2019 - Alain Millard - MODELLING OF CONCRETE BEHAVIOUR AT HIGH TEMPERATURE

RILEM State-of-the-Art Reports
Alain Millard
Pierre Pimienta Editors
Modelling of
Concrete Behaviour
at High Temperature
State-of-the-Art Report of the RILEM
Technical Committee 227-HPB
RILEM STATE-OF-THE-ART REPORTS
Volume 30
RILEM, The International Union of Laboratories and Experts in Construction

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More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/8780

Alain Millard Pierre Pimienta
•
Editors
Modelling of Concrete
Behaviour at High
Temperature
State-of-the-Art Report of the RILEM
Technical Committee 227-HPB
123
Editors
Alain Millard Pierre Pimienta
Service d’Études Mécaniques et Thermiques Centre scientifique et technique du bâtiment
Commissariat à l’énergie atomique et aux (CSTB), Safety, Structures and Fire
énergies alternatives (CEA) Université Paris-Est
Saclay, France Marne la Vallée, France
ISSN 2213-204X ISSN 2213-2031 (electronic)

ISBN 978-3-030-11994-2 ISBN 978-3-030-11995-9 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-11995-9
Library of Congress Control Number: 2018968107
© RILEM 2019
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Dedication and Acknowledgements
To the memory of Pr. Ulrich Schneider
This state-of-the-art report is dedicated to the
memory of Pr. Ulrich Schneider. Ulrich was
the chairman of the RILEM 227-HPB
Technical Committee. He mapped out our
path and shared with us his impressive, deep
and extensive scientific expertise and his
human value. He has left to the scientific
community an immense and rich heritage.
Foreword
This state-of-the-art report represents a valuable step forward with respect to the
available literature. Till now, other STARs were limited to a range of temperatures
not so far from the standard ones, up to 80 °C, or considered mainly ordinary
concrete with only some short descriptions of the behaviour of high-performance
concrete. Furthermore, the existing reports or monographs do not cover the most
recent progress in the field of computational modelling. In the last 20 years, the
computer processing power has increased dramatically, enabling engineers to for-
mulate and implement ever more sophisticated mathematical models, taking into
account increasingly complex aspects of the physical and chemical behaviour of
cementitious materials.
The analysis of concrete behaviour when the material is exposed to high tem-
perature is a crucial problem in several fields ranging from civil to nuclear engi-
neering and it is of paramount importance with regard to spalling. Spalling, which
can appear in various forms including explosive spalling, is especially dangerous
for concrete structures because it can lead to a generalized collapse. Taking into
account the technical and scientific progress in recent years allowing for a better
understanding of the topic, we can state that classical numerical models should not
be used for the simulation of the behaviour of concrete with respect to spalling.
In this state-of-the-art report, the mathematical/numerical models are classified
into two major groups:
Engineering models, which are based on the prescriptions of the Eurocode and
take into account essentially the thermo-mechanical aspects of the behaviour of the
material at high temperature;
Advanced models, referring to computational ones considering concrete as a
heterogeneous material with one or more fluid phases flowing in its pores.
For the first class of models, the report emphasizes their easy use for a large
range of structural design. At the same time, their limits are clearly identified and
described, especially as far as spalling is concerned.
In the second class of models, a plethora of approaches is nowadays available in
the literature based on different assumptions and taking into account different
physicochemical processes. This makes their description rather difficult, so the
vii
viii Foreword
authors of the STAR have chosen a top-bottom approach. First, a very complete
model based on multiphase porous media mechanics (i.e. MPMM), likely the most
sophisticated one currently available, is presented and discussed. Then, a set of
progressive simplifications are introduced to make this type of approach easier to
use in practical applications.
The structure of the STAR, the approach chosen for the description, and the
clarity of the presentation make the report a must for all those who want to approach
the rather complicated subject of heated concrete.
Padua, Italy Bernhard Schrefler

Professor Emeritus
Acknowledgements
All the authors are extremely grateful to Katarzyna Mróz from Cracow University
of Technology and Colin Davie from Newcastle University for their very important
and efficient involvement in the formatting and review of the document.
ix
RILEM Technical Committee 227-HPB
(Physical Properties and Behaviour
of High-Performance Concrete at High
Temperature)
Chairmen
U. Schneider and P. Pimienta
Secretary
Robert Jansson McNamee
Members
Ma-Cruz Alonso, Spain

Lars Boström, Sweden
Stefano Dal Pont, France
Colin Davie, UK
Gerard Debicki, France
Frank Dehn, Germany
Ulrich Diederichs, Germany
Roberto Felicetti, Italy
Izabela Hager, Poland
Sven Huismann, Germany
Ulla-Maija Jumppanen, Finland
Manfred Korzen, Germany
Eddy Koenders, The Netherlands
Jianzhong Lai, China
Katarzyna Mróz, Poland
Bas Lottman, The Netherlands
xi
xii RILEM Technical Committee 227-HPB …
Fekri Meftah, France

Alain Millard, France
Jean-Christophe Mindeguia, France
Josko Ozbolt, Germany
Francesco Pesavento, Italy
Klaus Pistol, Germany
Fabienne Robert, France
Joao Paulo Correia Rodriguez, Portugal
Jay Sanjayan, Australia
Kosmas K. Sideris, Greece
Benedikt Weber, Switzerland
Frank Weise, Germany
The members of the Technical Committee thank the following experts for their
contribution to this report
Takashi Horiguchi, Japan
Sergei Leonovich, Republic Belarus
Berenice Moreau, France
Martin Schneider, Germany
Yury Zaytsev, Russia
Matthias Zeiml, Austria
RILEM Publications
The following list is presenting the global offer of RILEM Publications, sorted by
series. Each publication is available in printed version and/or in online version.
RILEM PROCEEDINGS (PRO)
PRO 1: Durability of High Performance Concrete (ISBN: 2-912143-03-9;

