الفهرس 
Reasons for Using Thin Walled SectionsOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
 |  | from | 88 |  |  |
| | | from | 88 | | |
Abstract
Foam filled tubular steel columns combine the advantages of steel members, high tensile strength, ductility, high compressive strength, stiffness and light weight. Improving the steel column behavior strength is the demand of structural engineers. The study presented the behavior of filling tubular steel tube with light weight material as foam. The study also investigated the parameter of foam density. The load-displacement behavior of the columns, strength of the columns and failure mode were evaluated from the experimental and numerical investigation.
Experimental tests that included six specimens were carried out to study there behaviors up to failure. A numerical models were employed using finite element method to simulate the behavior of circular foam-filled and empty tubular steel columns. The nonlinear analysis was performed using ABAQUS and the finite element model was validated and verified against the test results conducted in this study. The failure modes observed during the tests were compared with those obtained from the numerical analysis.
An extensive parametric study was performed using the verified numerical model to include realistic scale models besides enlarging the experimental test program to investigate the above mentioned parameter.
It was concluded from this research that the load carrying capacity of steel tube columns was not increased by filling it with spray foam with low density. However, the ductility in load-displacement was increased by filling steel columns with spray foam with low density. The results of the FEM showed that load carrying capacity of steel tube columns filled with metallic foam (structural foam) was increased by around 30% compared to that of steel tube columns filled with spary foam.