Fire performance of high strength concrete materials and structural concrete

In recent years, high strength concrete (HSC) is becoming an attractive alternative to traditional normal strength concrete (NSC), and is used in a wide range of applications. With the increased use of HSC, concern has developed regarding the behavior of such concrete in fire. Until now, the fire performance of HSC is not fully understood and more research is needed. Full-scale fire testing is time consuming and expensive, and the real fire scenario is different from the standard fire. Performance-based assessment methods, including numerical analysis and simplified method, are being accepted in an increasing number of countries. In this dissertation, the fire testing results both of HSC and NSC are presented, performance-based numerical models are developed to study the fire performance of reinforced concrete (RC) members, and simplified calculation methods are proposed to estimate the load capacity of fire-damaged RC columns/beams. A detailed and comprehensive literature review is presented that provides background information on the high temperature behavior of concrete materials and RC members, as well as information on fire performance assessment procedures and objectives. The fire testing results of seven batches of HSC and NSC are presented and discussed. The test results indicated that the post-fire re-curing results in substantial strength and durability recovery, and its extent depends upon the types of concrete, temperature level, and re-curing age. The fire tests also showed that violent explosive reduced the risk of HSC explosive spalling. The surface crack widths were also reduced during the re-curing process, and in most cases, they were found within the maximum limits specified by the American Concrete Institute (ACI) building code.