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steel bars will be subjected to fire. This weakens reinforcement bars and led to decrease ultimate load
carrying capacity of the reinforced concrete element.
When structural concrete elements are exposed to fire, it is possible that explosive spalling of
concrete takes place. The explosive spalling of concrete is occurred when free water (water that is not
employed for hydration reaction and remained unused in concrete) in concrete is changed to steam
because of concrete exposure to fire, and if the steam is not released in concrete then it causes explosive
spalling.
For example, the response of reinforced concrete slab to fire is better in comparison to reinforced
concrete beams. This is because only one side of the former is subjected to fire whereas there are three
faces in the latter that exposed to fire.
This is evident that simple external shapes that have no pronounced feather are a better option to
construct when fire exposure is considered.
It is reported that, explosions have low likelihood in thick sections such as nuclear containment walls.
With a given set of conditions, explosive spalling is less likely to present in concrete with moisture
content of less than 3% by weight whereas it is reported that considerably dense high strength concrete
with moisture content of 2.3-3% suffered explosive spalling.
This is because of low permeability and porosity which lead to impede the escape of water and
consequently pore water pressure is large hence the risk of explosive spalling is great even though
tensile strength is large in high strength concrete.
Moisture content decreases with time which means the possibility of explosive spalling is reduced as
well.
Moisture content depends hugely on the environment that the structure is constructed in, for example,
moisture content of elements inside buildings is smaller than those of outside.
Strength of Concrete
Interestingly, the occurrence of explosive spalling of concrete is rarely expected in low strength
concrete. In contrary, there is great possibility of explosive spalling occurrence in high strength
concrete.
Sever explosive spalling is not anticipated if concrete cover is equal or less than 15 mm. this might be
due to small mass of unsupported concrete.
Supplementary Reinforcement
Supplementary reinforcement does not prevent the occurrence of explosive spalling but is restrict its
effect. Occasionally, mesh reinforcement is provided to limit the effect of explosive spalling when
concrete cover is larger than 40 mm. Supplementary reinforcement ease the repair of concrete after the
fire.