Ultimate strength of square

RC columns

ISrira:m Kalaga I
The strength of tied, square reinforced concrete (RC) columns
is formulated on the basis of bi-axial stress-strain relationships
of concrete. An equivalent transformed section approach is
proposed to determine the approximate load-deformation
response for a concentrically loaded column. The confinement
forces in the lateral ties are approximately determined using
the theory of structural stability. The concepts are applied to
three experimentally tested columns with various tie spacing
arrangements. It is inferred that the transverse stress ratio is
about 0.20 and that transformed section concepts can be applied
to square RC columns with reasonable accuracy.
Square reinforced concrete (RC) columns with tied lateral
confinement are commonly used in a wide range of
applications. Apart from building construction, they are also
a common choice as foundations of bridge piers and other
structural systems. The nominal axial capacity of such columns
is usually v_a lu ted using equations pr vided by the ACI
1
code (see Appendix). The equations are explicitly based
on, J:, the un iaxial strength of concrete in compression and
the role of lateral ties is limited to holding the vertical rods in
place. However, it is known that the ties provide effective allround confinement to the core concrete and that the true
nature of stress existing in the column is tri-axial. Close
approximation can be achieved by bi-axial stress
considerations in lieu of the complexity associated with triaxial stress approaches.
Analytical evaluation of the load-deformation response
of concrete structural systems demands formulations
describing the basic nonlinear behaviour of concrete and
consideration of at least a bi-axial cr-e relatio11Ship for concrete.
With reference to tied square columns, little information is
available on analytical modelling techniques, which account
for the effects of the confinement. A few recent studies
addressed this issue in detail but the process is too

JuiJ 2003 The Indian Concrete Journal

cumbersome for routine applicationsH. The concept was

successfully applied to spirally-confined circular RC colum11S
2
in a previous paper An exte11Sion of those concepts to square
columns with different spacing arrangements of the lateral
tie bars is presented in this paper.

Research significance
This study reports the application of bi-axial stress-strain
relationships and the transformed section concepts to square
RC columns to assess their structural behaviour and strength.
The objectives of this study are:
(i) to derive load-deformation equations based on bi-

axial stress-strain relationships

(ii) to determine the dimensions of an equivalent concrete

column using the concepts of transformed sections

including contribution of ties and for various tie
spacings
(iii) to compare the analytical peak loads from P-11 curves

with test values

(iv) to evaluate the relative magnitude of the confining

stress in terms of the stress ratio, r.

Bi-axial stress-strain relationships for

concrete
Che bi-axial stress-strain model for concrete developed by
Liu et al is adopted here"'.
(j

-rv

,.

+ ,

J,.

..

-IJ

-rv ... (1)

where

E,

th e modulus of elasticity of concre te =

57000
where J,: is the uni-axial

Jf,

ratio

= 5 I

Ec and A,, is the area of the longitudinal bars.

Tie steel

Fig 1 Tied square RC column cross section

compressive strength of concrete in psi

(1 psi = 6.9 kPa)

the ratio of the principal stress in the

transverse direction to the stress in the
longitudinal direction

f.:b and e.-b

the Poisson's ratio of concrete (taken as 0.20),

=

the peak bi-axial stress and corresponding strain

in concrete, respectively.

Tests indicate that the peak bi-axial strain,

0.0025 for all concrete'.

E.-b ,

is about

for r < 0. 20

Fig 3 shows a typical segment of the column with tie

spacing, s. Considering the ties as providing lateral restraint
to the axially-loaded longitudinal bars, then bar ABC <:an be
treated as a 2-span beam-column with an internal support at
tie location. Using the theory of elastic stability, the stiffness
Jf the elastic support spring is":
...(4)

where,
Imb

The bi-axial stress, f,", is a function of the stress ratio rand

is given by

fa, = j.: [1 + { r I (1.2- r) IJ

In a circular column with spiral ties, confinement is provided

by a continuous stretch of the spirals whose inclination to the
vertical axis results in axial forces. In a square column however,
the ties are discontinuous and are oriented transverse to the
column load line. The following procedure is therefore
adopted to determine the tie forces - as a function of the
vertical column load, P- and thereby, the equivalent tie area
for the transformed column.