e-ISBN: 2-351580-12-5; e-ISBN: 2351580125); Ed. H. Sommer
PRO 2: Chloride Penetration into Concrete (ISBN: 2-912143-00-04; e-ISBN:
2912143454); Eds. L.-O. Nilsson and J.-P. Ollivier
PRO 3: Evaluation and Strengthening of Existing Masonry Structures (ISBN:
2-912143-02-0; e-ISBN: 2351580141); Eds. L. Binda and C. Modena
PRO 4: Concrete: From Material to Structure (ISBN: 2-912143-04-7; e-ISBN:
2351580206); Eds. J.-P. Bournazel and Y. Malier
PRO 5: The Role of Admixtures in High Performance Concrete (ISBN:
2-912143-05-5; e-ISBN: 2351580214); Eds. J. G. Cabrera and R. Rivera-Villarreal
PRO 6: High Performance Fiber Reinforced Cement Composites—HPFRCC 3
(ISBN: 2-912143-06-3; e-ISBN: 2351580222); Eds. H. W. Reinhardt and
A. E. Naaman
PRO 7: 1st International RILEM Symposium on Self-Compacting Concrete
(ISBN: 2-912143-09-8; e-ISBN: 2912143721); Eds. Å. Skarendahl and Ö. Petersson
PRO 8: International RILEM Symposium on Timber Engineering (ISBN:
2-912143-10-1; e-ISBN: 2351580230); Ed. L. Boström
PRO 9: 2nd International RILEM Symposium on Adhesion between Polymers
and Concrete ISAP ’99 (ISBN: 2-912143-11-X; e-ISBN: 2351580249); Eds.
Y. Ohama and M. Puterman
PRO 10: 3rd International RILEM Symposium on Durability of Building and
Construction Sealants (ISBN: 2-912143-13-6; e-ISBN: 2351580257); Eds. A. T. Wolf
xiii
xiv RILEM Publications
PRO 11: 4th International RILEM Conference on Reflective Cracking in

Pavements (ISBN: 2-912143-14-4; e-ISBN: 2351580265); Eds. A. O. Abd El
Halim, D. A. Taylor and El H. H. Mohamed
PRO 12: International RILEM Workshop on Historic Mortars: Characteristics
and Tests (ISBN: 2-912143-15-2; e-ISBN: 2351580273); Eds. P. Bartos, C. Groot
and J. J. Hughes
PRO 13: 2nd International RILEM Symposium on Hydration and Setting
(ISBN: 2-912143-16-0; e-ISBN: 2351580281); Ed. A. Nonat
PRO 14: Integrated Life-Cycle Design of Materials and Structures—ILCDES
2000 (ISBN: 951-758-408-3; e-ISBN: 235158029X); (ISSN: 0356-9403); Ed.
S. Sarja
PRO 15: Fifth RILEM Symposium on Fibre-Reinforced Concretes (FRC)—
BEFIB’2000 (ISBN: 2-912143-18-7; e-ISBN: 291214373X); Eds. P. Rossi and
G. Chanvillard
PRO 16: Life Prediction and Management of Concrete Structures (ISBN:
2-912143-19-5; e-ISBN: 2351580303); Ed. D. Naus
PRO 17: Shrinkage of Concrete—Shrinkage 2000 (ISBN: 2-912143-20-9;
e-ISBN: 2351580311); Eds. V. Baroghel-Bouny and P.-C. Aïtcin
PRO 18: Measurement and Interpretation of the On-Site Corrosion Rate (ISBN:
2-912143-21-7; e-ISBN: 235158032X); Eds. C. Andrade, C. Alonso, J. Fullea,
J. Polimon and J. Rodriguez
PRO 19: Testing and Modelling the Chloride Ingress into Concrete (ISBN:
2-912143-22-5; e-ISBN: 2351580338); Eds. C. Andrade and J. Kropp
PRO 20: 1st International RILEM Workshop on Microbial Impacts on Building
Materials (CD 02) (e-ISBN 978-2-35158-013-4); Ed. M. Ribas Silva
PRO 21: International RILEM Symposium on Connections between Steel and
Concrete (ISBN: 2-912143-25-X; e-ISBN: 2351580346); Ed. R. Eligehausen
PRO 22: International RILEM Symposium on Joints in Timber Structures
(ISBN: 2-912143-28-4; e-ISBN: 2351580354); Eds. S. Aicher and H.-W. Reinhardt
PRO 23: International RILEM Conference on Early Age Cracking in
Cementitious Systems (ISBN: 2-912143-29-2; e-ISBN: 2351580362); Eds.
K. Kovler and A. Bentur
PRO 24: 2nd International RILEM Workshop on Frost Resistance of Concrete
(ISBN: 2-912143-30-6; e-ISBN: 2351580370); Eds. M. J. Setzer, R. Auberg and
H.-J. Keck
PRO 25: International RILEM Workshop on Frost Damage in Concrete (ISBN:
2-912143-31-4; e-ISBN: 2351580389); Eds. D. J. Janssen, M. J. Setzer and
M. B. Snyder
PRO 26: International RILEM Workshop on On-Site Control and Evaluation of
Masonry Structures (ISBN: 2-912143-34-9; e-ISBN: 2351580141); Eds. L. Binda
and R. C. de Vekey
PRO 27: International RILEM Symposium on Building Joint Sealants (CD03;
e-ISBN: 235158015X); Ed. A. T. Wolf
RILEM Publications xv
PRO 28: 6th International RILEM Symposium on Performance Testing and

