Experimental research on post-fire behaviour of reinforced concrete columns

This paper reports an experimental research into the effect of fire exposure time on the post-fire behaviour of reinforced concrete columns. Nine full-size reinforced concrete columns (45×30×300 cm) with two longitudinal reinforcement ratios (1.4% and 2.3%) were unexposed and exposed to the ISO 834 standard fire for 2 and 4 h with a constant preload. One month after cooling, the specimens were tested in axial load combined with uniaxial or biaxial bending. The test results show that the residual load-bearing capacity decreases with increase in fire exposure time. This deterioration in strength following an increase in fire exposure time can be slowed down by the strength recovery of hot rolled reinforcing bars after cooling. In addition, the reduction in residual stiffness is higher than that in ultimate load; consequently, much attention should be given to the deformation and stress redistribution of the reinforced concrete building subject to earthquakes after a fire.