Abstract: Under the state of axial compression for short columns with concretefilled steel tube, considering the contribution of axial stress of steel tube when yielded, the thickwalled tube theory and twin shear unified strength theory were introduced to analyze the steel tube. DruckerPrager strength criterion was used to analyze the core concrete bearing capacity. Through these methods, the formula for calculating ultimate bearing capacity of concretefilled steel tube was deduced. Compared with the existing experimental data and other equations, the computed results are in good agreement with them and it can provide a new approach to calculate the ultimate bearing capacity of core short columns with concrete filled steel tube under axial compression.