Evaluation of Bituminous Materials—PTEBM’03 (ISBN: 2-912143-35-7; e-ISBN:
978-2-912143-77-8); Ed. M. N. Partl
PRO 29: 2nd International RILEM Workshop on Life Prediction and Ageing
Management of Concrete Structures (ISBN: 2-912143-36-5; e-ISBN: 2912143780);
Ed. D. J. Naus
PRO 30: 4th International RILEM Workshop on High Performance Fiber
Reinforced Cement Composites—HPFRCC 4 (ISBN: 2-912143-37-3; e-ISBN:
2912143799); Eds. A. E. Naaman and H. W. Reinhardt
PRO 31: International RILEM Workshop on Test and Design Methods for Steel
Fibre Reinforced Concrete: Background and Experiences (ISBN: 2-912143-38-1;
e-ISBN: 2351580168); Eds. B. Schnütgen and L. Vandewalle
PRO 32: International Conference on Advances in Concrete and Structures 2
vol. (ISBN (set): 2-912143-41-1; e-ISBN: 2351580176); Eds. Ying-shu Yuan,
Surendra P. Shah and Heng-lin Lü
PRO 33: 3rd International Symposium on Self-Compacting Concrete (ISBN:
2-912143-42-X; e-ISBN: 2912143713); Eds. Ó. Wallevik and I. Níelsson
PRO 34: International RILEM Conference on Microbial Impact on Building
Materials (ISBN: 2-912143-43-8; e-ISBN: 2351580184); Ed. M. Ribas Silva
PRO 35: International RILEM TC 186-ISA on Internal Sulfate Attack and
Delayed Ettringite Formation (ISBN: 2-912143-44-6; e-ISBN: 2912143802); Eds.
K. Scrivener and J. Skalny
PRO 36: International RILEM Symposium on Concrete Science and
Engineering—A Tribute to Arnon Bentur (ISBN: 2-912143-46-2; e-ISBN:
2912143586); Eds. K. Kovler, J. Marchand, S. Mindess and J. Weiss
PRO 37: 5th International RILEM Conference on Cracking in Pavements—
Mitigation, Risk Assessment and Prevention (ISBN: 2-912143-47-0; e-ISBN:
2912143764); Eds. C. Petit, I. Al-Qadi and A. Millien
PRO 38: 3rd International RILEM Workshop on Testing and Modelling the
Chloride Ingress into Concrete (ISBN: 2-912143-48-9; e-ISBN: 2912143578); Eds.
C. Andrade and J. Kropp
PRO 39: 6th International RILEM Symposium on Fibre-Reinforced Concretes—
BEFIB 2004 (ISBN: 2-912143-51-9; e-ISBN: 2912143748); Eds. M. Di Prisco,
R. Felicetti and G. A. Plizzari
PRO 40: International RILEM Conference on the Use of Recycled Materials in
Buildings and Structures (ISBN: 2-912143-52-7; e-ISBN: 2912143756); Eds.
E. Vázquez, Ch. F. Hendriks and G. M. T. Janssen
PRO 41: RILEM International Symposium on Environment-Conscious
Materials and Systems for Sustainable Development (ISBN: 2-912143-55-1;
e-ISBN: 2912143640); Eds. N. Kashino and Y. Ohama
PRO 42: SCC’2005—China: 1st International Symposium on Design,
Performance and Use of Self-Consolidating Concrete (ISBN: 2-912143-61-6;
e-ISBN: 2912143624); Eds. Zhiwu Yu, Caijun Shi, Kamal Henri Khayat and
Youjun Xie
xvi RILEM Publications
PRO 43: International RILEM Workshop on Bonded Concrete Overlays

(e-ISBN: 2-912143-83-7); Eds. J. L. Granju and J. Silfwerbrand
PRO 44: 2nd International RILEM Workshop on Microbial Impacts on Building
Materials (CD11) (e-ISBN: 2-912143-84-5); Ed. M. Ribas Silva
PRO 45: 2nd International Symposium on Nanotechnology in Construction,
Bilbao (ISBN: 2-912143-87-X; e-ISBN: 2912143888); Eds. Peter J. M. Bartos,
Yolanda de Miguel and Antonio Porro
PRO 46: ConcreteLife’06—International RILEM-JCI Seminar on Concrete
Durability and Service Life Planning: Curing, Crack Control, Performance in Harsh
Environments (ISBN: 2-912143-89-6; e-ISBN: 291214390X); Ed. K. Kovler
PRO 47: International RILEM Workshop on Performance Based Evaluation and
Indicators for Concrete Durability (ISBN: 978-2-912143-95-2; e-ISBN:
9782912143969); Eds. V. Baroghel-Bouny, C. Andrade, R. Torrent and K. Scrivener
PRO 48: 1st International RILEM Symposium on Advances in Concrete through
Science and Engineering (e-ISBN: 2-912143-92-6); Eds. J. Weiss, K. Kovler,
J. Marchand, and S. Mindess
PRO 49: International RILEM Workshop on High Performance Fiber
Reinforced Cementitious Composites in Structural Applications (ISBN:
2-912143-93-4; e-ISBN: 2912143942); Eds. G. Fischer and V. C. Li
PRO 50: 1st International RILEM Symposium on Textile Reinforced Concrete
(ISBN: 2-912143-97-7; e-ISBN: 2351580087); Eds. Josef Hegger, Wolfgang
Brameshuber and Norbert Will
PRO 51: 2nd International Symposium on Advances in Concrete through
Science and Engineering (ISBN: 2-35158-003-6; e-ISBN: 2-35158-002-8); Eds.
J. Marchand, B. Bissonnette, R. Gagné, M. Jolin and F. Paradis
PRO 52: Volume Changes of Hardening Concrete: Testing and Mitigation
(ISBN: 2-35158-004-4; e-ISBN: 2-35158-005-2); Eds. O. M. Jensen, P. Lura and
K. Kovler
PRO 53: High Performance Fiber Reinforced Cement Composites—HPFRCC5
(ISBN: 978-2-35158-046-2; e-ISBN: 978-2-35158-089-9); Eds. H. W. Reinhardt
and A. E. Naaman
PRO 54: 5th International RILEM Symposium on Self-Compacting Concrete
(ISBN: 978-2-35158-047-9; e-ISBN: 978-2-35158-088-2); Eds. G. De Schutter and
V. Boel
PRO 55: International RILEM Symposium Photocatalysis, Environment and
Construction Materials (ISBN: 978-2-35158-056-1; e-ISBN: 978-2-35158-057-8);
Eds. P. Baglioni and L. Cassar
PRO 56: International RILEM Workshop on Integral Service Life Modelling of
Concrete Structures (ISBN 978-2-35158-058-5; e-ISBN: 978-2-35158-090-5); Eds.
R. M. Ferreira, J. Gulikers and C. Andrade
PRO 57: RILEM Workshop on Performance of cement-based materials in
aggressive aqueous environments (e-ISBN: 978-2-35158-059-2); Ed. N. De Belie
PRO 58: International RILEM Symposium on Concrete Modelling—
CONMOD’08 (ISBN: 978-2-35158-060-8; e-ISBN: 978-2-35158-076-9); Eds.
E. Schlangen and G. De Schutter
RILEM Publications xvii
PRO 59: International RILEM Conference on On Site Assessment of Concrete,

