Experimental Study on the Temperature Distribution and Residual Strength of Fire-damaged RC Columns Depending on Heated Areas

Abstract

<jats:p>Most of the columns in actual fire conditions are heated on partial faces rather than all four sides due to the floor plan, which results in asymmetric behaviors of columns. The asymmetric behaviors of fire-damaged columns may cause more vulnerability to the structural performance. In this study, temperature distribution and residual strength of reinforced concrete columns exposed to fire were investigated according to various heated areas. To achieve the objective, columns were heated for 2 h according to ISO-834 standard time-temperature curve and subsequently tested under the axial loading after a week. The test results show that the residual strength of the fire-damaged columns decreased as the heated area increased, and the residual strength reduced additionally due to asymmetric heating.</jats:p>

Effect of fire on concrete mechanical properties and concrete columns

“…Because of the floor arrangement, the concrete columns are sometimes exposed to fire or partial heating instead of the four sides. This causes asymmetric behavior in the columns, which may lead to increased structural weakening [29]. Raut [30] investigated the behavior of concrete columns subjected to partial fire using the ISO-834 standard heat curve and determined that asymmetric heating reduced the remaining strength of the columns.…”