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This study aims to make an effort to develop a model to predict the residual flexural strength of reinforced concrete beams subjected to reinforcement corrosion.

For generating the required data to develop the model, a set of experimental variables was considered that included corrosion current density, corrosion duration, rebar diameter and thickness of concrete cover. A total of 28 sets of reinforced concrete beams of size 150 × 150 × 1,100 mm were cast, of which 4 sets of un-corroded beams were tested in four-point bend test as control beams and the remaining 24 sets of beams were subjected to accelerated rebar corrosion inducing different levels of corrosion current densities for different durations. Corroded beams were also tested in flexure, and test results of un-corroded and corroded beams were utilized to obtain an empirical model for estimating the residual flexural strength of beams for given corrosion current density, corrosion duration and diameter of the rebars.

Comparison of the residual flexural strengths measured experimentally for a set of corroded beams, reported in literature, with that predicted using the model proposed in this study indicates that the proposed model has a reasonably good accuracy.

The empirical model obtained under this work can be used as a simple tool to predict residual flexural strength of corroded beams using the input data that include rebar corrosion rate, corrosion duration after initiation and diameter of rebars.

This study investigates the impact of the fire decay phase on structural damage using the sectional analysis method. The primary objective of this work is to forecast the non-dimensional capacity parameters for the axial and flexural load-carrying capacity of reinforced concrete (RC) sections for heating and the subsequent post-heating phase (decay phase) of the fire.

The sectional analysis method is used to determine the moment and axial capacities. The findings of sectional analysis and heat transfer for the heating stage are initially validated, and the analysis subsequently proceeds to determine the load capacity during the fire’s heating and decay phases by appropriately incorporating non-dimensional sectional and material parameters. The numerical analysis includes four fire curves with different cooling rates and steel percentages.

The study’s findings indicate that the rate at which the cooling process occurs after undergoing heating substantially impacts the axial and flexural capacity. The maximum degradation in axial and flexural capacity occurred in the range of 15–20% for cooling rates of 3 °C/min and 5 °C/min as compared to the capacity obtained at 120 min of heating for all steel percentages. As the fire cooling rate reduced to 1 °C/min, the highest deterioration in axial and flexural capacity reached 48–50% and 42–46%, respectively, in the post-heating stage.

The established non-dimensional parameters for axial and flexural capacity are limited to the analysed section in the study owing to the thermal profile, however, this can be modified depending on the section geometry and fire scenario.

The study primarily focusses on the degradation of axial and flexural capacity at various time intervals during the entire fire exposure, including heating and cooling. The findings obtained showed that following the completion of the fire’s heating phase, the structural capacity continued to decrease over the subsequent post-heating period. It is recommended that structural members' fire resistance designs encompass both the heating and cooling phases of a fire. Since the capacity degradation varies with fire duration, the conventional method is inadequate to design the load capacity for appropriate fire safety. Therefore, it is essential to adopt a performance-based approach while designing structural elements' capacity for the desired fire resistance rating. The proposed technique of using non-dimensional parameters will effectively support predicting the load capacity for required fire resistance.

The fire-resistant requirements for reinforced concrete structures are generally established based on standard fire exposure conditions, which account for the fire growth phase. However, it is important to note that concrete structures can experience internal damage over time during the decay phase of fires, which can be quantitatively determined using the proposed non-dimensional parameter approach.

The exposure of reinforced concrete structures such as high-rise residential buildings, bridges and piers to saline environments, including exposure to de-icing salts, increases their susceptibility to corrosion of the reinforcing steel. The exposure to fire can further deteriorate the structural integrity of corroded concrete structures. This combined effect of corrosion damage and fire exposure is not generally addressed in the structural concrete design codes. The synergistic combination of the effects of corrosion and fire forms the basis of this paper.

Concrete beam specimens with different strengths were prepared, moist-cured and corroded with impressed current. Later, they were “crack-scored” for corrosion evaluation, after which half were exposed to fire in a gas kiln. The fire damage was evaluated by nondestructive testing using ultrasonic pulse velocity. Next, all specimens were tested for residual flexural strength. They were then autopsied, and the level of corrosion was determined based on mass loss of the reinforcement.

For corroded specimens, the flexural capacity loss because of fire exposure increases as the compressive strength increases. In general, the higher the crack score, the higher the corresponding mass loss, unless some partial/segmental debonding of the reinforcement occurred. The degree of corrosion increases with decreasing compressive strength. The residual moment capacity, based on analytically determined capacities of uncorroded and nonfire-exposed beams, was significantly lower than those of uncorroded beams exposed to fire.

The combined effects of corrosion and fire on the mechanical properties of structural concrete are relatively unknown, and no guidance is available in the existing design codes to address this issue. Accordingly, the findings of the paper are expected to be valuable to both researchers and design engineers and can be regarded as the initial investigation on this topic.

This study aims to conduct an experimental study and finite element model (FEM) to investigate the flexural behavior of heat-damaged beams strengthened/repaired by hybrid fiber-reinforced polymers (HFRP).

