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Purpose In literature, previous studies have focused on analyzing rienforced concrete (RC) columns with idealized end conditions when subjected to fire. In nature, full fixity or free rotation at column ends is not attained. Such ends may be considered partially restrained in rotation. This paper aims to shed a new light on the effect of different degrees of rotational restraint on the lateral deformation behavior of slender heated RC columns subjected to non-linear strain distributions produced by a time-dependent temperature history. Design/methodology/approach To find the strain distribution on the cross section, an iterative technique is adopted using Newton–Raphson method. By introducing a reliable calculation procedure, the lateral deformational behavior is expressed using numerical and searching techniques. A methodology is presented to calculate the effective length factor for RC columns at elevated temperature. Findings The results of the proposed model showed good agreement with available experimental test results. It was also found that the variation of rotational end restraint level has a considerable effect on the lateral deformation behavior of heated slender RC columns. In addition, the effectiveness and the validity of an analytical model should be verified by simultaneously validating the axial and lateral deformations. Moreover, the effective length factor for heated column is higher than that for the corresponding column at ambient temperature. Originality/value This paper shows the impact of different boundary conditions on the behavior of heated slender RC columns. It suggests powerful techniques to determine the lateral deflection and the effective length factor at high temperatures.

Purpose Previous works in constructing interaction diagrams have only focused on incorporating transient creep strain implicitly in the ultimate limit strain. The present paper aims to use different approaches to define concrete ultimate limit strain (failure strain) envelops at high temperatures for preloaded and unloaded, confined and unconfined, columns during heating are proposed. These approaches are chosen to understand the effect of using different techniques to determine transient creep strain on the resulted Nu–Mu diagrams. Design/methodology/approach Transient creep strain is included within the concrete ultimate limit strain relationships, implicitly and explicitly, by four different ways, and accordingly, four different failure criteria are suggested. To define the concrete ultimate limit strain, studies are conducted to evaluate the compression strain corresponding to the maximal flexural capacity at elevated temperatures. In the analysis, the thermal and structural analyses are decoupled and, based on the resulted ultimate limit strain, the Nu – Mu diagrams are constructed at different fire exposures. Findings The validity of the proposed model is established by comparing its predictions with experimental results found in the literature. Finally, comparative calculations regarding interaction diagrams obtained by the proposed model and by other methods found in the literature are performed. It was found that the proposed model predictions agree well with experimental results. It was also found that the suggested approaches, which include simplifications, reasonably predicted the exact column capacity. Originality/value The model.

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