Compressive Strength of Self-Compacting Concrete during

High-Temperature Exposure
Jin Tao1; Yong Yuan2; and Luc Taerwe3
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Abstract: Self-compacting concrete 共SCC兲 is being used in high-rise buildings and industrial structures which may be subjected to high
temperatures during operation or in case of an accidental fire. The proper understanding of the effects of elevated temperatures on the
properties of SCC is necessary. This paper reports the results of laboratory investigations carried out to study the effects of high
temperatures ranging from room temperature to 800° C on the compressive strength of different water-cement ratio SCC and high-strength
concrete. It is found that the hot compressive strength of SCC decreases with increasing temperature. Compared with normal-strength
SCC, high-strength SCC possesses a larger compressive strength exposed to high temperature. Another result of tests is that addition of
polypropylene fibers decreased the strength and probability of explosive spalling.
DOI: 10.1061/共ASCE兲MT.1943-5533.0000102
CE Database subject headings: Concrete; Compressive strength; Temperature effects.
Author keywords: Self-compacting concrete; Compressive strength; High temperature.

Introduction sidual compressive strength of concrete and gave results. Labora-

Self-compacting concrete 共SCC兲 or self-consolidating concrete is
of potential application for highly congested reinforcement mem-
ber with good workability. As concrete technology matures in
producing SCC, its use would become common. However, an
issue arisen is the risk when a structural member made from SCC
exposed to fire 共Noumowé et al. 2006兲.
Loss of bearing capacity may be represented in terms of re-
sidual concrete strength. There are lots of studies that investigated
the residual properties of normal concretes 共NCs兲 共Malhotra
1956兲 or high-strength concrete 共HSC兲 共Phan and Carino 1998;
Phan and Peacock 1999兲, which experienced high temperature.
An investigation by Malhotra 共1956兲 on the effect of tempera-
ture on the residual compressive strength of NC had been carried
out using 50-mm-diameter⫻ 100-mm-long specimens having
various mix proportions and water/cement ratios. Test results
showed that the strength of concrete at temperature up to 600° C
was independent of the water/cement ratio but was influenced by
the aggregate/cement ratio. Concrete with high aggregate-cement
ratio showed a smaller proportional reduction in strength when
heated to a given temperature compared with the concrete with
low aggregate-cement ratio.
Srinivasa Rao et al. 共2006兲 reviewed recent research on re-
1
State Key Laboratory of Concrete and Preload Concrete Structure of
Ministry of Education, Civil Engineering School, Southeast Univ., Nan-
jing 210096, China.
2
Key Laboratory of Geotechnical and Underground Engineering of
the Ministry of Education, Tongji Univ., Shanghai 200092, China 共corre-
sponding author兲. E-mail: yuany@tongji.edu.cn
3
Magnel Laboratory for Concrete Research, Ghent Univ., Ghent, Bel-
gium.
Note. This manuscript was submitted on September 6, 2009; approved
on March 12, 2010; published online on March 16, 2010. Discussion
period open until March 1, 2011; separate discussions must be submitted
for individual papers. This paper is part of the Journal of Materials in
Civil Engineering, Vol. 22, No. 10, October 1, 2010. ©ASCE, ISSN
0899-1561/2010/10-1005–1011/$25.00.
tory investigations were carried out on the effects of elevated
temperatures, ranging from 50 to 250° C. The results showed that
residual compressive strengths of HSC at exposed temperature of
300° C or higher were significantly different from that of NC.
Castillo 共1990兲 reported the experimental results of hot com-
pressive strength. The concretes’ strength varied between 31 and
89 MPa, and the temperature exposure was in the range of
23– 800° C. The heating rate was 7 – 8 ° C / min. The size of the
specimen was 51⫻ 102-mm cylinder. In the tests, the specimens
were heated up to the desired temperature, which was maintained
for 5–10 min to attain a steady condition at the center of the
specimen. Exposure to temperatures in the range of 100– 300° C
was observed to decrease the compressive strength of HSC by
15–20%. At temperature in the range of 400– 800° C, it decreased
to about 30% of its strength at room temperature.
There are some pioneer investigations on the performance of
SCC exposed to high temperature. Most of which focused on the
residual compressive strength of SCC 共Annerel et al. 2007; Fares
et al. 2009; Persson 2004兲. It was found that the residual com-
pressive strength of SCC is higher than that of vibrated concrete
共VC兲 with the same strength grade 共Sideris 2007; Stegmaier and
Reinhardt 2004兲 or similar to that of VC 共Boström 2003兲. Other
performance such as spalling is significant 共Annerel et al. 2007;
Vanwalleghem et al. 2003; Liu et al. 2008兲. However, the limited
investigations are inconsistent.
Therefore, tests on a group of normal-strength SCC and a
group of high-strength SCC subjected to high temperatures up to
800° C are presented to verify the effect of strength grade. As
structural member is usually subjected to loads, all tests are de-
signed to measure hot compressive strength of SCC while a set of
HSC is a control group. Two thermal-loading paths are considered
in measuring hot compressive strength. Furthermore, to avoid
spalling of concrete with higher-strength grade at elevated tem-
perature, addition of polypropylene 共PP兲 fiber was used to pro-
duce fiber modified SCC. There are several ways to avoid spalling
of concrete at elevated temperature, such as by adding PP fiber
into concrete to form fiber-reinforced concrete or by filling the

