New insights into the mechanism of load transfer in steel-encased CFST connections

Extensive numerical studies and analysis are presented to gain insights into the mechanism of load transfer in T- and K-type concrete-filled steel tube (CFST) connections. The new mechanism of load transfer investigated in this paper manifests that the shear load is transferred non-uniformly in the CFST column. Using validated finite element (FE) models, contact pressure stresses of the concrete-tube and angle-concrete interfaces are investigated to examine the interfacial interaction between each component. It indicates that the friction resistances between three components occur almost throughout the loading process, which is non-uniformly distributed along the column length. In addition, stress in each component is evaluated to determine the region of non-uniform load transfer in the column. For T-type connection, non-uniform load transfer shall only be considered for concrete-tube interface. For K-type connection, non-uniform load transfer should be considered for both concrete-tube and angle-concrete interfaces. Non-uniform load transfer mainly occurs in the connecting region and one time diameter of column above the connecting region for theses connections. Finally, the uneven transferred load of each component for the connections is analysed, whilst different force allocation schemes are compared. Based on the shear stresses at the tube-concrete and concrete-angle interfaces, non-uniform load transfer factor of each interface is calculated to quantitatively evaluate the non-uniformity of load transfer for the T- and K-type CFST connections. •Numerically assesses the mechanism of non-uniform load transfer in K- and T-type connections.•Investigate region of non-uniform load transfer of tube-concrete and concrete-angle interfaces.•Analyses non-uniform load transfer of tube, concrete and encased angles.•Compare strength and stiffness allocation schemes of load transfer in connections.•Propose using non-uniform load transfer factors to evaluate new load transfer mechanism.