of the columns were ground and polished by a diamond cutter to ensure atness so that the loading was applied on the
core concrete and steel tube simultaneously.
In total, 12 steel tubular columns were manufactured. The geometric dimensions and experimental results are summarized in Table 4. The square hollow sections of 200 mm  200 mm  6 mm and 150 mm  150 mm  5 mm specimens
were labelled as S1 and S2, respectively.

2.1.1. Properties of steel

Cold-formed square hollow sections (SHS) of size 200 mm  6 mm and
150 mm  5 mm manufactured to AS 1163 [26] were used in the test program.
The mechanical properties of steel were obtained by tensile coupon tests according
to Australian Standard AS1391 [27]. The coupons were cut from the at face of the
SHS along the longitudinal direction of the section. The yield stress and ultimate
tensile strength are listed in Table 1.

2.2.3. Curing condition

The RACFST columns and RAC cylinder specimens were cured under polyethylene sheets in the laboratory ambient environment. After 24 h, the RAC cylinders
were demoulded and transferred into a tank with saturated limewater at 23 2 C.
The GRCFST column and GRC cylinder specimens were sealed by polyethylene
sheets to prevent excessive evaporation during curing at 80 C for 24 h in an oven,
and then moved out into the laboratory ambient environment.

2.1.2. Aggregates
The nominal size of the RA and NA were 20 mm and 14 mm, respectively. The
test results shown in Table 2 indicate that the RA are lower than those of NA by
about 15%, 18% and 9% for the apparent density, dry density and SSD density,

2.2.4. Test set up and procedures

The experimental study aimed at investigating not only the maximum load
capacity of the columns, but also the deformation and failure mode beyond the ultimate load. All the specimens were tested on AMSLER5000 in the Civil Engineering
Laboratory at Monash University. A longitudinal and a transverse strain gage were
attached to the middle of the column on each side to record the deformation of the
steel tubular columns. Two linear variable displacement transducers (LVDTs) with
string pots were set up between loading and bottom plates diagonally to measure
the vertical displacement of the columns. The test set up is shown in Fig. 1. During
the experiment, the axial compression and the longitudinal deformation, and the
vertical and lateral strains were automatically collected by the data logger every
second. The loading process was manually controlled by hydraulic valve.

2. Experimental program

Table 1
Mechanical properties of steel.
B  t (mm)

Elastic modulus/
std E (GPa)

Yield stress/
std fy (MPa)

Ultimate tensile
strength/std fu (MPa)

150  150  5
200  200  6

197/1.53
199/1.50

486/2.83
467/4.55

558/2.83
544/5.56

3. Results and discussions

Table 2
Physical properties of NA and RA.
Aggregate
type

Apparent
density/std (kg/
m3)

Dry density/
std (kg/m3)

SSD density/
std (kg/m3)

Water
absorption/
std (%)

NA
RA

2850/5.66
2433/2.77

2819/5.37
2304/2.58

2908/6.44
2645/6.87

1.08/0.01
5.60/0.11

According to the experimental results, the load capacity, load

versus deformation relation and the ductility, as well as the failure
modes of all the concrete lled steel tubular columns are presented
and discussed in the following sections. The inuence of the RA
replacement ratio on the properties of the different columns are
also discussed and compared.

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X.-S. Shi et al. / Construction and Building Materials 81 (2015) 187197

Table 3
Summary of concrete mixture proportions (kg/m3).
Mixture

RA ratio (%)

RA/NA

Cement

Sand

RAC0
RAC50
RAC100
GRC0
GRC50
GRC100

0
50
100
0
50
100

0/1294
647/647
1294/0
0/1294
647/647
1294/0

364
364
364

554
554
554
554
554
554

Fly ash

NaOH solution

Na2SiO3 solution

Added water

W/G ratio

368
368
368

53
53
53

131
131
131

182
182
182
0
0
0

0.50
0.50
0.50
0.50
0.50
0.50

Table 4
Summary of the specimens and the corresponding test results.
Specimens

B (mm)

t (mm)

B/t (mm)

As/Ac

fc/std (MPa)

fy (MPa)

Nue (kN)

DI

SI (%)