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J. Mater. Civ. Eng., 2010, 22(10): 1005-1011

 Table 1. Mix Proportions 共in kg/ m3, Unless Stated Otherwise兲
Groups HSC SCC-C60 SCCPPF1-C60 SCC-C30 SCCPPF1-C30
Cement 600 400 400 310 310
Water 165 165 165 199 199
Sand 650 853 853 853 853
Coarse aggregate 4–8 mm 530 300 300 300 300
Coarse aggregate 8–15 mm 720 400 400 400 400
Limestone powder — 200 200 133 133
Superplasticizer 共L / m3兲 5 3.2 5.55 4.02 5.95
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PP fiber 0 0 1 0 1
Load paths Unstressed Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Stressed Yes No Yes No No

concrete inside steel tubes to form concrete-filled steel tubes
共Kodur and Lie 1996; Han et al. 2003; Lu et al. 2009兲 and
concrete-filled double skin tubes 共Zhao and Han 2006兲.
Experimental Program
Materials
Ordinary Portland cement 52.5 was used throughout the whole
investigation. Limestone powder was added as filler in SCC. It
was produced from carboniferous limestone with very high purity
共98% of CaCO3 content兲. The PP fiber used was 12 mm in length
and 18 ␮m in diameter. Two kinds of superplasticizer marked
“Glenium 51” and “Rheobuild” were used to achieve SCC and
HSC, respectively. In order to improve the workability of SCC,
crushed limestone coarse aggregate with diameter smaller than 15
mm and continuous grading was used. The fine aggregate was
medium river sand which the sediment percentage was less than
1%.
Groups of Specimen
There were three types of concrete used in experiments, such as
plain SCC, SCC with addition of PP fiber 共SCCPPF兲, and high-
strength VC. Specimens were classified into five groups as HSC,
SCC-C60, SCCPPF1-C60, SCC-C30, and SCCPPF1-C30. Three
specimens were used for each target experimental temperature
and every thermal-loading path in tests. Two kinds of water/
cement ratio 共w/c兲 were used to make fiber-reinforced SCC.
Among the mixtures, SCC-C30 and SCCPPF1-C30 have the same
maximum w/c ratio of 0.64, while HSC has a lower w/c ratio of
0.28. The mix proportions are given in Table 1.
The specimens prepared were
150⫻ 300-mm cylinders. All
specimens were demolded 1 day after casting and were kept at a
temperature of 20⫾ 3 ° C and relative humidity of 90% in a curing
room for 28 days. Then the specimens were moved to the ambient
temperature for 90 days.
Fresh SCC mixtures are evaluated by the L-box, slump flow,
and sieve segregation methods based on the methods of EFNARC
共2005兲 in order to guarantee a good flowability, workability, and
segregation resistance, as listed in Table 2. It shows that all mix-
tures of SCC have good workability.
Test Approaches
Equipment
The following tests were conducted in Tongji University, China.
The testing equipment consists of three systems: temperature con-
trol system, loading system, and data acquisition system. It is a
closed-loop servocontrolled hydraulic testing machine equipped
with an electric furnace.
The cylinder specimen is placed at the center of the computer-
controlled, single zone, electric furnace. The interior of the fur-
nace is cylindrical with dimensions of 260 mm in diameter and
480 mm in height. The furnace has two diameter 100-mm open-
ings, at its top and bottom, to allow two high-temperature alloy
steel loading platens to transmit compressive load provided by the
200-t servocontrolled compression testing machine. The gaps be-
tween the loading platens and the furnace opening are filled with
thermal insulation material to reduce heat loss. Cooling plates are
inserted between the loading ram and testing machine platens to
prevent the platens from being heated through contact with the
loading platens. The cooling plates have a continuous way for
cooling water to run through. During testing, cold water is con-
tinuously run through the cooling plates to dissipate the heat from
the loading platens. The schematic test setup is shown in Fig. 1.
The furnace can provide radiant heat. The maximum operating

