Fire performance of earthquake-damaged reinforced-concrete structures

Abstract

A full-scale reinforced-concrete (RC) three-dimensional (3-D) frame under vertical sustained loads has been subjected to biaxial lateral loads representing earthquake actions followed by a pool fire in a single compartment. A number of sensors were used to monitor the kinematic and thermal fields during the test. The results (strains, displacements and temperatures) provide valuable information about an earthquake-damaged RC structure subjected to fire in the fully developed and decay stages. The thermal field is observed to be non-uniform within the compartment on fire, in contrast to the uniform thermal field assumption (as often adopted and suggested in codes). The earthquake-damaged frame subjected to fire was found to resist the applied vertical loads, despite the reduction in its residual capacity to about one-third of the original value.