Abstract: Tests on hollow steel tubes of square, rectangular and circular sections filled with foamed concrete and lightweight aggregate concrete were conducted to investigate the contribution of these concretes to the strength of cross sections of composite short columns. In addition, these tests aims at understanding the behavior of short columns with lightweight concrete. Thirty short column specimens filled with foamed concrete and lightweight aggregate concrete were tested in this investigation. Fifteen specimens for each type were tested under axial compression. Additional five specimens filled with ordinary concrete and five bare steel sections were also tested and results were compared to those of lightweight concrete filled sections. The test results of this study show that lightweight concrete filled specimens were capable of reaching the ultimate predicted loads in accordance with BS 5400, EC4 and LRFD. On the other hand, foamed concrete filled specimens developed the ultimate axial capacity and significantly enchase the strength of bare steel section. Furthermore, strength of lightweight concrete filled tubular short columns sometimes reached 80% of short columns of same sections filled with ordinary concrete.