Determination of the relative significance of material parameters for concrete exposed to fire

• Constitutive relations concerning material parameters are grouped systematically.
• Mass transfer process in concrete exposed to fire are described in detail.
• Relative significance of different material parameters can be compared directly.
• Ways to obtain material parameters are recommended.

When concrete is exposed to fire, spalling may occur. As regards this phenomenon, many numerical models have been proposed and developed during the last 30 years. It is state-of-the-art that the governing equations for consideration of spalling of concrete, which represent the basis of such models, are fully coupled, accounting for several important physical and chemical phenomena of different significance. The number of material parameters has increased with increasing complexity of these equations. This suggests exploring the relative significance of these parameters. For that purpose, a one-dimensional mathematical model for the analysis of concrete exposed to fire is used. By means of exploring the sensitivity of the temperature and the gas pressure at a specific point in a concrete floor slab to variations of several material parameters in the employed constitutive relations, the goal of this work is achieved.