Masonry and Timber Structures—SACoMaTiS 2008 (ISBN set: 978-2-35158-061-5;
e-ISBN: 978-2-35158-075-2); Eds. L. Binda, M. di Prisco and R. Felicetti
PRO 60: Seventh RILEM International Symposium on Fibre Reinforced
Concrete: Design and Applications—BEFIB 2008 (ISBN: 978-2-35158-064-6;
e-ISBN: 978-2-35158-086-8); Ed. R. Gettu
PRO 61: 1st International Conference on Microstructure Related Durability of
Cementitious Composites 2 vol., (ISBN: 978-2-35158-065-3; e-ISBN:
978-2-35158-084-4); Eds. W. Sun, K. van Breugel, C. Miao, G. Ye and H. Chen
PRO 62: NSF/ RILEM Workshop: In-situ Evaluation of Historic Wood and
Masonry Structures (e-ISBN: 978-2-35158-068-4); Eds. B. Kasal, R. Anthony and
M. Drdácký
PRO 63: Concrete in Aggressive Aqueous Environments: Performance, Testing
and Modelling, 2 vol., (ISBN: 978-2-35158-071-4; e-ISBN: 978-2-35158-082-0);
Eds. M. G. Alexander and A. Bertron
PRO 64: Long Term Performance of Cementitious Barriers and Reinforced
Concrete in Nuclear Power Plants and Waste Management—NUCPERF 2009
(ISBN: 978-2-35158-072-1; e-ISBN: 978-2-35158-087-5); Eds. V. L’Hostis,
R. Gens, C. Gallé
PRO 65: Design Performance and Use of Self-consolidating Concrete—
SCC’2009 (ISBN: 978-2-35158-073-8; e-ISBN: 978-2-35158-093-6); Eds. C. Shi,
Z. Yu, K. H. Khayat and P. Yan
PRO 66: 2nd International RILEM Workshop on Concrete Durability and
Service Life Planning—ConcreteLife’09 (ISBN: 978-2-35158-074-5; ISBN:
978-2-35158-074-5); Ed. K. Kovler
PRO 67: Repairs Mortars for Historic Masonry (e-ISBN: 978-2-35158-083-7);
Ed. C. Groot
PRO 68: Proceedings of the 3rd International RILEM Symposium on ‘Rheology
of Cement Suspensions such as Fresh Concrete (ISBN 978-2-35158-091-2;
e-ISBN: 978-2-35158-092-9); Eds. O. H. Wallevik, S. Kubens and S. Oesterheld
PRO 69: 3rd International PhD Student Workshop on ‘Modelling the Durability
of Reinforced Concrete (ISBN: 978-2-35158-095-0); Eds. R. M. Ferreira,
J. Gulikers and C. Andrade
PRO 70: 2nd International Conference on ‘Service Life Design for
Infrastructure’ (ISBN set: 978-2-35158-096-7, e-ISBN: 978-2-35158-097-4); Ed.
K. van Breugel, G. Ye and Y. Yuan
PRO 71: Advances in Civil Engineering Materials—The 50-year Teaching
Anniversary of Prof. Sun Wei’ (ISBN: 978-2-35158-098-1; e-ISBN:
978-2-35158-099-8); Eds. C. Miao, G. Ye and H. Chen
PRO 72: First International Conference on ‘Advances in Chemically-Activated
Materials—CAM’2010’ (2010), 264 pp., ISBN: 978-2-35158-101-8; e-ISBN:
978-2-35158-115-5; Eds. Caijun Shi and Xiaodong Shen
PRO 73: 2nd International Conference on ‘Waste Engineering and Management
—ICWEM 2010’ (2010), 894 pp., ISBN: 978-2-35158-102-5; e-ISBN:
978-2-35158-103-2, Eds. J. Zh. Xiao, Y. Zhang, M. S. Cheung and R. Chu
xviii RILEM Publications
PRO 74: International RILEM Conference on ‘Use of Superabsorsorbent

Polymers and Other New Addditives in Concrete’ (2010) 374 pp., ISBN:
978-2-35158-104-9; e-ISBN: 978-2-35158-105-6; Eds. O.M. Jensen, M.T. Hasholt,
and S. Laustsen
PRO 75: International Conference on ‘Material Science—2nd ICTRC—Textile
Reinforced Concrete—Theme 1’ (2010) 436 pp., ISBN: 978-2-35158-106-3;
e-ISBN: 978-2-35158-107-0; Ed. W. Brameshuber
PRO 76: International Conference on ‘Material Science—HetMat—Modelling
of Heterogeneous Materials—Theme 2’ (2010) 255 pp., ISBN: 978-2-35158-108-7;
e-ISBN: 978-2-35158-109-4; Ed. W. Brameshuber
PRO 77: International Conference on ‘Material Science—AdIPoC—Additions
Improving Properties of Concrete—Theme 3’ (2010) 459 pp., ISBN:
978-2-35158-110-0; e-ISBN: 978-2-35158-111-7; Ed. W. Brameshuber
PRO 78: 2nd Historic Mortars Conference and RILEM TC 203-RHM Final
Workshop—HMC2010 (2010) 1416 pp., e-ISBN: 978-2-35158-112-4; Eds.
J. Válek, C. Groot and J. J. Hughes
PRO 79: International RILEM Conference on Advances in Construction
Materials Through Science and Engineering (2011) 213 pp., ISBN:
978-2-35158-116-2, e-ISBN: 978-2-35158-117-9; Eds. Christopher Leung and
K.T. Wan
PRO 80: 2nd International RILEM Conference on Concrete Spalling due to Fire
Exposure (2011) 453 pp., ISBN: 978-2-35158-118-6; e-ISBN: 978-2-35158-119-3;
Eds. E.A.B. Koenders and F. Dehn
PRO 81: 2nd International RILEM Conference on Strain Hardening Cementitious
Composites (SHCC2-Rio) (2011) 451 pp., ISBN: 978-2-35158-120-9; e-ISBN:
978-2-35158-121-6; Eds. R.D. Toledo Filho, F.A. Silva, E.A.B. Koenders and
E.M.R. Fairbairn
PRO 82: 2nd International RILEM Conference on Progress of Recycling in the
Built Environment (2011) 507 pp., e-ISBN: 978-2-35158-122-3; Eds. V.M. John,
E. Vazquez, S.C. Angulo and C. Ulsen
PRO 83: 2nd International Conference on Microstructural-related Durability of
Cementitious Composites (2012) 250 pp., ISBN: 978-2-35158-129-2; e-ISBN:
978-2-35158-123-0; Eds. G. Ye, K. van Breugel, W. Sun and C. Miao
PRO 84: CONSEC13—Seventh International Conference on Concrete under
Severe Conditions—Environment and Loading (2013) 1930 pp., ISBN:
978-2-35158-124-7; e-ISBN: 978-2- 35158-134-6; Eds. Z.J. Li, W. Sun, C.W. Miao,
K. Sakai, O.E. Gjorv and N. Banthia
PRO 85: RILEM-JCI International Workshop on Crack Control of Mass
Concrete and Related issues concerning Early-Age of Concrete Structures—
ConCrack 3—Control of Cracking in Concrete Structures 3 (2012) 237 pp., ISBN:
978-2-35158-125-4; e-ISBN: 978-2-35158-126-1; Eds. F. Toutlemonde and
J.-M. Torrenti
PRO 86: International Symposium on Life Cycle Assessment and Construction
(2012) 414 pp., ISBN: 978-2-35158-127-8, e-ISBN: 978-2-35158-128-5; Eds.
A. Ventura and C. de la Roche
RILEM Publications xix
PRO 87: UHPFRC 2013—RILEM-fib-AFGC International Symposium on

