The modern multi-story building requires innovations in order to meet the increasing requirements in terms of economy, aesthetics and security. This is particularly evident in the world's megacities, where the engineers of building owners and architects are encouraged to maximize the usable floor space and to minimize construction times so that the intervention in public space is as minimally invasive as possible. Since many of the modern metropolises, especially on the Asian and American continents, are located in regions of earthquake hotspots, the latest earthquake requirements for buildings and their components must always be met.

Concrete-filled composite columns made of normal-strength building materials have proven their good resistance to seismic effects in numerous research projects and in practice over the past decades.

A further development of the conventional concrete-filled hollow profile columns are high-strength concrete-filled double stub tube - columns. This innovative column type allows the engineers to reduce the external dimensions compared to conventional composite columns while maintaining the same load-bearing capacity. Since these supports are prefabricated in the factory, the time required to erect individual floors is minimized and at the same time the manufacturing tolerances customary for steel construction are observed.

Experimental or numerical investigations into the load-bearing behavior of this type of composite column in the event of an earthquake have not yet been carried out, so that the applicability of existing verification concepts is not guaranteed. For this reason, neither this type of column nor its high-strength materials are taken into account in the American or European composite or earthquake standards.

The behavior of this new type of column in the event of an earthquake will be investigated by means of experimental investigations in order to develop the scientific basis for subsequent modeling and design.