The structural behavior and simplified thermal analysis of normal-strength and high-strength concrete beams under fire

Abstract

The objective of this study is to investigate the effects of concrete compressive strength and cover thickness on the structural behavior of reinforced concrete (RC) beams under fire. For this purpose, four normal-strength and high-strength concrete test beams were fabricated and tested under the ISO 834 standard fire curve to point of the failure. The test set-up was designed to evaluate the heat distribution and displacement changes of simply supported beams subjected to sustained loads under fire. Test results for normal-strength and high-strength concrete beams were compared for each of the test variables. The test results show that the relationships between time and temperature distributions in the beam sections are very similar and are unrelated to the strength of the concrete, with the exception of the upper part of the beam section. They also showed that the rates of deflection increase for both normal-strength and high-strength concrete beams is very similar before spalling but becomes remarkably high for high-strength concrete beams after spalling. A simplified model was proposed to determine the effect of spalling on the temperature gradient of a high-strength concrete beam. The results of finite difference method (FDM) analysis using this proposed model showed a section temperature gradient that was similar to that of the test results.