Ultra-High Performance Fibre-Reinforced Concrete (2013), ISBN:
978-2-35158-130-8, e-ISBN: 978-2-35158-131-5; Eds. F. Toutlemonde
PRO 88: 8th RILEM International Symposium on Fibre Reinforced Concrete
(2012) 344 pp., ISBN: 978-2-35158-132-2; e-ISBN: 978-2-35158-133-9; Eds.
Joaquim A.O. Barros
PRO 89: RILEM International workshop on performance-based specification
and control of concrete durability (2014) 678 pp., ISBN: 978-2-35158-135-3;
e-ISBN: 978-2-35158-136-0; Eds. D. Bjegović, H. Beushausen and M. Serdar
PRO 90: 7th RILEM International Conference on Self-Compacting Concrete
and of the 1st RILEM International Conference on Rheology and Processing of
Construction Materials (2013) 396 pp., ISBN: 978-2-35158-137-7; e-ISBN:
978-2-35158-138-4; Eds. Nicolas Roussel and Hela Bessaies-Bey
PRO 91: CONMOD 2014—RILEM International Symposium on Concrete
Modelling (2014), ISBN: 978-2-35158-139-1; e-ISBN: 978-2-35158-140-7; Eds.
Kefei Li, Peiyu Yan and Rongwei Yang
PRO 92: CAM 2014—2nd International Conference on advances in
chemically-activated materials (2014) 392 pp., ISBN: 978-2-35158-141-4; e-ISBN:
978-2-35158-142-1; Eds. Caijun Shi and Xiadong Shen
PRO 93: SCC 2014—3rd International Symposium on Design, Performance
and Use of Self-Consolidating Concrete (2014) 438 pp., ISBN: 978-2-35158-143-8;
e-ISBN: 978-2-35158-144-5; Eds. Caijun Shi, Zhihua Ou, Kamal H. Khayat
PRO 94 (online version): HPFRCC-7—7th RILEM conference on High per-
formance fiber reinforced cement composites (2015), e-ISBN: 978-2-35158-146-9;
Eds. H.W. Reinhardt, G.J. Parra-Montesinos, H. Garrecht
PRO 95: International RILEM Conference on Application of superabsorbent
polymers and other new admixtures in concrete construction (2014), ISBN:
978-2-35158-147-6; e-ISBN: 978-2-35158-148-3; Eds. Viktor Mechtcherine,
Christof Schroefl
PRO 96 (online version): XIII DBMC: XIII International Conference
on Durability of Building Materials and Components (2015), e-ISBN:
978-2-35158-149-0; Eds. M. Quattrone, V.M. John
PRO 97: SHCC3—3rd International RILEM Conference on Strain Hardening
Cementitious Composites (2014), ISBN: 978-2-35158-150-6; e-ISBN:
978-2-35158-151-3; Eds. E. Schlangen, M.G. Sierra Beltran, M. Lukovic, G. Ye
PRO 98: FERRO-11—11th International Symposium on Ferrocement and 3rd
ICTRC—International Conference on Textile Reinforced Concrete (2015), ISBN:
978-2-35158-152-0; e-ISBN: 978-2-35158-153-7; Ed. W. Brameshuber
PRO 99 (online version): ICBBM 2015—1st International Conference on
Bio-Based Building Materials (2015), e-ISBN: 978-2-35158-154-4; Eds.
S. Amziane, M. Sonebi
PRO 100: SCC16—RILEM Self-Consolidating Concrete Conference (2016),
ISBN: 978-2-35158-156-8; e-ISBN: 978-2-35158-157-5; Ed. Kamal H. Kayat
PRO 101 (online version): III Progress of Recycling in the Built Environment
(2015), e-ISBN: 978-2-35158-158-2; Eds I. Martins, C. Ulsen and S. C. Angulo
xx RILEM Publications
PRO 102 (online version): RILEM Conference on Microorganisms-

