In-plane stability of shallow concrete arches under fire

Abstract

PurposeConcrete arch structures are commonly constructed for various civil engineering applications. Despite their frequent use, there is a lack of research on the response and performance of concrete arches when subjected to fire loading. Hence, this paper aims to investigate the response and in-plane failure modes of shallow circular concrete arches subjected to mechanical and fire loading.Design/methodology/approachThis study is conducted through the development of a three-dimensional finite element (FE) model in ANSYS. The FE model is verified by comparison to a non-discretisation numerical model derived herein and the reduced modulus buckling theory, both used for the non-linear inelastic analysis of shallow concrete arches subjected to uniformly distributed radial loading and uniform temperature field. Both anti-symmetric and symmetric buckling modes are examined, with analysis of the former requiring geometric imperfection obtained by an eigenvalue buckling analysis.FindingsThe FE results show that anti-symmetric bifurcation buckling is the dominant failure mode in shallow concrete arches under mechanical and fire loading. Additionally, parametric studies are presented which illustrate the influence of various parameters on fire resistance time.Originality/valueFire response of concrete arches has not been reported in the open literature. The authors have previously investigated the stability of shallow concrete arches subjected to mechanical and uniform thermal loading. It was found that temperature greatly reduced the buckling loads of concrete arches. However, this study was limited to the simplifying assumptions made which include elastic material behaviour and uniform temperature loading. The present study provides a realistic insight into the fire response and stability of shallow concrete arches. The findings herein may be adopted in the fire design of shallow concrete arches.