Table 2. Workability of All Concretes

Slump Slump flow T50 flow time T20 T40 Sieve segregation SR
共mm兲 共mm兲 共s兲 L-box h2 / h1 共s兲 共s兲 共%兲
HSC 248 500 — — — — —
SCC-C60 290 670 4:18 0.857 1:30 2:55 13.1
SCCPPF1-C60 270 640 4:44 0.807 2:00 3:33 10.2
SCC-C30 280 690 4:00 0.923 1:12 1:40 9.3
SCCPPF1-C30 275 673 4:23 0.854 1:35 2:30 13.5

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J. Mater. Civ. Eng., 2010, 22(10): 1005-1011

 Compression Machine Crosshead

Electric Split-tube
37.5mm 37.5mm
Furnace Insulation

Thermocouple
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Furnace 150mm
Cylinder High Temperature Thermocouple
Loading Ram
150X300 mm
cylinder
specimen
Compression Machine Table

Fig. 1. Schematic of test setup

temperature of the furnace is 1 , 200° C. The maximum heating

rate of the furnace varies with the working temperature level from
5 ° C / min during the first 7 min to 30° C / min when over 500° C.
Hot compression strength tests were carried out using a servo-
controlled hydraulic testing machine with a 2000-kN capacity.
The load and displacement data were collected using a computer
with a “Global Lab” data acquisition and processing system.

Measurements of Specimen Temperature

Specimens from each concrete mixture were installed with two
thermocouples to determine the internal temperature profiles on
the cross section of the cylinders and establish the heating regime.
One thermocouple was located at the center of the specimen and
the other was located midway between the center and the surface
of the cylinder, as shown in Fig. 2. The type-K 共nickel-chrome兲
thermocouples were 2-mm solid wires. The maximum tempera-
ture of the thermocouple is 1200° C with a specified limit of error
of ⫾2.2° C or ⫾0.75% for temperatures above 0 ° C. To place the
two thermocouples inside the specimen, two 5-mm holes were
drilled 3 days before testing. The thermocouples were inserted
into the holes, which were then filled with cement paste. The
surface temperature of the specimen was considered to be equal
to the temperature measured by the thermocouples in the furnace
which is measured by five thermocouples placed in the top,
middle, and bottom of the furnace individually.
Testing Procedure
Heating
The specimens were heated using a heating rate of 5 ° C / min. This
heating rate refers to the temperature rising inside the furnace, not
the concrete temperature rising inside the specimen. The concrete
temperatures were recorded and used to provide information for
temperature control, i.e., the necessary temperature exposure time
for the specimen to attain the steady-state thermal condition. The
steady-state thermal condition is defined when the difference be-
tween the surface and core temperature is less than 20° C. The
target temperatures were set as 200, 400, 600, and 800° C.
Fig. 2. Specimen instrumented with thermocouples
Loading
Unstressed Tests
In unstressed tests, the specimen was heated, without any external
load, to a target temperature. The temperature was maintained at
this target level until the steady-state temperature condition was
achieved. An axial load was then applied at a constant axial dis-
placement ratio of 0.1 mm/min to failure of the specimen. The hot
compressive strength can be obtained according to the value of
ultimate load. Reference value of compressive strength was mea-
sured at room temperature.
Stressed Tests
Stressed tests were used for specimens of groups SCCPPF1-C60
and HSC. The effect of high temperature on the strength of the
stressed specimen was studied by preloading the specimen to 20%
of the reference strength 共that is, strength measured at room tem-
perature兲 before heating. In order to meet the actual stressed state
of building, 20% of reference strength is chosen according to the
Chinese specification for the buildings.
When the target temperature was reached, the specimen was
loaded to failure at the same stress rate as the unstressed test. In
this way the compressive strength in the stressed state was ob-
tained 共Phan 1996兲. In this test, the temperatures in the specimen
may not uniform, so the averaged temperatures are used in the
following test results.

