Compressive behavior of rectangular concrete-filled fiber-reinforced polymer and steel composite tube columns with stress-release grooves

To investigate the behavior of rectangular concrete-filled fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) and steel composite tube (CFCT) columns with stress-release grooves under axial compression, sixty specimens were fabricated and divided into five groups for axial compression testing. The main variables were the corner radius, the number of FRP layers, the steel tube thickness and the presence of stress-release grooves. The test results indicate that steel tubes and FRPs can complement each other and discontinuous steel tubes can provide an effective confinement force on in-filled concrete. The stress-strain responses of CFCT columns with stress-release grooves consist of a linear elastic stage, a nonlinear transition stage, a linear hardening stage and a residual stage. The ultimate strength of a CFCT column is in direct proportion to the number of FRP layers, the thickness of the steel tube and the value of the corner radius. Stress-release grooves only play a positive role in specimens with relatively large values of the corner radii (r >= 30 mm). A new model was suggested for calculating the ultimate stress of CFCT columns with stress-release grooves. The model is applicable for CFCT and concrete-filled steel tube (CFT) specimens with stress-release grooves; the predicted results agree well with the experimental statistics.