Two groups of beams of (150 × 250 × 1,200) mm were cast, strengthened and repaired using different configurations of HFRP and tested under four-point loadings. The first group was kept at room temperature, while the second group was exposed to a temperature of 400°C.

It was found that using multiple layers of carbon fiber-reinforced polymer (CFRP) and glass fiber-reinforced polymer (GFRP) enhanced the strength more than a single layer. Also, the order of two layers of FRP showed no effect on flexural behavior of beams. Using a three-layer scheme (attaching the GFRP first and followed by two layers of CFRP) exhibited increase in ultimate load more than the scheme attached by CFRP first. Furthermore, the scheme HGC (heated beam repaired with glass and carbon, in sequence) allowed to achieve residual flexural capacity of specimen exposed to 400°C. Typical flexural failure was observed in control and heat-damaged beams, whereas the strengthened/repaired beams failed by cover separation and FRP debonding, however, specimen repaired with two layers of GFRP failed by FRP rupture. The FEM results showed good agreement with experimental results.

Few researchers have studied the effects of HFRP on strengthening and repair of heated, damaged reinforced concrete (RC) beams. This paper investigates, both experimentally and analytically, the performance of externally strengthened and repaired RC beams, in flexure, with different FRP configurations of CFRP and GFRP.

This study delineates the effect of cover thickness on reinforced concrete (RC) columns and beams under an elevated fire scenario. Columns and beams are important load-carrying structural members of buildings. Under all circumstances, the columns and beams were set to be free from damage to avoid structural failure. Under the high-temperature scenario, the RC element may fail because of the material deterioration that occurs owing to the thermal effect. This study attempts to determine the optimum cover thickness for beams and columns under extreme loads and fire conditions.

Cover thicknesses of 30, 40, 45, 50, 60 and 70 mm for the columns and 10, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, 50, 60 and 70 mm for the beams were adopted in this study. Both steady-state and transient-state conditions under thermomechanical analysis were performed using the finite element method to determine the heat transfer through the RC section and to determine the effect of thermal stresses.

The results show that the RC elements have a greater influence on the additional cover thickness at extreme temperatures and higher load ratios than at the service stages. The safe limits of the structural members were obtained under the combined effects of elevated temperatures and structural loads. The results also indicate that the compression members have a better thermal performance than the flexural members.

Numerical investigations concerning the high-temperature behavior of structural elements are useful. The lack of an experimental setup encourages researchers to perform numerical investigations. In this study, the finite element models were validated with existing finite element models and experimental results.

The obtained safe limit for the structural members could help to understand their resistance to fire in a real-time scenario. From the safe limit, a suitable design can be preferred while designing the structural members. This could probably save the structure from collapse.

There is a lack of both numerical and experimental research works. In numerical modeling, the research works found in the literature had difficulties in developing a numerical model that satisfactorily represents the structural members under fire, not being able to adequately understand their behavior at high temperatures. None of them considered the influence of the cover thickness under extreme fire and loading conditions. In this paper, this influence was evaluated and discussed.

The Reinforced Concrete(RC) elements are known to perform well during exposure to elevated temperatures. Hence, RC elements are widely used to resist the extreme heat developing from accidental fires and other industrial processes. In both of the scenarios, the RC element is exposed to elevated temperatures. However, the primary differences between the fire and processed temperatures are the rate of temperature increase, mode of exposure and exposure durations. In order to determine the effect of two heating modalities, RC beams were exposed to processed temperatures with slow heating rates and fire with fast heating rates.

In the present study, RC beam specimens were exposed to 200 °C, to 800 °C temperature at 200 °C intervals for 2 h' duration by adopting two heating modes; Fire and processed temperatures. An electrical furnace with low-temperature increment and a fire furnace with standard time-temperature increment is adapted to expose the RC elements to elevated temperatures.

It is observed from test results that, the reduction in load-carrying capacity, first crack load, and thermal crack widths of RC beams exposed to 200 °C, and 600 °C temperature at fire is significantly high from the RC beams exposed to the processed temperature having the same maximum temperature. As the exposure temperature increases to 800 °C, the performance of RC beams at all heating modes becomes approximately equal.

In this work, residual performance, and failure modes of RC beams exposed to elevated temperatures were achieved through two different heating modes are presented.

The purpose of the paper is to study the effect of elevated temperature on load carrying capacity of reinforced self compacting concrete beams and the performance of deteriorated beams after retrofitting by GFRP sheets. The reinforced beams which were exposed to sustained elevated temperature and tested for flexural load-carrying capacity. Further deteriorated beams (exposed from 500°C to 800°C) were re-strengthened by adopting retrofitting with GFRP sheets.

The investigation includes the concrete specimens, i.e. cubes of 150 mm, cylinders of size 150 mm dia with 300 mm height and beams of 150 × 150 × 1,100 mm, reinforced with minimum tension reinforcement according to IS 456–2000. The specimens were subjected to elevated temperature from 300°C to 800°C with an interval of 100°C for 2 h. The residual compressive strength, modulus of elasticity, load at first crack of beams and load-carrying capacity of beams for 5-mm deflection were measured before and after retrofitting.

