Influence of Cooling Methods on the Behavior of Reactive Powder Concrete Exposed to Fire Flame Effect

Abstract

The construction of highly safe and durable buildings that can bear accident damage risks including fire, earthquake, impact, and more, can be considered to be the most important goal in civil engineering technology. An experimental investigation was prepared to study the influence of adding various percentages 0%, 1.0%, and 1.5% of micro steel fiber volume fraction (Vf) to reactive powder concrete (RPC)—whose properties are compressive strength, splitting tensile strength, flexural strength, and absorbed energy—after the exposure to fire flame of various burning temperatures 300, 400, and 500 °C using gradual-, foam-, and sudden-cooling methods. The outcomes of this research proved that the maximum reduction in mechanical properties is detected in case of 0% addition at burning temperature of 500 °C using sudden cooling to be 63.90%, 55.77% and 53.8% for compressive, splitting tensile, and flexural strength, respectively, while using 1.5% produced a modification in compressive strength, splitting tensile strength, and flexural strength to 6.67%, 4.15%, and 7.00% respectively, and 7.10 kN·mm for the absorbed energy for gradual cooling at 300 °C. From the results, the adopted cooling methods can be ordered according to their negative influence by sudden, foam, and gradual, while the optimum percentage of (Vf) is 1.5% when burning at 300 °C for all methods of cooling. 1.0% is considered the optimum percentage for all burning temperatures that exceed 400 °C using sudden-cooling method.

The Effect of Recycled HDPE Plastic Additions on Concrete Performance

“…According to Hasan et al [41], inserting fibers into a concrete mixture can increase the concrete composite's tensile strength by about 10-15%, compared to standard concrete. Other research found similar results that fibers can prevent brittle failure and enhance the ductility of the concrete [48,52,54].…”

“…As stated earlier, previous studies have found a relationship between plastics addition influencing concrete's tensile strength and compressive strength [19,21,53] matching those of steel fibers that affected the value of splitting tensile and compressive strength [54], as well as plastic fibers, carbon fibers, and fibers from natural materials, such as flax or other plants. According to Hasan et al [41], inserting fibers into a concrete mixture can increase the concrete composite's tensile strength by about 10-15%, compared to standard concrete.…”

Influence of Recycled High-Density Polyethylene Fibers on the Mechanical and Electrochemical Properties of Reinforced Concrete

“…Sample LH-04 presented greater crack formation throughout the cylinder patterns, which is one of the indicators of the effects of fibers in developing a crack-resistant mechanism and changing the nature of the material from brittle to ductile [97]. These findings support other studies that showed that fibers can prevent brittle failure and improve the ductility of concrete [29,98,99]. Flexural strength is an important parameter in the mechanical properties of concrete; Figure 9 describes these values and percentages.…”

The Effect of HDPE Plastic Fibres on Concrete Performance

“…According to Hasan et al [42], inserting fibres into a concrete mixture can increase the strength of concrete composites by about 10-15% of the tensile strength of normal concrete. Several other researchers have found similar results [44][45][46].…”