S1RAC0
S1RAC50
S1RAC100
S1GRC0
S1GRC50
S1GRC100
S2RAC0
S2RAC50
S2RAC100
S2GRC0
S2GRC50
S2GRC100

200
200
200
200
200
200
150
150
150
150
150
150

6
6
6
6
6
6
5
5
5
5
5
5

33.3
33.3
33.3
33.3
33.3
33.3
30.0
30.0
30.0
30.0
30.0
30.0

0.132
0.132
0.132
0.132
0.132
0.132
0.148
0.148
0.148
0.148
0.148
0.148

68/0.36
57/1.35
50/0.18
69/2.35
56/4.55
44/2.78
68/0.36
57/1.35
50/0.18
69/2.35
56/4.55
44/2.78

467
467
467
467
467
467
486
486
486
486
486
486

1.08
1.30
1.49
1.07
1.32
1.68
1.26
1.52
1.75
1.25
1.54
1.97

3561
3466
3297
4497
3380
3376
2184
2100
1947
2676
2100
2057

2.70
3.00
3.04
1.89
3.39
2.74
2.83
3.36
4.83
1.64
2.87
3.07

2.7
7.4

24.8
24.9

3.9
10.9

21.5
23.1

3.1. Load capacity

The experimental ultimate loads (Nue) of the specimens under
axial compression loading are listed in Table 4. The compressive
strength of the inner concrete for the corresponding columns on
testing day is recorded as fc. The connement factor which can
indicate the constraining effect of the outer steel tube to the inner
concrete is dened as n = Asfy/Acfck, where fy is the yield strength of
the steel, and fck is the characteristic concrete strength (fck = fc
 0.67/0.8). Fig. 2 shows that load capacity of the columns with
two different sections varies with different RA replacement ratios.
Overall, the load capacity of the columns decreased with increase
of the RA in both RAC and GRC. This is attributed to the lower compressive strength of the in-lled concrete with more RA [29]. A
similar phenomenon on RACFSTs was also observed by Yang and
Han [11]. For the convenience of comparison of the load capacity
of the columns lled with RAC or GRC and normal concrete, the
strength index SI is dened as [30]:

SI

Ne0  Ne;r
Ne0

where Ne0 represents the experimental results of concrete lled

steel tubular columns with 0% RA replacement ratio (normal concrete); and Ne,r refers to the experimental results of concrete lled
steel tubular columns with r% RA replacement ratio. The results
summarized in Table 4 clearly show that the inuence of RA
replacement ratio is greater for GRCFSTs than for RACFSTs. Overall,
the load capacity was reduced more than 20% between GRCFSTs
lled with 50% and 100% RAs, but was only within 10% for RACFSTs.
Moreover, considering each 50% RA increment to the in-lled concrete, the load capacity of columns with RAC decreased gradually,
i.e. 2.7% and 7.4% between S1RAC50 and S1RAC100 compared with
S1RAC0; 3.9% and 10.9% between S2RAC50 and S2RAC100 compared with S2RAC0, respectively. While for the GRCFST columns,
the load capacity decreased sharply between the GRC50 and GRC0
lled columns, but very slightly between columns lled with
GRC50 and GRC100. Especially, the difference in load capacity
between S1GRC100 and S1GRC50 is only 0.1%, which can be ignored
for deviation. Therefore, it can be inferred that, the load capacity of
GRCFST columns is only slightly inuenced when the RAs content is

over 50% in the geopolymer concrete. Contrarily, for the RACFST columns, when the RA replacement ratio greater than 50%, the difference is very small, but with more than 50% RAs, the difference in the
load capacity is somewhat lower than that of normal concrete [11].
3.2. Strain response and ductility
The strain response with the load (Ne) curves, indicating the
relationship between bearing load and strain of the steel tubular
columns, present the structural behaviour of the columns during
the loading process. The tested axial load versus longitudinal strain
(NeL) curves are shown in Fig. 3. It can be seen that all the columns performed in a similar way with four typical stages: elastic,
elasticplastic, strain hardening, and failure stage, from beginning
to the end [16]. Due to the connement factor (n) being smaller
than 4.5, which is the characteristic value of the connement factor
(n0) for a square section [31], the curve after the peak decreases.
According to the NeL curves, with increasing of RA replacement
ratio, the ultimate strength of the columns decreased, while the
peak strain increased slightly for all the columns. For the curves
of the RACFST columns shown in Fig. 3(a) and (c), the reduction
of the strength and the increase of the peak strain changed almost
homogeneously with different RA replacement ratios. However,
the curves of the GRCFST columns depicted in Fig. 3(b) and (d) indicate that, with 50% RAs in the core geopolymer concrete, the ultimate strength decreased signicantly. However, with more RA
contents, the changes trailed off, i.e. very close between S1GRC50
and S1GRC100, as well as for S2GRC50 and S2GRC100.
The decreasing part of the NeL curves after the peak reduced
slightly with more RAs for both RACFST and GRCFST columns. This
is evident in the decrease of the slope after the peak. Evidently, the
descending part is distinct for the columns lled with GRC0, but
much more slight for the columns lled with GRC50 and
GRC100, indicating better ductility. In order to identify the ductility quantitatively, the ductility index (DI) was adopted according
to the method for ordinary concrete lled steel tubular columns,
dened as [32,33]:

