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Concrete and Fire

The webinar will start at 12.30

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Outline
Behaviour of fire
Behaviour of concrete in fire
Concrete and fire design to Eurocode 2

Standard compartment fire

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Behaviour of fires
Typical fire development

Nominal fire curves

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Fire resistance
Designation Fire limit state Criterion
Resistance (R) Limit of load The loadbearing
The structure should resistance of the
retain its loadbearing construction must be
capacity. guaranteed for a
specified period of
time.
Integrity (E) Limit of integrity The passage of flames
The structure should and hot gases to the
protect people and unexposed side must be
goods from flames, prevented.
armful smoke and hot
gases.
Isolation (I) Limit of isolation The rise of temperature
The structure should on the unexposed side
shield people and goods should be restricted.
from heat.

Concrete in fire
• Concrete does not burn
• Concrete does not melt
• Concrete does not give off noxious fumes
• Concrete provides good insulation against heat
• Concrete retains its strength well

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Fire protection by concrete
Objective Requirement
1. To reduce the Walls, floors and ceilings should be
development of a fire. made of a non-combustible
material.
2. To ensure stability of Elements should be made of non-
the loadbearing combustible material and have a
construction elements high fire resistance.
over a specific
period of time.
3. To limit the generation Walls and ceilings should be made
and spread of fire and of non-combustible material; fire
smoke. separating walls should be non-
combustible and have a
high fire resistance.
4. To assist the Escape routes should be made of
evacuation of occupants non-combustible material and have
and ensure the safety of a high fire resistance, which can be
rescue teams. used without danger for a longer
period.
5. To facilitate the Loadbearing elements should have
intervention of rescue a high fire resistance to enable
parties (firefighters). effective firefighting; there should
be no burning droplets.
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Use of concrete
Concrete as a material is inert and non-
combustible (class A1).
Concrete as a material is inert and non-
combustible (class A1). Most of its
strength is retained in a typical fire due
its low thermal conductivity.
In addition to the above statements
adequately designed connections using
concrete are less vulnerable to fire and
make full use of structural continuity.
Concrete cores are extremely robust
and can provide very high levels of
resistance.
In addition to all of the above
statements, in most fires, concrete will
not produce any molten material.
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Concrete at high temperatures

Isotherms

Beam: 300 x
160

90 minute isotherms 500⁰C isotherms

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Rebar at high temperatures

Spalling and strength loss

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Eurocode 2 fire design

Part 1-2 Structural fire design gives several methods for fire engineering
Tabulated data for various elements is given in section 5

Reinforcement cover
Axis distance, a, to centre of bar
a = c + m/2 + l

Axis
a Distance

Available design methods

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Which method?

Chapter 2: Basis of Fire Design

• Verification methods Ed,fi  Rd,fi(t)

• Member Analysis Ed,fi = fi Ed

Ed is the design value for normal temperature design
fi is the reduction factor for the fire situation
fi = (Gk + fi Qk.1)/(GGk + Q.1Qk.1) fi is taken as 1 or 2 (= 1 - NA)

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Section 5. Tabulated Data

Cl. 5.1 -

Provides design solutions for the standard fire exposure up to 4 hours

• The tables have been developed on an empirical basis confirmed

by experience and theoretical evaluation of tests
• Values are given for normal weight concrete made with siliceous
aggregates
• For calcareous or lightweight aggregates minimum dimension may
be reduced by 10%
• No further checks are required for shear, torsion or anchorage
• No further checks are required for spalling up to an axis distance
of 70 mm
• For HSC (> C50/60) the minimum cross section dimension should be
increased

Elements
• Approach for Beams and Slabs very similar
– Separate tables for continuous members
– One way, two way spanning and flat slabs
treated separately

• Columns depend on load and slenderness

• Walls depend on exposure conditions

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Continuous Beams
Table 5.6

Flat Slabs
Table 5.9

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Columns Tabular Approach

Columns more Tricky!
• Two approaches
• Only for braced structures
• Unbraced structures – columns
can be considered braced if
there are columns outside the
fire zone

Columns: Method A
Table 5.2a

μfi = NEd,fi/ NRd = Gk + ψ1,1 Qk,1/(1.35Gk + 1.5 Qk) Conservatively 0.7

where NEd,fi is the design axial load in the fire condition
NRd is the design axial resistance at normal temperature

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Limitations to Table 5.2a

Limitations to Table 5.2a for Method A:

• Effective length of the column under fire conditions

l0,fi <= 3m.
• First order eccentricity under fire conditions:
e = M0Ed,fi / N0Ed,fi <= emax = 0.15 h
• Amount of reinforcement:
As < 0.04 Ac

Method A
.
120 (Exp 5.7)

where:
1 ω
83 1.0 μ
0.85⁄α ω
(as αcc = 0.85 in the UK, Rηfi = 83(1.0-μfi))

Ra = 1.6(a-30)
where a is the axis distance

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Method A

120 . (Exp 5.7)

Rl = 9.6 (5 - l0,fi)
where l0,fi is the effective length in fire.
For an insitu column in a braced structure this can be
taken is 0.5 l for lower storeys and 0.7 l for the top
storey. (2 m ≤ l0,fi ≤ 6m)