... (2)

moment of inertia of the main steel bars

1td"" I 64; db= bar diameter.

From Appendix II, the displacement of the tie support for

a nominal eccentricity, e, is:
3

t:., = Vm = 2 (P18)(e)(2sl l(1t EI.,") = Pes l(1t EI,.") ... (5)

Load-deformation equations
Substituting the values of v and ,." into Equation (1), and
defining cr =PI A, = t:.l L corresponding to an axially-loaded
column of length, L, and cross-sectional area, A, and
rearranging, we obtain

where,

P18 = axial force in each main steel bar (8 bars consistent with test columns).
The force in the support 'spring' or the tie bar is given by

P= L(l-0.2r){l + [(Ec I /,"(l-0.20r))- 800]f:./ L + 160000t:.2 I L'l

... (3)

where,
P

f:.

= the axial deformation of the column.

This force F1 - independent of tie size - acts along the

horizontal ties in the XZ plane.

applied load

This can be solved for f:. as a function of the load P.

Equivalent transformed section

Fig 1 shows a typical square, laterally-confined RC column
(dimensions a x a x L) with diamond-type ties and can be

considered theoretically as a system comprising three

elements, namely, the concrete, longitudinal or main steel
and lateral ties. In order to apply the bi-axial stress-strain and
load-deflection relationships for a plain concrete column
developed in the previous section, each of these elements is
converted or transformed into an equivalent concrete
element given by areas A,, A 2 and A3, respectively, Fig 2. The
dimensions of an equivalent concrete column can then be
determined as follows:

Concrete: A 1 = gross area of concrete

=a

Longitudinal steel For a section with total steel area, A,., the
equivalent concrete area is A 2 = m A", where m is the modular

lA V~/

g:;y
g:;y

+K2
g:;y

_......
~

_......

/'--::-:'..-:::::::

II
A,

KJ
A,

A,

O:ig 2 Components of a tied square RC column

The Indian Concrete Journal "July 2003

(F,),
~a/2

= (4 x F 1)

+ (4 x F 2 )

= 4 (F1 + F 2) = (1

+ --12)Pe/(2rrs)
... (8)

oa/2

~X
z

For a column of length, Land tie spacing, s, the total force

in the ties is therefore:

F, = (L/s) x[(1 +--12)Pe/ (27ts)] = (1 +--12) PeL/(27ts 2)

(9)

Using the identity F, =A~af,,, wheref,, is the yield strength

of the tie steel material and A,, is the effective tie area, we
have:

F,
F,

A,, = (1 + --J2)PeL/ (27t5Jy 1)

... (10)

The equivalent tie area is simply:

-s
F,

F,

A3

rnA,,= rn [(1 + --12) PeL/(27t5Jv)]

... (11)

The total area and side width of the transformed square

section are then given by

AT= A,+ A 2 + A 3 = i +rnA,+ rn [(1 + --12) PeL/(27ts 2f,,)]

c

...(12-a)

aT= (AT)' 12

...m-b)

Length of the equivalent column

Equating the Euler buckling loads of the actual and equiva~ent
columns,
2

(7t EI/L\,

Fig 3 Evaluation of tie forces

= (7t

EI/eh

we have:

Lr

From statics, the force acting along the inclined ties is:

(ada/ L

... (13)

Substituting, AT and LT for A and L in Equation (3), and

using the definition off,, in Equation (2), gives the P-L'.
relationship for the equivalent column. It can be observed
that both AT and Lr are a function of load P and unless e = 0,
Equation (3) is essentially a non-linear relationship which
needs be to solved incrementally.