Cementitious Materials Interactions (2016), e-ISBN: 978-2-35158-160-5; Eds.
Alexandra Bertron, Henk Jonkers, Virginie Wiktor
PRO 103 (online version): ACESC’16—Advances in Civil Engineering and
Sustainable Construction (2016), e-ISBN: 978-2-35158-161-2; Eds. T.Ch. Madhavi,
G. Prabhakar, Santhosh Ram and P.M. Rameshwaran
PRO 104 (online version): SSCS’2015—Numerical Modeling—Strategies for
Sustainable Concrete Structures (2015), e-ISBN: 978-2-35158-162-9
PRO 105: 1st International Conference on UHPC Materials and Structures
(2016), ISBN: 978-2-35158-164-3; e-ISBN: 978-2-35158-165-0
PRO 106: AFGC-ACI-fib-RILEM International Conference on Ultra-High-
Performance Fibre-Reinforced Concrete—UHPFRC 2017 (2017), ISBN:
978-2-35158-166-7; e-ISBN: 978-2-35158-167-4; Eds. François Toutlemonde &
Jacques Resplendino
PRO 107 (online version): XIV DBMC—14th International Conference on
Durability of Building Materials and Components (2017), e-ISBN: 978-2-35158-159-9;
Eds. Geert De Schutter, Nele De Belie, Arnold Janssens, Nathan Van Den Bossche
PRO 108: MSSCE 2016—Innovation of Teaching in Materials and Structures
(2016), ISBN: 978-2-35158-178-0; e-ISBN: 978-2-35158-179-7; Ed. Per Goltermann
PRO 109 (2 volumes): MSSCE 2016—Service Life of Cement-Based Materials
and Structures (2016), ISBN Vol. 1: 978-2-35158-170-4; Vol. 2: 978-2-35158-171-4;
Set Vol. 1&2: 978-2-35158-172-8; e-ISBN : 978-2-35158-173-5; Eds. Miguel
Azenha, Ivan Gabrijel, Dirk Schlicke, Terje Kanstad and Ole Mejlhede Jensen
PRO 110: MSSCE 2016—Historical Masonry (2016), ISBN: 978-2-35158-178-0;
e-ISBN: 978-2-35158-179-7; Eds. Inge Rörig-Dalgaard and Ioannis Ioannou
PRO 111: MSSCE 2016—Electrochemistry in Civil Engineering (2016); ISBN:
978-2-35158-176-6; e-ISBN: 978-2-35158-177-3; Ed. Lisbeth M. Ottosen
PRO 112: MSSCE 2016—Moisture in Materials and Structures (2016), ISBN:
978-2-35158-178-0; e-ISBN: 978-2-35158-179-7; Eds. Kurt Kielsgaard Hansen,
Carsten Rode and Lars-Olof Nilsson
PRO 113: MSSCE 2016—Concrete with Supplementary Cementitious
Materials (2016), ISBN: 978-2-35158-178-0; e-ISBN: 978-2-35158-179-7; Eds.
Ole Mejlhede Jensen, Konstantin Kovler and Nele De Belie
PRO 114: MSSCE 2016—Frost Action in Concrete (2016), ISBN:
978-2-35158-182-7; e-ISBN: 978-2-35158-183-4; Eds. Marianne Tange Hasholt,
Katja Fridh and R. Doug Hooton
PRO 115: MSSCE 2016—Fresh Concrete (2016), ISBN: 978-2-35158-184-1;
e-ISBN: 978-2-35158-185-8; Eds. Lars N. Thrane, Claus Pade, Oldrich Svec and
Nicolas Roussel
PRO 116: BEFIB 2016—9th RILEM International Symposium on Fiber
Reinforced Concrete (2016), ISBN: 978-2-35158-187-2; e-ISBN:
978-2-35158-186-5; Eds. N. Banthia, M. di Prisco and S. Soleimani-Dashtaki
PRO 117: 3rd International RILEM Conference on Microstructure Related
Durability of Cementitious Composites (2016), ISBN: 978-2-35158-188-9;
e-ISBN: 978-2-35158-189-6; Eds. Changwen Miao, Wei Sun, Jiaping Liu, Huisu
Chen, Guang Ye and Klaas van Breugel
RILEM Publications xxi
PRO 118 (4 volumes): International Conference on Advances in Construction

