COMPARISON BETWEEN NORMAL-STRENGTH HIGH-PERFORMANCE CONCRETE AND HIGH-STRENGTH HIGH-PERFORMANCE CONCRETE EXPOSED TO HIGH TEMPERATURE

This paper presents an experimental investigation on fire resistance of normal-strength high-performance concrete (NS-HPC), compared with high-strength high-performance concrete (HS-HPC). NS-HPC was prepared at water/binder (W/B) ratios of 0.45, 0.36, and 0.32, of which compressive strength of 28-days ranged from 42.5 MPa to 56.3 MPa. The results of the spalling test reveal that NS-HPC behaved similar to HS-HPC at 0.26 W/B ratio, i.e. NS-HPC encountered explosive spalling as well under high temperature. With regard to fire resistance, NS-HPC is similar to HS-HPC, and polymer fiber can be used to improve fire resistance of NS-HPC.