DI

e85%
ey

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X.-S. Shi et al. / Construction and Building Materials 81 (2015) 187197

5000

4500

Load capacity (kN)

4000

Specimen

S1RACFST

S1GRCFST

S2RACFST

S2GRCFST

3500
3000
2500
2000
1500
1000
500
0

Strain
gauges

50

100

RA replacement rao (%)

Fig. 2. Load capacity of columns versus different RA replacement ratios.

N
(a) Schematic of specimens

with GRC is greater than those lled with RAC. Furthermore, as

the connement factors (n) of the S2 columns are better than those
of the corresponding S1 columns, the DI values are accordingly
higher. Therefore, it can be inferred that with a better connement
effect, the ductility of the columns under compression load could be
greatly improved. This is agreed with other researchers study on
ordinary concrete lled tubes [32].
3.3. Failure mechanism

(b) A GRCFST column to be tested

Fig. 1. Experimental set-up and instrumentation.

where e85% is the longitudinal strain when the load falls to 85% of
the ultimate load; ey e75% =0:75; e75% is the axial strain when the
load attains of 75% the ultimate load in the pre-peak stage. The DI
results for each column are listed in Table 4. With a higher DI value,
the ductility is better. It can be seen that the ductility of RACFST columns is improved with more RAs in the concrete for all the specimens. The ductility of the GRCFST columns is basically increased
with a larger RA replacement ratio, except in the case of the
S1GRC50 column which is better than that of S1GRC100. Overall,
the ductility of the columns are improved by 12%, 45%, 70% and
87% for S1RACFST, S1GRCFST, S2RACFST and S2GRCFST between
100% and 0% RA replacement ratios, respectively. This indicates that
the inuence of the RA content on ductility for the columns lled

During the loading process, there is no obvious deformation at

the beginning of the loading for all the columns. When the load
was applied near the ultimate load, cracking sounds were audible,
and local buckling on the columns appeared. The congurations of
the columns after the testing are shown in Fig. 4. For the S1 columns shown in Fig. 4(a), the local buckling rstly appeared near
the middle of the columns. While the load increased, the bulges
also occurred on the top part of the column. The bulges on the each
side of the column gradually connected together to form the typical roof type failure mode. For the S2 columns shown in Fig. 4(b),
the local buckling mostly started from the top or the bottom of the
column and appeared on the diagonally sides as the load increased.
At the end of the loading, the bulges were measured as about 2
3 cm above the steel tube surface. Overall, the failure mechanism
of the columns was similar to the local (outward folding) failure,
and this is accordance with other researchers [31,32]. Moreover,
during the deformation process, it was found that with more RAs
and larger connement factors, the failure mode has a trend of
changing from a shear type to a drum type. Compared with the
deformation shown in Fig. 4, the bulges on the columns lled with
RAC0 and GRC0 have greater angle on the crossing. However, the
bulges on the columns lled with RAC100 and GRC100 almost
appeared on the same level around the column. This is the same
as that observed by other researchers [32], i.e. with a larger connement factor, the failure generally occurs with a drum failure
mode; while, with a smaller connement factor, the failure is
always by the shear break mode.
4. Theoretical analysis
Over the past decades, with the fast development of steel and
concrete composite structures, there have been many studies on
the theory and calculation methods for concrete lled steel tubular
columns [3437]. So far, the primary calculation methods include
the bre element method, the nite element method, the nite
strip method, the synthesis method and so on. According to the
bre element method for calculations on ordinary concrete lled
steel tubes, a theoretical approach on load versus deformation rela-

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X.-S. Shi et al. / Construction and Building Materials 81 (2015) 187197

5000

5000
4500
3500

3500

3000
2500
2000

2500
2000
1500

1000

1000

500

500
0

5000 10000 15000 20000 25000 30000 35000

L ()

