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Unbonded post-tensioned (PT) concrete slabs have been widely used in Canada and the United States since the 1960s, as they allow increased span-to-depth ratios and excellent control of deflections compared to non-prestressed reinforced concrete flexural members. The satisfactory fire performance of unbonded, PT concrete slabs in North America was established by a series of standard fire tests performed in the United States during the 1960s. However, there is a paucity of data on the effect of elevated temperatures on cold-drawn prestressing steel, both in terms of post-fire residual mechanical properties and high-temperature stress relaxation, which can lead to significant prestress loss both during and after a fire. To aid in the post-fire evaluation of PT concrete floors, a series of high-temperature residual tension tests on prestressing steel is presented, along with a second series of tests that illustrate the irrecoverable and significant loss of prestress force that may result from steel relaxation (creep) during a fire. A preliminary model is presented that can be used to predict the change in prestress force and allow for the computation of flexural capacity of a PT slab after a fire.

The connection details of precast, prestressed hollow-core floor units to supporting reinforced concrete beams have a significant influence on the structural behavior of the floor systems during earthquakes. Connections are also one of the most dominant components affecting the fire performance of such floor systems. However, since it is often too complicated to conduct performancebased structural design of hollow-core concrete flooring systems for fire exposure or earthquake attack, engineers are inclined to carry out design using tabulated data and they subsequently overlook the influence of the connections. In this research, an analytical study has been conducted using the finite element tool SAFIR on the structural fire performance of hollow-core floor systems with new connection details that have been experimentally verified to provide better seismic performance. The analytical results show that rotationally rigid end and side connections provide better fire resistance than rotationally flexible connections.

This paper presents the state-of-the-art review and research needs assessment of the fire performance of reinforced concrete (RC) columns. The literature review revealed that almost all of the fire tests have been undertaken on RC columns under standard fire scenarios and were narrow in scope due to limitations in test equipment and loading capacities. There have been limited analytical studies on modeling the fire behavior of RC columns and were mainly based on elemental approach and either neglected spalling or used a very simple and crude model for representing spalling. Most of the current provisions, in codes and standards, for evaluating fire resistance are based on prescriptive approaches and do not include significant parameters that affect fire resistance. Based on this comprehensive review, research needs for developing rational fire design methods for RC columns through a performance-based approach, is highlighted.

The fire resistance of reinforced concrete beams, computed as per three codes, namely, ACI 216.1, Eurocode 2, and AS 3600, is compared with that predicted from finite element analysis. A macroscopic finite element model, capable of tracing the behavior of restrained reinforced concrete beams from pre-fire stage to collapse, is used in the analysis. The model accounts for high temperature material properties, fire-induced strains (thermal, transient, and creep strains in addition to mechanical strain) and restraint effects as a result of fire exposure. Since restraint has a significant effect on fire resistance of reinforced concrete beams, the comparison is carried out for four cases of reinforced concrete beams with different boundary conditions. The first case represents a simply supported beam, while the other three cases represent axially restrained, rotationally restrained, and axially and rotationally restrained beams, respectively. Through the results of the case studies, it is shown that there is a large variation in the fire resistance predictions from the three codes, with Eurocode 2 being the most conservative and ACI 216.1 being the least conservative. It is also shown that the degree of axial restraint, rotational restraint, and type of failure criteria have significant influence on the fire resistance of reinforced concrete beams.

A hydrocarbon fire test was conducted on nine concrete slabs incorporating three different types of binders: 100% ordinary portland cement (OPC), 50% OPC, and 50% ground-granulated blastfurnace slag (GGBFS), and alkali-activated slag (AAS). The specimens (780 mm [30.71 in.] x 360 mm [14.17 in.]) were made with three different thicknesses (100 mm [3.94 in.], 200 mm [7.87 in.] and 400 mm [15.75 in.]). Specimens were tested at an age of six months when the strengths were about 75 Mpa (10,877 psi). The specimens were exposed to the hydrocarbon fire on one side. Explosive spalling only occurred in the 400 mm (15.75 in.) AAS concrete specimen that had a lower moisture content and higher permeability than the OPC and OPC/slag concretes. This suggests that the well-renowned moisture clog theory is unlikely to be a predominant mechanism of spalling in AAS concrete. It is speculated that high thermal gradients caused explosive spalling in the AAS concrete specimen.