Materials and Systems (2017), ISBN Set: 978-2-35158-190-2; Vol. 1:
978-2-35158-193-3; Vol. 2: 978-2-35158-194-0; Vol. 3: ISBN:978-2-35158-195-7;
Vol. 4: ISBN:978-2-35158-196-4; e-ISBN: 978-2-35158-191-9; Ed. Manu
Santhanam
PRO 119 (online version): ICBBM 2017—Second International RILEM
Conference on Bio-based Building Materials, (2017), e-ISBN: 978-2-35158-192-6;
Ed. Sofiane Amziane
PRO 120 (2 volumes): EAC-02—2nd International RILEM/COST Conference on
Early Age Cracking and Serviceability in Cement-based Materials and Structures,
(2017), Vol. 1: 978-2-35158-199-5, Vol. 2: 978-2-35158-200-8, Set: 978-2-35158-197-1,
e-ISBN: 978-2-35158-198-8; Eds. Stéphanie Staquet and Dimitrios Aggelis
PRO 121 (2 volumes): SynerCrete18: Interdisciplinary Approaches for
Cement-based Materials and Structural Concrete: Synergizing Expertise and
Bridging Scales of Space and Time, (2018), Set: 978-2-35158-202-2, Vol.1:
978-2-35158-211-4, Vol.2: 978-2-35158-212-1, e-ISBN: 978-2-35158-203-9; Eds.
Miguel Azenha, Dirk Schlicke, Farid Benboudjema, Agnieszka Knoppik
PRO 122: SCC’2018 China—Fourth International Symposium on Design,
Performance and Use of Self-Consolidating Concrete, (2018), ISBN:
978-2-35158-204-6, e-ISBN: 978-2-35158-205-3; Eds. C. Shi, Z. Zhang, K. H. Khayat
PRO 123: Final Conference of RILEM TC 253-MCI: Microorganisms-
Cementitious Materials Interactions (2018), Set: 978-2-35158-207-7, Vol.1:
978-2-35158-209-1, Vol.2: 978-2-35158-210-7, e-ISBN: 978-2-35158-206-0; Ed.
Alexandra Bertron
PRO 124 (online version): Fourth International Conference Progress of
Recycling in the Built Environment (2018), e-ISBN: 978-2-35158-208-4; Eds.
Isabel M. Martins, Carina Ulsen, Yury Villagran
PRO 125 (online version): SLD4—4th International Conference on Service
Life Design for Infrastructures (2018), e-ISBN: 978-2-35158-213-8; Eds. Guang
Ye, Yong Yuan, Claudia Romero Rodriguez, Hongzhi Zhang, Branko Savija
PRO 126: Workshop on Concrete Modelling and Material Behaviour in honor
of Professor Klaas van Breugel (2018), ISBN: 978-2-35158-214-5, e-ISBN:
978-2-35158-215-2; Ed. Guang Ye
PRO 127 (online version): CONMOD2018—Symposium on Concrete
Modelling (2018), e-ISBN: 978-2-35158-216-9; Eds. Erik Schlangen, Geert de
Schutter, Branko Savija, Hongzhi Zhang, Claudia Romero Rodriguez
PRO 128: SMSS2019—International Conference on Sustainable Materials, Systems
and Structures (2019), ISBN: 978-2-35158-217-6, e-ISBN: 978-2-35158-218-3
PRO 129: 2nd International Conference on UHPC Materials and Structures
(UHPC2018-China), ISBN: 978-2-35158-219-0, e-ISBN: 978-2-35158-220-6
PRO 130: 5th Historic Mortars Conference (2019), ISBN: 978-2-35158-221-3,
e-ISBN: 978-2-35158-222-0; Eds. José Ignacio Álvarez, José María Fernández,
Íñigo Navarro, Adrián Durán, Rafael Sirera
xxii RILEM Publications
RILEM REPORTS (REP)
Report 19: Considerations for Use in Managing the Aging of Nuclear Power
Plant Concrete Structures (ISBN: 2-912143-07-1); Ed. D. J. Naus
Report 20: Engineering and Transport Properties of the Interfacial Transition
Zone in Cementitious Composites (ISBN: 2-912143-08-X); Eds. M. G. Alexander,
G. Arliguie, G. Ballivy, A. Bentur and J. Marchand
Report 21: Durability of Building Sealants (ISBN: 2-912143-12-8); Ed. A. T. Wolf
Report 22: Sustainable Raw Materials—Construction and Demolition Waste
(ISBN: 2-912143-17-9); Eds. C. F. Hendriks and H. S. Pietersen
Report 23: Self-Compacting Concrete state-of-the-art report (ISBN:
2-912143-23-3); Eds. Å. Skarendahl and Ö. Petersson
Report 24: Workability and Rheology of Fresh Concrete: Compendium of Tests
(ISBN: 2-912143-32-2); Eds. P. J. M. Bartos, M. Sonebi and A. K. Tamimi
Report 25: Early Age Cracking in Cementitious Systems (ISBN:
2-912143-33-0); Ed. A. Bentur
Report 26: Towards Sustainable Roofing (Joint Committee CIB/RILEM) (CD
07) (e-ISBN 978-2-912143-65-5); Eds. Thomas W. Hutchinson and Keith Roberts
Report 27: Condition Assessment of Roofs (Joint Committee CIB/RILEM) (CD
08) (e-ISBN 978-2-912143-66-2); Ed. CIB W 83/RILEM TC166-RMS
Report 28: Final report of RILEM TC 167-COM ‘Characterisation of Old
Mortars with Respect to Their Repair (ISBN: 978-2-912143-56-3); Eds. C. Groot,
G. Ashall and J. Hughes
Report 29: Pavement Performance Prediction and Evaluation (PPPE):
Interlaboratory Tests (e-ISBN: 2-912143-68-3); Eds. M. Partl and H. Piber
Report 30: Final Report of RILEM TC 198-URM ‘Use of Recycled Materials’
(ISBN: 2-912143-82-9; e-ISBN: 2-912143-69-1); Eds. Ch. F. Hendriks,
G. M. T. Janssen and E. Vázquez
Report 31: Final Report of RILEM TC 185-ATC ‘Advanced testing of
cement-based materials during setting and hardening’ (ISBN: 2-912143-81-0;
e-ISBN: 2-912143-70-5); Eds. H. W. Reinhardt and C. U. Grosse
Report 32: Probabilistic Assessment of Existing Structures. A JCSS publication
(ISBN 2-912143-24-1); Ed. D. Diamantidis
Report 33: State-of-the-Art Report of RILEM Technical Committee TC
184-IFE ‘Industrial Floors’ (ISBN 2-35158-006-0); Ed. P. Seidler
Report 34: Report of RILEM Technical Committee TC 147-FMB ‘Fracture
mechanics applications to anchorage and bond’ Tension of Reinforced Concrete
Prisms—Round Robin Analysis and Tests on Bond (e-ISBN 2-912143-91-8); Eds.
L. Elfgren and K. Noghabai
Report 35: Final Report of RILEM Technical Committee TC 188-CSC ‘Casting
of Self Compacting Concrete’ (ISBN 2-35158-001-X; e-ISBN: 2-912143-98-5);
Eds. Å. Skarendahl and P. Billberg
RILEM Publications xxiii

201-TRC ‘Textile Reinforced Concrete’ (ISBN 2-912143-99-3); Ed.
W. Brameshuber
192-ECM ‘Environment-conscious construction materials and systems’ (ISBN:
978-2-35158-053-0); Eds. N. Kashino, D. Van Gemert and K. Imamoto
205-DSC ‘Durability of Self-Compacting Concrete’ (ISBN: 978-2-35158-048-6);
Eds. G. De Schutter and K. Audenaert
Report 39: Final Report of RILEM Technical Committee TC 187-SOC
‘Experimental determination of the stress-crack opening curve for concrete in
tension’ (ISBN 978-2-35158-049-3); Ed. J. Planas
189-NEC ‘Non-Destructive Evaluation of the Penetrability and Thickness of the
Concrete Cover’ (ISBN 978-2-35158-054-7); Eds. R. Torrent and L. Fernández
Luco
196-ICC ‘Internal Curing of Concrete’ (ISBN 978-2-35158-009-7); Eds. K. Kovler
and O. M. Jensen
Report 42: ‘Acoustic Emission and Related Non-destructive Evaluation
Techniques for Crack Detection and Damage Evaluation in Concrete’—Final
Report of RILEM Technical Committee 212-ACD (e-ISBN: 978-2-35158-100-1);
Ed. M. Ohtsu
Report 45: Repair Mortars for Historic Masonry—State-of-the-Art Report of
RILEM Technical Committee TC 203-RHM (e-ISBN: 978-2-35158-163-6); Eds.
Paul Maurenbrecher and Caspar Groot
Report 46: Surface delamination of concrete industrial ffioors and other dura-
bility related aspects guide—Report of RILEM Technical Committee TC 268-SIF
(e-ISBN: 978-2-35158-201-5); Ed. Valerie Pollet
Contents
1 Scope . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Alain Millard and Pierre Pimienta
2 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Alain Millard
3 Engineering Modelling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Sven Huismann, Matthias Zeiml, Manfred Korzen and Alain Millard
4 Advanced Modelling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Fekri Meftah, Francesco Pesavento, Colin Davie, Stefano Dal Pont,
Matthias Zeiml, Manfred Korzen and Alain Millard
5 Constitutive Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Fekri Meftah, Colin Davie, Stefano Dal Pont and Alain Millard
6 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
xxv
Contributors
Colin Davie School of Engineering, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne,