(a) RACFST columns of S1

(b) GRCFST columns of S1

5000

4500

4500

S2RAC0
S2RAC50
S2RAC100

4000
3500

3500
N (KN)

2500
2000

3000
2500
2000

1500

1500

1000

1000

500

500
0

S2GRC0
S2GRC50
S2GRC100

4000

3000

5000 10000 15000 20000 25000 30000 35000

L()
5000

N (KN)

3000

1500

S1GRC0
S1GRC50
S1GRC100

4000

N (kN)

N (KN)

4500

S1RAC0
S1RAC50
S1RAC100

4000

5000 10000 15000 20000 25000 30000 35000

5000 10000 15000 20000 25000 30000 35000

L ()

L ()

(d) GRCSFT columns of S2

(c) RACFST columns of S2

Fig. 3. Load versus longitudinal strain (NeL) curves of the columns.

tion of RACFST columns under axial loading was proposed, which

was a simplied numerical analysis method [12] that agreed well
with experimental results. Therefore, the simplied method was
adopted herein to develop an improved model simulating the load
versus deformation relation of GRCFST columns under axial
loading.
4.1. Constitutive relationships

rs

e 6 e1
e1 < e 6 e2
e2 < e 6 e3
e3 < e

(
y

2x  x2

x 6 1

x
bx1g x

x > 1

where, r0 is the maximum stress of the concrete;

strain of the concrete; x ee0 ; y rr0 ;

e0 is the peak

"

4.1.1. Steel
For cold formed steel, the ideal constitutive relationship can be
described as an elasticplastic strainstress relationship based on
multilinear isotropic strain hardening [38]. It is given as:

8
Ee
>
>
>
<
f P ET1 e  e1

>
> f ym ET2 e  e1
>
:
f y ET3 e  e1

RACFST columns, the constitutive relationship of the core RAC

can be described as:

where, fy is the yield strength of the steel; E = 2.00  105 MPa;

ET1 = 0.5E, ET2 = 0.1E, ET3 = 0.05E; f p 0:75f y , f ym 0:875f y ;
e1 0:75f y =E, e2 e1 0:125f y =ET1 , e3 e2 0:125f y =ET2 .
4.1.2. Core concrete
In the concrete lled steel tubular (CFST) structure, the stress
state of the core concrete is different from the concrete under uniaxial load due to the connement effect of the outer tube. Accordingly, Han [39] proposed the constitutive relationship for the core
concrete. Based on Hans study and the RAC properties, Yang [12]
revised this mode for the in-lled RACs strainstress relation. Considering the inuence of the RA replacement ratio on the RACs
compressive strength and peak strain [24], for square sectional

r0

 0:45 #
24
f c 1  0:3r 0:13r 2
1 0:0135n 0:1n
fc
2

e0 ecc 1330 760

fc
1
24



n0:2

 
r
 1 le
h

h 65:715r2  109:43r 48:989;

ecc 1300 12:5f c ;

g 1:6 1:5=x;

8
f 0:1
c
>
< 1:35p
1n
>
:

e 6 3:0

0:1

fc
p
e > 3:0
2

1:35

10

1nn2

Based on regression analysis on the test data, the compressive

strength of GRC with different RA replacement ratios can be calculated by the following formula:

F rG F nG 1  0:26r  0:1r2

11

where F nG is the compressive strength of normal geopolymer

crete; F rG is the compressive strength of geopolymer concrete

conwith

r% RA replacement ratio; r is the RA replacement ratio (%).

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X.-S. Shi et al. / Construction and Building Materials 81 (2015) 187197

S1RAC0

S1RAC50

S1RAC100

S1GRC0

S1GRC50

S1GRC100

(a) S1 columns

S2RAC0

S2RAC50

S2RAC100

S2GRC0

S2GRC50

S2GRC100

(b) S2 columns
Fig. 4. Failure modes of all the columns.