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J. Mater. Civ. Eng., 2010, 22(10): 1005-1011

 Table 3. Compressive Strength of Concrete at Unstressed Test 共in Megapascals兲
Temperature
共°C兲 HSC SCC-C60
20 60.1 70.0
200 41.5 62.1
400 38.4 63.3
600 — —
800 — —
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Experimental Results
The averaged 28-day compressive strength 共GB/T 2002兲 of HSC
specimens was 45.6 MPa. For the groups of SCC-C30 and SCC-
C60 specimens, the averaged 28-day compressive strengths
共GB/T 2002兲 were found to be 21.0 and 50.0 MPa, respectively.
The value for group SCCPPF1-C30 was 20.0 MPa, and for group
SCCPPF1-C60 was 48.6 MPa. Here, the SCC groups with a com-
pressive strength over 50.0 MPa can be treated as a high-strength
SCC. The averaged strengths 共GB/T 2002兲 of three unstressed
cylinder specimens of both SCCs with and without addition of PP
fibers and HSC at different temperatures are listed in Table 3,
respectively.
No spalling occurred during heating up to 800° C for SCC
with addition of PP fibers. The content of the PP fiber was
1.0 kg/ m3 共SCCPPF1-C60兲. Almost all of SCC-C60 specimens
tested under the stressed condition failed in explosive spalling
between temperatures of 350 and 500° C 共the temperature mea-
sured in the middle of the specimen兲 during the heating process.
Stressed HSC and SCC specimens are susceptible to higher spal-
ling than unstressed specimens at the same heating regime. Com-
pared with the HSC specimens used in the tests, SCC specimens
showed a higher spalling probability. The test method also ap-
peared to influence the tendency of explosive spalling, but no
statistical analysis was applied to this observation.
Because of the explosive spalling of specimens for SCC-C60
and HSC over 400° C, the hot compressive strength and other
properties could not be measured in the tests; the following me-
chanical properties of SCC-C30, SCCPPF1-C30, and SCCPPF1-
C60 and some HSC specimens are discussed.
Discussion
Effect of Strength Grade
The relative compressive strength of the heated specimen at any
high-temperature exposure has been expressed as the ratio of
compressive strengths between heated and unheated concrete
specimens. The relative compressive strengths of specimens at
high temperatures are shown in Fig. 3 for HSC, SCC-C60, and
SCC-C30. Because of the explosive spalling of SCC-C60 and
HSC specimens above 400° C, the compressive strengths of these
specimens were not obtained.
In general, the changes in strengths of SCC-C30 and SCC-C60
specimens at high temperatures appear to follow a common trend
below 400° C before spalling. SCC at elevated temperatures lost a
part of its compressive strength above 200° C and attained a
strength loss of about 80% at 800° C. The strength loss in the
temperature range of 20– 200° C is minimal. According to the
experimental results, the strength-temperature relationship is
characterized by three stages:
1008 / JOURNAL OF MATERIALS IN CIVIL ENGINEERING © ASCE / OCTOBER 2010
J. Mater. Civ. Eng., 2010, 22(10): 1005-1011
SCCPPF1-C60 SCC-C30 SCCPPF1-C30
52.9 22.1 21.8
48.1 19.8 18.1
50.5 17.8 11.0
35.5 14.2 7.3
17.2 6.6 5.2
• Initial strength loss stage: between room temperature and
200° C.
• Stabilizing and regaining stage for high-strength SCC: from
200 to 400° C. Sharp strength loss stage for normal-strength
SCC: from 200 to 400° C.
• Permanent strength loss stage: beginning somewhere between
400 and 800° C.
The loss of strength associated with increase in temperature
could be the result of moisture driven out during heating, the
incompatibility in thermal expansion between the cement paste
and aggregates, the dehydration of the cement paste above
400° C, and the decomposition of the limestone aggregate above
600° C. Reduction in compressive strength of concrete at lower
temperatures lower than 200° C has been attributed to the internal
triaxial state of stress apparently existing when the paste pores are
filled with water 共Castillo 1990兲. The increase in compressive
strength of SCC-C60 associated with a further increase in tem-
perature may be attributed to the general stiffening of the cement
gel or the increase in surface forces between gel particles due to
the removal of absorbed moisture. The temperature at which ab-