The result shows that there is a gain in residual compressive strength at 300°C and beyond which it decreases. The modulus of elasticity, load at first crack and load-carrying capacity of beams reduces continuously with an increase in temperature. The decrease in load-carrying capacity of beams is observed from 27.55% and up to 38.77% between the temperature range of 500°C–800°C and after the retrofitting of distressed beams, the load carrying capacity increases up to 24.48%.

Better performance was observed with retrofitting by GFRP sheets when the specimens were distressed due to elevated temperatures.

This paper aims to present a mathematical model of predicting the residual moment capacity of fire-damaged reinforced concrete (RC) elements after cooling to ambient temperature which also reflects the role of bond between steel rebar and surrounding concrete.

The prediction of residual moment capacity of fire-damaged RC element has been carried out for two scenarios: by assuming perfect bond between surrounding concrete and steel rebar after fire exposure and by incorporating a relative slip between surrounding concrete and steel rebar and hence assuming partial bond between them after fire scenario. The predicted results are then compared with the experimental results available in different literatures.

It is found that on comparison between the predicted results and the experimental results, the proposed mathematical prediction model, when bond-characteristics are considered, shows better agreement with the experimental results as compared with those by conventional method with perfect bond assumption.

The constitutive relationship for thermal residual properties of steel rebar and concrete has been used in the proposed prediction model along with relative slip approach between surrounding concrete and steel rebar after fire scenario and consequently to predict the residual moment capacity of the fire-damaged RC element after cooling.

This review paper seeks to enhance knowledge of how pre-loading affects reinforced concrete (RC) beams under fire. It investigates key factors like deflection and load capacity to understand pre-loading's role in replicating RC beams' actual responses to fire, aiming to improve fire testing protocols and structural fire engineering design.

This review systematically aggregates data from existing literature on the fire response of RC beams, comparing scenarios with (WP) and without pre-loading (WOP). Through statistical tools like the two-tailed t-test and Mann–Whitney U-test, it assesses deflection extremes. The study further examines structural responses, including flexural and shear behavior, ultimate load capacity, post-yield behavior, stiffness degradation and failure modes. The approach concludes with a statistical forecast of ideal pre-load levels to elevate experimental precision and enhance fire safety standards.

The review concludes that pre-loading profoundly affects the fire response of RC beams, suggesting a 35%–65% structural capacity range for realistic simulations. The review also recommended the initial crack load as an alternative metric for determining the pre-loading impact. Crucially, it highlights that pre-loading not only influences the fire response but also significantly alters the overall structural behavior of the RC beams.

The review advances structural fire engineering with an in-depth analysis of pre-loading's impact on RC beams during fire exposure, establishing a validated pre-load range through thorough statistical analysis and examination of previous research. It refines experimental methodologies and structural design accuracy, ultimately bolstering fire safety protocols.

Building elements that are damaged by fire are often strengthened by fiber wrapping techniques. Self-compacting concrete (SCC) is an advanced building material that is widely used in construction due to its ability to flow and pass through congested reinforcement and fill the required areas easily without compaction. The aim of the research work is to examine the flexural behavior of SCC subjected to elevated temperature. This research work examines the effect of natural air cooling (AC) and water cooling (WC) on flexural behavior of M20, M30, M40 and M50 grade fire-affected retro-fitted SCC. The results of the investigation will enable the designers to choose the appropriate repair technique for improving the service life of structures.

In this study, an attempt has been made to evaluate the flexural behavior of fire exposed reinforced SCC beams retrofitted with laminates of carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP), basalt fiber reinforced polymer (BFRP) and glass fiber reinforced polymer (GFRP). Beam specimens were cast with M20, M30, M40 and M50 grades of SCC and heated to 925ºC using an electrical furnace for 60 min duration following ISO 834 standard fire curve. The heated SCC beams were cooled by either natural air or water spraying.

The reduction in the ultimate load carrying capacity of heated beams was about 42% and 55% for M50 grade specimens that were cooled by air and water, respectively, in comparison with the reference specimens. The increase in the ultimate load was 54%, 38% and 27% for the specimens retrofitted with CFRP, BFRP and GFRP, respectively, compared with the fire-affected specimens cooled by natural air. Water-cooled specimens had shown higher level of damage than the air-cooled specimens. The specimens wrapped with carbon fiber could able to improve the flexural strength than basalt and glass fiber wrapping.

SCC, being a high performance concrete, is essential to evaluate the performance under fire conditions. This research work provides the flexural behavior and physical characteristics of SCC subjected to elevated temperature as per ISO rate of heating. In addition attempt has been made to enhance the flexural strength of fire-exposed SCC with wrapping using different fibers. The experimental data will enable the engineers to choose the appropriate material for retrofitting.