So, the maximum stress of the core GRC can be expressed as:

"

 0:45 #
24
2
f c 1  0:26r  0:1r 2
r0 1 0:0135n 0:1n
fc

12

4.2. Simulation model of load-deformation relation

Based on the denition of the materials constitutive relationship, the load versus deformation relation of RACFST and GRCFST
columns under axial loading can be investigated by setting up
equilibrium and deformation consistency conditions, as well as
the load-deformation curves of steel and core concrete being identied. According to the simplied model introduced by Han [16],
the simulated load versus deformation curves can be calculated.
In order to compare the bearing load proportion, the N/NmaxeL
curve is used herein to describe the load-deformation relation.
Figs. 5 and 6 show the typical N/NmaxeL curves for RACFST and
GRCFST columns, respectively.
The curves in Fig. 6 demonstrate a similar conguration indicating similar structural behaviour. It was found that as the RA contents increase, the calculated results are much closer to the
experimental results. During the loading process, when the load
was applied up to about 7080% of the ultimate load, the columns
went into the plastic-elastic stage from the initial elastic stage,
which can be proven by the reduction of the slope. During this
stage, in-lled concrete is conned by the steel tube due to

Poissons ratio of the concrete being larger than that of steel. The
connement effect increases as the longitudinal deformation
increases. The other two dash curves in the gures show the
behaviour of the steel and concrete respectively, and indicate that,
in the elastic stage, the stiffness of the steel is greater than that of
the core concrete, as well as the stiffness of the concrete decreasing
with higher RA content. In addition, with the increasing RA
replacement ratio, the outer steel tube carries much more load,
i.e. when the load reaches the peak, the load carried by steel and
core concrete shown in Fig. 5(a) and (b) are about equally shares;
while they are about 60% and 40% in Fig. 5(e) and (f).
The load versus deformation relations shown in Fig. 6 are basically similar to those shown in Fig. 5. However, the calculated peak
strains of the columns are signicant larger than the experimental
results (Fig. 6(a) and (b)). This is because the predicted peak strain
model of the GRC is not close to the actual situation due to the difference between the constitutive relationships of GRC and RAC,
especially for the post-peak period. For example, in Fig. 6(a) and
(b), the curves decreased very sharply indicating very poor ductility, and are quite different from the RACFST columns seen in
Fig. 5(a) and (b). With more RAs in the columns, the peak strain
is larger and the ductility of the columns performs much better.
This is evident by a decrease in the slope of the post-peak descending branch. Therefore, the simulation model according to the existing model should be revised and improved, as going to be
discussed in the following section.

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X.-S. Shi et al. / Construction and Building Materials 81 (2015) 187197

test
calculated
steel
concrete

0.8

0.8

0.6

0.6

0.4
0.2
0.0

test
calculated
steel
concrete

1.0

N/Nmax

N/Nmax

1.0

0.4
0.2

5000

10000

15000

20000

0.0

25000

()
(a) S1RAC0 =1.08
test
calculated
steel
concrete

20000

25000

0.6
0.4

test
calculated
steel
concrete

0.8

0.2

0.6
0.4
0.2

5000

10000

15000

20000

0.0

25000

()

5000

10000

15000

20000

25000

()

(c) S1RAC50 =1.30

(d) S2RAC50 =1.52

test
calculated
steel
concrete

1.0
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2

test
calculated
steel
concrete

1.0
0.8

N/Nmax

N/Nmax

15000

1.0

N/Nmax

N/Nmax

0.8

0.0

10000

()
(b) S2RAC0 =1.26

1.0

0.0

5000

0.6
0.4
0.2

5000

10000

15000

20000

25000

()

0.0

5000

10000

15000

20000

25000

()

(f) S2RAC100 =1.75

(e) S1RAC100 =1.49

Fig. 5. Load (N/Nmax) versus longitudinal strain (e) relation of RACFST columns.

4.3. Improved model of load-deformation relation for GRCFST

Experimental data on the stressstrain curves of geopolymer
concrete are very limited in the literature. Hardjito et al. [40]
reported a calculation based on normal high strength concrete
which agreed well with experimental results. Sarker [41] also

reported the equation from Hardjito with a minor revision that

presented a good correlation with the experimental stressstrain
curves. The equations are expressed as:

rc f cm

ec
n
ecm n  1 ec =ecm nk

13

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X.-S. Shi et al. / Construction and Building Materials 81 (2015) 187197

Fig. 6. Load (N/Nmax) versus longitudinal strain (e) relation of GRCFST columns.

where, f cm is the peak stress, MPa;

n 0:8 f cm =17
k 0:67 f cm =62;
k 1:0;

ec =ecm 6 1:

Here, assume x ec =ecm ; y rc =f cm ; then we can get:

ecm is the peak strain;

14

ec =ecm > 1;

15
16

(
y

n
x n1x
n

0 6 x 6 1

n
x n1x
nk

x > 1

17

In this study, considering the connement effect to the core

geopolymer concrete, as well as the typical characteristics of
geopolymer concrete, the peak strain is given as:

