Assessment of Fire Exposed Concrete with Full-field Strain Determination and Predictive Modelling

A condition assessment of civil engineering structures is typically performed after the occurrence of a fire incident to determine the remedial actions required out of a structural point of view. A condition assessment is based on the mapping of damage on the given structure, which is traditionally executed via methods that yield indirect results related to surface and/or geometric properties. To be able to predict the accurate fire resistance performance of a given structure, it is most suitable to apply a mapping method which can be directly coupled to the change in material properties of concrete at high temperatures. The aim of this study is to explore the potential of applying an innovative damage mapping methodology directly coupled to the change in material properties of concrete at high temperatures. This methodology consists of optical full-field strain measurements based on Digital Image Correlation (DIC) coupled with a predictive model based on finite-element analysis (FEA). An experimental study was firstly conducted to expose concrete slabs to a standard fire curve. Subsequently, compression tests were performed on drilled cores taken from the damaged induced specimens, all while optically measuring the full-field strain on a specimen surface. As a preliminary step, an FE model of a fire exposed core was developed based on input data from standard temperature-dependent properties. The analysis consisted of a sequentially coupled thermal stress analysis to solve the multiphysics problem. The model was able to capture the temperature distribution in the concrete with enough certainty given the choice of input data. The resulting strain along the height of the core was also comparable to the experimental optical strain measurements, particularly as the distance increased from the fire exposed surface. These results can be practical when assessing the required strengthening actions to restore the load carrying capacity and durability of the concrete structure