sorbed water is vaporized and the strength begins to increase
depends on the porosity of the concrete 共Castillo 1990兲. The un-
stressed specimens of SCC-C60 and SCCPPF1-C60 have dense
structures, and the absorbed moisture could not escape until
above 200° C. Thus, the recovery of strength occurred between
200 and 400° C.
The loss of strength resulting from exposure to high tempera-
ture was smaller for the high-strength SCCPPF specimens com-
pared with that suffered by the normal-strength SCCPPF
Fig. 3. Relative compressive strength of SCC-C60, SCC-C30, and
HSC
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Fig. 4. Relative compressive strength of SCCPPF1-C60 and
SCCPPF1-C30
specimens. This difference was particularly noticeable in the
lower-temperature range of 200– 400° C, as shown in Fig. 4.
For the high-strength SCCPPF specimens at 200° C, the loss in
strength was 18% of the room temperature strength, at the same
temperature for normal-strength SCCPPF that was 10%. After the
initial loss of strength, the high-strength SCCPPF began to re-
cover its strength at 400° C and reached a value which was 5%
above the strength at 200° C. The strength of normal-strength
SCCPPF decreased rapidly in this temperature range of
200– 400° C. At 400° C, the strength was only 50% of that at
room temperature. There was a larger cement paste content in the
high-strength SCCPPF, and the effect of the general stiffening of
the cement gel or the increase in surface forces between gel par-
ticles on strength recovery was more obvious. Since the effect of
aggregate expansion is more important for normal-strength SC-
CPPF specimens having a lower cement-aggregate ratio, probably
higher internal stress is built up causing a larger reduction in
strength.
In the temperature range from 400 to 600° C, the drop rates in
relative strengths for high-strength and normal-strength SCCPPF
specimens were similar. The dehydration of a cement paste re-
sulted in gradual deterioration of the concrete microstructure. The
normal-strength concrete had a larger strength loss. At 600° C, the
compressive strength of the normal strength was only 34% of the
initial strength. The failure modes of high-strength and normal-
strength specimens are shown in Figs. 5 and 6, respectively.
Above 800° C, the strengths were similar for both types of
SCCPPF specimens, i.e., 30% of the initial strength at room tem-
Fig. 5. Failure modes of SCCPPF1-C60
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J. Mater. Civ. Eng., 2010, 22(10): 1005-1011
Fig. 6. Failure modes of SCCPPF1-C30
perature. The decomposition of calcium carbonate at about
780° C caused the strength loss 共Tao 2009; Liu 2005兲.
In summary, the strength gain phase did not occur during the
heating for normal-strength SCCPPF specimens. The critical tem-
perature of the strength loss is 200° C for normal-strength SC-
CPPF and is 400° C for high-strength SCCPPF. After the critical
temperature, the loss in strength increased.
Effect of Preload
In stressed tests, there were some preloaded specimens which
failed at 200, 400, and 600° C 共furnace temperature兲, respectively.
The relative compressive strengths of SCCPPF1-C60 specimens
are compared with the strengths of unstressed specimens, as
shown in Fig. 7.
The compressive strengths under unstressed and stressed con-
ditions change similarly in the temperature range from 20 to
400° C. In the temperature range from 20 to 200° C, a very simi-
lar evolution in strength is obtained for the two test conditions.
The unstressed specimens had a 10% reduction in compressive
strength, while the stressed specimens suffered an 8–9% loss in
strength. At temperatures above 400° C, the strengths of both the
stressed and unstressed specimens dropped. However, the reduc-
tion in the compressive strength of the stressed specimen was
smaller compared with that of the unstressed specimen. This con-
clusion is in agreement with many existing observations for nor-
mal strength concrete 共NSC兲 and HSC under the two test
conditions 共Phan and Carino 1998兲.
It is believed that the crack development is restricted in a
preloaded specimen, which delays the failure process. At lower
Fig. 7. Relative compressive strength in stressed and unstressed tests