... (7)

It is evident from equation (7) that the force in the internal

diamond ties is --12 times that in the square peripheral ties. If
all axial forces in the main bars are concentric, that is, e = 0,
then the ties do not carry force at all.

Applications

At each tie level, the total force in the outer and inner ties
is then given by:

Three 1.2-m long square columns of different tie spacing

configurations were selected to verify the concepts developed

Legend
1: r = 0.20 2: r ::: 0 10 3~ r::: ~

! 1 in = 25.4 mm, 1 kip= 4.45 kN J

Pu (Test)= 1594 kips

Pu (Test)= 14B1 kips

140

:g_ 120
" 100
~

II

om

0.04

O,DS

D.OH

Axial deformation, .L!.u ,in

(a)

0,1

0.02
Axial deformation, .lu ,in
(b)

Fig 4 Load versus axial deformation curves (a) Column 1 (b) Column 2 (c) Column 3

July 2003 The Indian Concoctc Journal

0.04

o,os

0.08

Axial deformation, .L!.u ,in

(c)

0. 1

0 12

::

Table 1: Del nils of test and equi va lent column s

Col-

Size 'a'.

WHII

em (in)

Length , L,
em {itJ)

Tie .'ipacing,
em (in)

~f ',

p,

d, .
em (in)

em~ (in1)

AM

..

...

/',,

[. .

f..., .

MPa (k<i)

MPa (kti)

MPa (kti)

ar
em (i")

em (in)

143.2 (56.37)

Lr

45 .72 (1R)

121.92 (4R)

7.62 (3.0)

1.01 (0.40)

40.7 (6,32)

0.0174

29.89 (3 .6)

393.3 (57)

303 .6 (44)

49 ,5 (19.51)

45 ,72 (1R)

121.92 (4R)

8.R9 (3.5)

1. 19 (0.47)

40.7 (6.32

0 .0213

29.&9 (3.6)

393.3 (57)

303.6 (44)

49.5 (19.49)

142.8 (56.25)

45.72 (18)

121.92 (48)

10.16 (4.0)

1.01 (0.40)

40.7 (6 .32

0.0134

29.89 (3 .6)

393 .3 (57)

303.6 (44)

49.45 (19.47)

142.7 (56 17)

Note: "& ~ 2,54 mm bars; ..Volume n~tio of tic .steel ba..'icd on Ar, = a x. a ;

...At failure

earlier. All th columns wcr experimentally tested and related

test data is avai lable in lite.rature7 Normal strength concrete
(NSC) of strength = 25 MPa (3600 psi) is used. The tie
spacings vary from 75 mm (3 in) to 100 mm (4 in). The volume
ratio of steel content in the columns is 0.02 for main steel and
0.013 to 0.021 for ties, respectively; of the gross area of the
section. Other relevant data is given in Table 1. A value of
200 GPa (29000 ksi) is used as, E, the modulus of elasticity of
steel. The modular ratio, m ,is computed as 8.50.

1;

Figs 4 to 6 show the P-~ curves computed for the three

columns together with the peak load and deformation
determined from tests. The curves were plotted for different
values of the stress ratio r, ranging from zero and 0.20 as
previous investigations indicated that the confinement
(transverse) stress is about 15 to 20 percent of the longitudinal
stress'. Table 2 summarises the details of the calculations. Axial
capacity computed from ACI equations is also listed. In
computing the analytical curves, a nominal eccentricity of
e = 0.025 mm (0.001 in) is used.

Discussion
The pattern of the theoretical P-~ curves obtained by Equation
(3) is consistent with the expected behaviour of a tied RC
column. The ultimate test loads and deformations were closer
to the theoretical values corresponding to stress ratio,
r = 0.20. The theoretical displacements at ultimate test load
were about 3 mm (0.11 in) which translates to a strain of
0.0026. Beyond r = 0.20, there is no noticeable difference
between the values. This indicates that the transverse stress
due to confinement is about 20 percent of the axial stress. The

difference between peak test and analytical loads varied from

2 percent for Column 1 to 9 percent for Column 3. However,
a larger difference is noticed when compared to factored
ACI code capacities, which were much lower.
Tests indicated that tie spacing did have a small effect on
column capacity: increasing tie spacing from 75 mm to
100 mm (3 in to 4 in) led to a 7 percent drop in the column
capacity. However, evaluation of tie forces at failure, as given
by Eqn. (9), showed that they carry negligible load, Table 2.

