Mechanical Properties of Full‐Scale Prestressed Concrete Beams with Thin Slab after Exposure to Actual Fire

Abstract

To provide an effective basis and reference for applications of prestressed concrete thin-slab beams after a bridge fire, methods and principles of fire-resistant design, repair, and reinforcement of such beams were discussed. Taking a simple supported and continuous girder bridge of an expressway in service as a sample, appearance testing and nondestructive testing of the internal structure were carried out. Four representative full-scale prestressed concrete beams were selected. Through the comparative test of the ultimate bearing capacity of such beams, the laws of the deflection deformation, strain distribution, crack formation, and crack development were obtained. By combining with the finite element simulation and theoretical analysis, the ultimate bearing capacity, complex mechanical characteristics, and breakage feature and failure mechanism of such beams were studied. It was indicated by the results the following: (1) Prestress loss will cause height reduction of the concrete shear zone, which is one of the main reasons why the bending-shearing failure of such beams happened before the pure bending failure. (2) Under certain operating loads, brittle fracture is more likely to occur on the bottom surface of such beams when directly exposed to fire. (3) The bursting and spalling depth of concrete after being exposed to fire can be used as the characteristic parameters for the rapid identification of the bottom surface of such after-fire beams.