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Fig. 8. Compressive strength of SCC-C30 and SCCPPF1-C30
temperatures, the beneficial effect of the preload is counteracted
by the strength reduction resulting from the presence of the ab-
sorbed water. At temperatures between 400 and 800° C, the loss
of strengths in stressed specimens due to the different expansion
of paste and aggregate was not sufficient to offset the beneficial
effect of preloading, thus resulting in an increase in strength.
Effect of PP Fiber
The effect of PP fibers on compressive strength for normal-
strength SCC and high-strength SCC is shown in Figs. 8 and 9,
respectively.
For the unheated specimens, it can be seen that the use of
1 kg/ m3 PP fibers had negative effects on the compressive
strength. Similar results had been reported by other researchers
共Poon et al. 2004兲. In general, it is difficult to completely disperse
PP fibers in concrete prepared with a conventional mixing proce-
dure. As a result, the compressive strength of the concrete is
reduced.
At high temperatures, the compressive strength of normal-
strength SCC was higher than that of the PP fiber-reinforced
specimens. PP fibers caused some reduction in compressive
Fig. 9. Compressive strength of SCC-C60 and SCCPPF1-C60
1010 / JOURNAL OF MATERIALS IN CIVIL ENGINEERING © ASCE / OCTOBER 2010
J. Mater. Civ. Eng., 2010, 22(10): 1005-1011
strength at high-temperature exposure, which was more obvious
above 200° C. Besides the vaporization of free water at 100° C
and loss of hydrates’ crystallinity that took place in all series,
SCCPPF specimens also underwent the melting of its fibers at
160– 170° C and vaporization of fibers at approximately 340° C
共Liu et al. 2008兲, which increased the porosity of SCCPPF. There-
fore, adding fibers to SCC, to some degree, increases the deterio-
ration of SCC at high temperatures.
There are two different views on the effect of PP fibers on
compressive strength at or after high temperatures. PP fibers re-
sulted in a quicker loss of the compressive and flexural strength
and toughness of the concrete after exposure to elevated tempera-
tures 共Suhaendi and Horiguchi 2006; Serdar and Yazici 2007兲.
This is not consistent with the observations of other studies. In a
study conducted by Kalifa et al. 共2001兲, PP fibers were shown to
be beneficial for the residual strength of concrete after exposure
to high temperatures.
Conclusions
In this paper, a series of tests were performed to examine the
changes in compressive strength subjected to high temperatures
ranging from 20 to 800° C and to investigate the effect of preload,
water-cement ratio, and PP fibers on compressive strength. Based
on the experimental results presented in this paper, the following
conclusions are drawn:
• SCC, HSC, and SCCPPF are very sensitive to high tempera-
ture in spite of their good mechanical properties at room tem-
perature. The hot compressive strength of SCC decreases as
the exposure temperature increases, except for the recovery at
about 400° C for the high-strength SCC.
• Strength grade has an effect on the strength loss of concrete,
especially in the temperature range below 400° C. With de-
creasing strength grade, the strength loss increased. But this
difference is smaller in the permanent strength loss stage.
• The influence of PP fibers on fire behavior of SCC is twofold.
Addition of PP fibers can eliminate the spalling tendency of
SCC. However, they have a negative effect on hot mechanical
properties of concrete since they decrease the hot compressive
strength of SCC. It is therefore recommended to use PP fibers
as part of a total spalling protection design method in combi-
nation with other materials such as external thermal barriers.
• Besides excellent workability and high compressive strength,
SCC with addition of PP fibers could provide better fire resis-
tance than other HSC and thus is applicable to building
material.
Acknowledgments
The paper includes partial study in Tongji University and Magnel
Laboratory for Concrete Research, Ghent University. The finan-
cial support from the National Key Technology R&D Program
共Grant No. 2006BAJ27B02-02 PI, Yuan Yong兲 and Scientific Re-
search Foundation for the Returned Overseas Chinese Scholars is
gratefully acknowledged.
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