Conclusions
Analytical studies on the behaviour of axially-loaded, tied
square RC columns are reported. Using the concepts of
transformed sections, the square column is converted into
an eq u ivalent plain concrete column, including the
contributi n of ti . The load-deformation relationship for
the equiva lent column is derived on the basis of a bi-axial
stress-strain model for concrete. The concepts are applied to
three tied square columns and the analytical loads and
deflections matched reasonably well with the test values. It is
observed that the theoretical loads based on the bi-axial model
are closer to the test values when the stress ratio, r, is 0.20.
Thjs stud y repo rts nly onaxiaJJy-loaded square columns
but the concepts a1e equaJ iy applicable to tied rectangular
columns also. Con idering that incre<lSing tie spacing from
75 mm to 100 mm (3 in t 4 in) led to a 7 percent drop in th
column axial capacity, some effort must be directed to' ' rd
incorporating this into modifying column capacity equ;; >ions.
Future investiga tions may also include modelling othEr types

Table 2: Test and computed ultimate loads and deformations

Column

Sire.<;,<; ratio,
I'

Ultimate load, Pu. kN (Kip.<)

Theo r,v

Prc,ll / Plhrmv

Axial deformation, 6u. cm(in)

Theon:

Test
7093 (1594)

Test

Tiefnrce a/failure (kip.<)

Theon

0.264(0 . 104)

5384 (1210)*

1.317

0.023 (O.OXO)

0. 10

6408 ( 1440)

1.107

0.244 (0.096)

1.045 (0.235)

0,20

7342 ( 1650)

0.966

2,Xl9 (1.110)

0.916 (0.206)

1.32&

0.203 (O.OXO)

0.876 (0 .197)
0.752 (0.169)

7008 (1575)

5277.7(1186)*
0, 10

6328( 1422)

l.IOX

0.244 (0.096)

7253( 1630)

0.966

0.2&2 (0. 111)

6590 (14RI)
0

5095 (1145)*

1.223 (0,275)

0.315(0 .124)

0.20

Test
0.921(0.207)

0.667(0 .150)

0.658 (0.148)
0.325(0, 128)

0 .511(0.115)

1.293

0.203 (0.080)

0.636 (0. 143)

0. 10

7218 (1337)

1.106

0.244 (0.096)

0.543 (0.122)

0.20

7218 (1622)

0.913

0.2X4 (0. 112)

0.476 (0. I 07)

'U as~d on c = 0.001" (all forces arc zero if c = 0); I kip = 4.45 kN, I inch = 25.4 mm ; *4&2X kN (1085 kips) i.< the capacity computed using ACl Eguations

The Indian Concrete Journal'' July 2003

of tie arrangements, irregular tie spacing and eccentric column

loading. Further research is warranted to extend and
generalise the inferences made herein.
References

Appendix II - Lateral deflections of elastic beamcolumns

The basic strain- displacemen t re lationship for a linear elastic
beam-column is:

_____ BuildiHg code requiremcJits for structural coJicrele, ACI 318-95

Farmington Hills, Michigan, USA, 1995.

2.

E,

= CJU /<Jx- y()'V /<Jx'

. .( ii)

where,

S. Strength of circular RC columns: Transformed section approach,

The India11 CoJicrelc Jounuzl, May 2000, Vol 74, No 5, pp 255-258.

l<ALAGA,

Ltu, T.C.Y., NJL'iON, A.H. and SLAlE, F.O . Bi-axial stress-strain relations for
concrete, Joumal of the Structu1'al Division, ASCE, May 1972, Vol 98,
ST5, pp 1025-34.

