Axial behavior of square CFST encased seawater sea-sand concrete filled PVC/GFRP tube columns

In order to directly apply seawater and sea sand in construction without desalination, a type of square concrete-filled steel tube (CFST) encased with prefabricated seawater sea-sand concrete filled Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC)/Glass Fiber Reinforced Polymer (GFRP) tube column was proposed. Twenty short columns were tested under uniaxial loads, and the test parameters included inner tube types, seawater sea-sand concrete replacement ratios, concrete strength, the wrapping area of Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymer (CFRP) strips and the thickness of GFRP tube. The effects of the parameters on failure modes, loading capacity, ductility and strain responses were discussed. All the tested specimens failed with serious buckling of the steel tubes and fracture of the inner tubes. The specimens had good residual bearing capacity corresponding to 64% to 88.9% of the peak capacity. The inner GFRP tubes and PVC tubes wrapped by CFRP strips provided stronger confinement to the core concrete, and were good choices for the proposed columns. Moreover, an analytical model for the composite column with different inner tube types was proposed.