A total of 5 steel and 21 rectangular composite concrete-filled steel tube (CFST) columns of moderate slenderness were tested to investigate their ductility under axial compression. The importance of the vertical ductility of columns was discussed, and a novel ductility measure was proposed and utilized to examine the ductility of tested specimens. The analyses showed that the ductility of axially compressed CFST columns highly depends on their failure mode. The key feature influencing the ductility is their ability to dissipate the energy of imposed loads. The larger the volume of a material that may permanently deform and consequently dissipate the energy, the greater this ability. In consequence, the ductility of specimens exhibiting local failure mode was higher in comparison to the columns that underwent global or mixed global-local failure. It was found that both steel and composite columns were able to carry axial loads in the post-critical state; but due to the limitations of local buckling of the steel cross-section in the concrete core and concrete confinement, all tested composite columns showed greater ductility than their steel counterparts.
Keywords: CFST; axial load; composite columns; concrete; ductility; experimental research; pancake type collapse; steel.