X.-S. Shi et al. / Construction and Building Materials 81 (2015) 187197

195

Fig. 7. Load (N/Nmax) versus longitudinal strain (e) relation of GRCFST columns from revised model.

ecm 2400 720 

0:7
f ck
1
 n0:2
13:5

le

18

Considering the strength of the inner geopolymer concrete has a

great effect on the conguration of descending branch of the loaddeformation curves, the constitutive relationship of the core GRC

conned by square section steel tubes can be revised from Eq. (4),
and is given as:

(
y

2x  x2

x 6 1

x
bx1g xf c =36

x > 1

19

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X.-S. Shi et al. / Construction and Building Materials 81 (2015) 187197

where r0 is given by Eq. (12); e0 is given by Eq. (18); other symbols

are as the same as presented in Section 4.1.2.
The calculation method is as the same as introduced in Section 4.2. So the load versus deformation relation of GRCFST columns can be obtained according to the aforementioned
improved model. The revised N/NmaxeL curves of the GRCFST
columns are shown in Fig. 7. It can be seen clearly that the
revised curves have a better correlation with the test results.
Compared with the results calculated from the previous model,
the peak strain shown in Fig. 7 are much closer to the
experimental peak strain, as well as the descending branch of
the curves. It is found that the RAs content has a great inuence on the load-deformation relationship of GRCFST columns,
indicating the descending part of the curves in GRC50 and
GRC100 lled steel columns have less effect than the columns
lled with GRC0. Meanwhile, the peak strains in Fig. 7(a) and
(b) are smaller, indicating the columns with more RAs in the
core concrete reached the ultimate strength with larger deformation which is benecial for energy absorption in earthquakes.
It is inferred that the ductility of geopolymer concrete lled
steel tubular columns can be improved by using RAs. Furthermore, with increasing RA replacement ratio, the steel tube carries more and more bearing load. In S1GRC100 (Fig. 7(e)) and
S2GRC100 (Fig. 7(f)), the load carried by the steel tube takes
up 70% of the total load, and only 30% is carried by the core
concrete. Overall, the loads carried by the steel and core concrete are distributed in a similar manner to those in RACFST
columns.
5. Conclusions
The present study is an attempt to investigate the structural
behaviour of geopolymeric recycled concrete lled steel tubular
columns under axial loading. Experiments were conducted on
GRCFST columns and RACFST columns with different RA replacement ratios. The load-deformation relations of all the columns
were investigated by means of a simulated numerical method. Furthermore, a revised simulated model is discussed and proposed for
GRCFST columns. The following conclusions can be drawn within
the scope of this study:
(1) The load capacities of GRCFST columns decrease with
increasing RA replacement ratios, so do RACFST columns.
Comparing the strength index SI, the ultimate strength of
GRC100 lled steel tubular columns were reduced by about
25% compared with the columns lled with GRC0, and is
within 10% for RACFST columns. Therefore, the amount of
RAs plays a greater inuence on the load capacity of GRCFST
columns than in RACFST columns.
(2) The load versus deformation relation shows that, with
increasing RA replacement ratio, the peak strains increase
and the descending branches fall down more slightly. The
results calculated by the ductility index DI indicate that
the ductility of the columns under axial loading is improved
by RAs and the GRCFST columns are more sensitive to RA
content in the same condition. The failure mechanisms are
similar for both RACFST and GRCFST columns.
(3) The theoretical model was analysed by the load-deformation curves of RACFST and GRACFST columns. The results
of the RACFST columns show comparative agreement with
the experimental results, but were not so good for the
GRCFST columns. Furthermore, the improved model indicates a better correlation with test results. Overall, the
theoretical model and improved model can demonstrate
the load versus deformation relation of the columns under
axial loading.

(4) In order to get a more accurate and more universal theoretical model of GRCFST columns, more work should be undertaken on the constitutive relations of geopolymer concrete
in the future.

Acknowledgements
The authors gratefully acknowledge the support from the
National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 51208325),
Sichuan Province Science and Technology support program
(2015GZ0245) and the Program for Changjiang Scholars and Innovative Research Team (IRT 1027). The rst author has been supported by CSC and the Monash-Sichuan University Strategic Fund
for this research opportunity, which is greatly appreciated. The
experimental testing was conducted in the Civil Engineering
Laboratory at Monash University. The support and assistance with
the laboratory work provided by Long Kim Goh, Jeff Doddrell, Kevin
Nievart, Mark Taylor are also gratefully acknowledged.
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