This paper presents a nonlinear analysis of axially loaded steel tube-confined concrete (STCC) stub columns with new confinement relationships. For this aim, a 3-D finite element model of STCC columns using ABAQUS program is developed and validated against the experimental data. Proper material constitutive models are proposed and the confinement parameters of confined concrete are determined by matching the numerical results via trial and error. The parameters considered for quantitative verification of the FE model include five different factors indicating the behavior of STCC columns: compressive strength corresponding to steel yielding point, initial peak strength and ultimate strength as well as longitudinal to circumferential stress ratio of steel tube at steel yielding point and initial peak point. For the qualitative verification, the axial and lateral stress-strain relationships of STCC columns are taken into account. The comparison results indicate that the model can accurately predict the compressive behavior of STCC stub columns. Finally, a parametric study is also performed to evaluate the effect of tube diameter-to-wall thickness ratio (D/t), concrete compressive strength (fc ) and steel yield strength (fy ) on the compressive behavior of STCC columns. According to the results of the parametric study, the interface shear stress and lateral confining pressure are not affected by fc while significantly increase with decreasing D/t.
