Study on dynamic flexural stiffness of CFST members through Bayesian model updating

In this paper, the dynamic flexural stiffness of concrete-filled steel tubular (CFST) members is investigated based on vibration modal testing and a Bayesian model updating procedure. To reflect the actual service states of CFST members, a 3-stage modal testing procedure is developed for 6 circular CFST beam-columns, in which the modal parameters of the specimens under varying axial load levels are extracted. In the model updating procedure, a Timoshenko beam element model is first established, in which the influence of shear deformation and rotational inertia are incorporated. Subsequently, a 2-round Bayesian model updating strategy is proposed to calculate the dynamic flexural stiffness of the specimens, which could effectively consider the influence of physical constraints in the updating process and achieve reasonably well results. Analysis of the updating results shows that with the increase of the axial load level, degradation of the flexural stiffness is significantly influenced by the load eccentricity. It shows that the cracking of the core concrete is the primary reason for the flexural stiffness degradation of CFST beam-columns. Finally, based on comparison with equations proposed by several design standards, the calculation methods for the dynamic flexural stiffness of CFST members is recommended.