Simulation procedure for the post-fire seismic analysis of reinforced concrete structural walls

The impact of fire induced structural damage on the lateral load resistance of RC structures, particularly RC structural walls, is not well understood, but may be critical in the event of sequential fire-earthquake hazards. A simple verified simulation procedure for the post-fire seismic analysis of RC structural walls is necessary to advance the understanding of the post-fire seismic performance of RC structural walls. However, individual software programs which can do well in both thermal analysis and seismic analysis are not currently available. In this paper, a simulation procedure combining SAFIR and OpenSees is proposed for the post-fire seismic analysis of RC structural walls. The thermal analysis of a wall section is conducted in SAFIR while the seismic analysis of the fire-damaged wall is conducted in OpenSees based on the temperature data from SAFIR. The simulation method is verified by test data of RC walls under sequential fire-earthquake loads. The comparison of the numerical and experimental data demonstrated the capabilities of the simulation procedure to capture temperature distribution, stiffness and strength of flexure-controlled RC structural walls.