4. L!U, T.C.Y . Stress-strain rcspons~ and fracture of concrete ht bi-axial compression,

Report No 339, StmcturalEngineering Department, Cornell University, Ithaca,

NY, February 1971.

U = axial displacement

V = lateral displacement

distance of extreme fibre from the neutral axis

The strain energy of the system is:

SE
5 . MANDER, J .B., PruESTLEY, M.J .N. and PARK, R. Theoretical stress-strain model
for confined concrete, Joumal ofStructuml Engineering, ASCE, August 1988,
Voll14, No 8, pp 1804-1826.
MANDER, J.B, PRIESTLEY, M.JN. and PARK, R. Observed stress-strain behaviour
of confined concrete, Jour11al of Structural E~tgineering, ASCE, August 1988,
Vol114, No 8, pp 1827-1849.

= 16. E L,, s} dV = \o2 E J,." c,' dAdx

... (iii)

Considering a sinusoidal form of lateral displacement

V = V, sin rr.x/ L where V,., = mid-span deflection of the column at
x = L/2, and noting that

Iy

dA

0 and I y' dA

=I

. . . (v)

to obtain the strain energy as:

7. Sum, B.D., PARK, R, and Pru~7LY, M.J.N. Stress-strain behaviour of concrete
confined by overlapping hoops at low and high shain mtes, ACI Joumal, 1982,
Vol 79-2, pp 13-27.
8. T!MoSllENKO, S.P. and GERt,J.M. Theory of Elastic Stability, 2"" Edition, McGrawHill Book Company, New York, 1961.
9, WANG, C. and SALMON, C. G. Reillforccd Concrete Design, Harper & Row, New
York, 1979.

The nominal strength of an axially-loaded sq uare column with

tied latenil confinement is given by ''

0.80 4l [0.85/: (A$ - A,) + /y A,]

.(i)

where,
standard 28-day concrete cylinder strength in uniaxial compression
A,

fy
A,

4l

hAE U2 /L 2 + 16. Elrr.' V,'! L2

.. (v)

Assuming that the axial load on the beam-column acts at a

small eccentricity e, the potential energy due to applied loads is:

PE

PU + 2M8 = PU + 2 Pe I ()V /<Jx I

tJl

X=

IJ

PU + 2rr.PeV,/ L

.. (vi)

The total potential energy of the system is then:

Appendix I - ACI square column capacity

lj)P,

SE

TPE

SE- PE = 1h AE U2 /L' + .z Elrr.' V, 2 /L 2 - PU

2rr.PeV.,./ L
... (vii)

Equilibrium requires that the first derivatives of the TPE equal

to zero.

i:l (TPE)/<JU

AEU/L- P = 0 or U = PL/AE

i:l (TPE)/CJVrn

EI n' V,., !L'- 2nPe/L

= 0 or

V,

...(viii-a)

= 2 PeL'

/rr. EI

... (viii-b)

gross area of concrete section

yield stress for longitudinal reinforcement
area of longitudinal reinforcement and
strength reduction factor for columns (0.70).

As opposed to spirally-reinforced circular columns, equation

does not consider th e lateral confinem ent effects d ue to ties.
The code, however, suggests tie bar diame te1 and spacin g based
on the size of the longitudina l bars.
(i)

Dr Sriram Kalaga is a structural engineering

consultant based tn Jackson, Michigan, USA He
was awa1ded a D Litt. (Honons Causa) by the UN
Foundation for his work on low-cost composites.
He is also a licensed engineer in Texas and Maine
and a member of ASCE. H1s research interes ts
include thm-walled beam-columns, stability, lowcost housing systems, reliability-based design, finite element
methods, composites, steel structures, bolted connections,
transmission towers and reinforced concrete.

J ul y 2003 *The India n Con crete Jo urna l