Method A
.
120 (Exp 5.7)

Rb = 0.09b’
b’ is the width or the diameter of a square or circular
column.
For a rectangular column:
b’ = 2Ac/(b+h)
200mm ≤ b’ ≤ 450mm
h ≤ 1.5 b’

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Method A

120 . (Exp 5.7)

Rn = 0 where n=4 (corner bars only)

Rn = 12 where n>4
(n is the number of longitudinal bars)

Method A

120 .
120
What is the fire resistance period of a 3.5m long, 300 x 600 column,
NEd = 2950kN, NRd = 3600kN, with 25mm bars, 10mm links, cover
25mm?
μfi = 0.7 x 2950/3600 = 0.57 Rηfi = 83(1-0.57) = 35.4
a = 25+10+25/2 = 47mm Ra = 1.6(47-30) = 27.2
l0,fi = 0.5 x 3.5 = 1.75, so l0,fi = 2m Rl = 9.6(5-2) = 28.8
b’ = 2 x b x 1.5b/(b + 1.5b) = 360mm Rb = 0.09 x 360 = 32.4
n>4 Rn = 12
R = 120((35.4 + 27.2 + 28.8 + 32.4 + 12)/120)1.8 = 150 minutes
(from table

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Method A

120 .
120
What is the fire resistance period of a 3.5m long, 300 x 600 column,
NEd = 2950kN, NRd = 3600kN, with 25mm bars, 10mm links, cover
25mm?
μfi = 0.7 x 2950/3600 = 0.57 Rηfi = 83(1-0.57) = 35.4
a = 25+10+25/2 = 47mm Ra = 1.6(47-30) = 27.2
l0,fi = 0.5 x 3.5 = 1.75, so l0,fi = 2m Rl = 9.6(5-2) = 28.8
b’ = 2 x b x 1.5b/(b + 1.5b) = 360mm Rb = 0.09 x 360 = 32.4
n>4 Rn = 12
R = 120((35.4 + 27.2 + 28.8 + 32.4 + 12)/120)1.8 = 150 minutes
(from table: 90 minutes)

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Columns: Method B

ω = 0.1  0.4% steel

ω = 0.5  2.0% steel
ω = 1.0  4.0% steel
(fck = 30MPa, fyk = 500MPa)

Limitations to Table 5.2b

• l/h (or l/b)  17.3 for rectangular column (fi  30)

• First order eccentricity under fire conditions:

e/b = M0Ed,fi /b N0Ed,fi  0.25 with emax= 100 mm

• Amount of reinforcement,  = As fyd / Ac fcd  1

For other values of these parameters see Annex C

(e/b  0.5, emax  200 mm)

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Spalling
• EC2 distinguishes between explosive spalling that can occur
in concrete under compressive conditions, such as in
columns, and the concrete falling off the soffit in the
tension zones of beams and slabs.
• Explosive spalling occurs early on in the fire exposure and is
mainly caused by the expansion of the water/steam particles
trapped in the matrix of the concrete. The denser the
concrete, the greater the explosive force.
 Unlikely if moisture content is less than 3% (NDP) by
weight. The assumption is that in exposure class X0 or
XC1 the moisture class is less than 3%
 Tabular data OK for axis distance up to 70 mm
• Falling off of concrete occurs in the latter stage of fire
exposure

High Strength Concrete -

Tabulated Data
Minimum cross section should be increased:

• For walls and slabs exposed on one side only by:

For Class 1: 0.1a for C55/67 to C60/75
For Class 2: 0.3a for C70/85 to C80/95

• For all other structural members by:

For Class 1: 0.2a for C55/67 to C60/75
For Class 2: 0.6a for C70/85 to C80/95

Axis distance, a, increased by factor:

For Class 1: 1.1 for C55/67 to C60/75
For Class 2: 1.3 for C70/85 to C80/95

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High Strength Concrete -

Spalling

• For C 55/67 to C 80/95 the rules for normal strength concrete apply.
provided that the maximum content of silica fume is less than 6% by
weight.

• For C 80/95 to C 90/105 there is a risk of spalling and at least

one of the following should be provided (NA):

Method A: A reinforcement mesh

Method B: A type of concrete which resists spalling

Method C: Protective layers which prevent spalling

Method D: Monofilament polypropylene fibres.

Other Methods

• Simplified calculation method for beams, slabs

and columns
• Full non-linear temperature dependent
• But all of these have the caveat that they are
unproven for shear and torsion.

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500°C Isotherm Method

Ignore concrete > 500°C

Strength of rebar
dependent on steel
temperature

500°C Isotherm Method

Charts in BS EN 1992-1-2

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Decrease in strength of
reinforcement (Figure 4.2)

Zone Method

Zones

Divide concrete into zones and work out average

temperature of each zone, to calculate strength

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Zone Method

Factors for
concrete
strength

Zone Method

Calculate compression forces in zones

Balance forces with Fst,fi to calculate MRd,fi

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Resources

Resources

www.concretecentre.com/publications

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Thank you

jburridge@concretecentre.com

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