FIRE RESISTANCE TESTS ON CONCRETE COLUMNS

The reinforced concrete elements are known to have enhanced fire behaviour however there are many things that can affect that performance. In the last years there have been carried out, in the University of Coimbra, Portugal, dozens of fire resistance tests on concrete columns where it was tested the influence of various parameters on the behaviour of these columns. Several parameters that might have influence on the behaviour of concrete columns in fire, were tested: cross section shape (round and square), longitudinal reinforcement ratio, slenderness of the column, stiffness of the surrounding structure (restraint level), load level and the load eccentricity. The restraining level to the thermal elongation of the columns showed not being a relevant parameter in their fire resistance probably due the increase in rotational restrain associated with the increase in the axial restraint. The first increases the fire resistance while the second reduces. The increasing of the load level lead to a reduction, while the increasing of the longitudinal reinforcement ratio or the decreasing of the slenderness of the columns lead to an increasing of the fire resistance. The spalling was also an aspect analysed in these tests. The higher load levels, the shape of the cross-section, the type of concrete with or without steel and / or polypropylene fibres, and the steel reinforcement ration was parameters that showed to have influence on concrete cracking and spalling.