The temperature on steel structures is larger than the ambient air temperature under solar radiation and the temperature distribution on the affected structure is non-uniform and complicated. The steel tube, as a main structural member, has been investigated through experiment and numerical analysis. In this study, the temperature distribution on a properly designed steel tube under solar radiation is measured. A finite element transient thermal analysis method is presented and verified by the experimental results and a series of parametric studies are carried out to investigate the influence of various geometric properties and orientation on the temperature distribution. Furthermore, a simplified approach is proposed to predict the temperature distribution of steel tube. Based on both the experimental and the numerical results, it is concluded that the solar radiation has a significant effect on the temperature distribution of steel tubes. Under the solar radiation, the temperature of steel tubes is about $20.6^{circ}C$ higher than the ambient air temperature. The temperature distribution of steel tubes is sensitive to the steel solar radiation absorption, steel tube diameter and orientation, but insensitive to the solar radiation reflectance and thickness of steel tube.