UK
Sven Huismann Bundesanstanlt for Materialforschung Und Prüfung (BAM),
Berlin, Germany
Manfred Korzen Bundesanstanlt for Materialforschung Und Prüfung (BAM),
Berlin, Germany
Fekri Meftah Institut National des Sciences Appliquées, Rennes, France
Alain Millard Service d’Études Mécaniques et Thermiques, Commissariat à
l’Énergie Atomique et aux Énergies Alternatives (CEA), Saclay, France
Berenice Moreau Centre d’Etudes des Tunnels, Bron, France
Francesco Pesavento Dipartimento di Ingegneria Civile, Edile e Ambientale,
Universita degli Studi di Padova, Padua, Italy
Pierre Pimienta Centre Scientifique et Technique du Bâtiment (CSTB),
Université Paris-Est, Marne la Vallée, France
Stefano Dal Pont Laboratoire 3SR, Université Grenoble-Alpes, Grenoble, France
Fabienne Robert Centre d’Etudes et de Recherches de l’Industrie du Béton,
Epernon (CERIB), Épernon, France
Martin Schneider Carinthia University of Applied Sciences, Spittal a.d.D,
Villach, Austria
Benedikt Weber EMPA, Concrete/Construction Chemistry, Dübendorf,
Switzerland
Matthias Zeiml Material Technology, University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria
xxvii
Chapter 1
Scope
Abstract This book presents the work done by the RILEM Technical Committee
227-HPB (Physical properties and behaviour of High-Performance Concrete at high
temperature). It contains the latest research results on the modelling of concrete
behaviour at high temperature. Some monographs on the subject have been pub-
lished already but generally they do not cover the whole range of possibilities which
are encountered in the literature as well as in practice. Moreover, there has been a
rapidly increasing development of computational models during the last twenty
years, which deserves attention. Therefore, it is the aim of this report to compile and
present most of the tools that are proposed in the literature and are nowadays
available for practice in some commercial computational packages. This chapter
presents the main literature produced during the last decades on the behaviour at
high temperature of concrete. This literature mainly focus on 2 main fields of
application: the structural response and safety analysis of buildings and structures
under fire and the nuclear industry and in particular the nuclear reactor containment
buildings generally made of pre-stressed concrete. A special attention is paid to
high performance concrete and their specific properties.
1.1 General Comments
This report presents part of the work done by the RILEM Technical Committee
227-HPB (Physical properties and behaviour of High-Performance Concrete at
high temperature). This Committee was created in 2007 and was adjourned in 2014.
A. Millard (&)
Service d’Études Mécaniques et Thermiques, Commissariat à l’Énergie Atomique
et aux Énergies Alternatives (CEA), Saclay, France
e-mail: alain.millard@cea.fr
P. Pimienta
Centre Scientifique et Technique du Bâtiment (CSTB), Université Paris-Est,
Marne la Vallée, France
e-mail: pierre.pimienta@cstb.fr
© RILEM 2019 1
A. Millard and P. Pimienta (eds.), Modelling of Concrete Behaviour
at High Temperature, RILEM State-of-the-Art Reports 30,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-11995-9_1
2 A. Millard and P. Pimienta
This committee assured the continuity of the work that had been done by the
RILEM Technical Committee 200-HTC (Mechanical concrete properties at high
temperatures-modelling and applications) and previous ones on ordinary concretes.
The main objectives of the TC HPB were to write the State-of-the-Art on two
areas of research. The first, which is published in this book, focuses on the mod-
elling of the behaviour of concrete at high temperatures. The second is published in
a second book and gathers and analyses the latest experimental research results on
the behaviour of high-performance concretes (HPC) at high-temperature (Pimienta
et al. 2018).
Because of their actual significant use and their specific properties at high
temperature, special attention will be focus to HPC through the document.
1.2 Context and Objectives
As previously written, the RILEM Technical Committee 227-HPB has been

established as a continuation of previous RILEM Committees working on the
behaviour of concrete (mostly Ordinary Performance Concrete (OPC)) at high
temperatures. These Committees have produced a State-of-the-Art report on the
physical properties of OPC at high temperatures (RILEM Committee 44-PHT 1985
and Schneider and Horvath 2003), as well as recommendations for test procedures
related to their measurements (RILEM TC 129-MHT 1995, 1997, 1998, 2000a, b,
c, 2004 and RILEM TC 200-HTC 2005, 2007a, b, c). Although some analytical
aspects have also been described in these reports, a detailed comprehensive
State-of-the-Art report on concrete behaviour at high temperatures was still missing.
Fundamental pioneering work has been performed on OPC by U. Schneider since
the early 1970s, including material laws for strength, elasticity, creep, transient
creep, thermal strain, decomposition and dehydration (Schneider 1973, 1979, 1982,
1986 and 1988). It has been synthesized in documents such as (Schneider 1982),
opening the way for all the phenomena occurring in heated concrete and pointing
out the fact that additional research was required to convert test data into consti-
tutive equations that could be used for practical applications. In a recent
State-of-the-Art report by CEB (CEB-FIP 2007) on HPC constitutive models, the
temperatures are limited to 80 °C. In another State-of-the-Art report devoted to fire
design of concrete structures (CEB-FIP 2008), numerical modelling is not covered,
but judged as very promising. Some monographs on the subject have been pub-
lished already some years ago, such as the one by Bažant and Kaplan (1996), but
generally they do not cover the whole range of possibilities which are encountered
in the literature as well as in practice. Moreover, there has been a rapidly increasing
development of computational models during the last twenty years, which deserves
attention. Therefore, it is the aim of this report to compile and present most of the
tools that are proposed in the literature and are nowadays available for practice in
some commercial computational packages.
1 Scope 3
The field of application of such tools is constantly enlarging. First, the tem-
peratures that are considered range from 20 °C up to the melting point of concrete,
around 1350 °C. These temperatures can be obtained either in service or in fault
conditions, depending on the nature and serviceability of the structure. Of course,
one main field of application is related to the structural response and safety analysis
of buildings and structures under fire. In particular, recent accidental fires in railway
as well as roadway tunnels have highlighted the need to improve the safety of the
structures under fire, as well as their design, in particular by improving the concrete
performances under high temperature. This trend concerns not only concrete
structures but, more generally, all types of cementitious-like materials (such as
mortar, plaster, etc.) which are routinely used in buildings, and for which the same
type of approaches can be contemplated.
Another main field of applications concerns the nuclear industry. A first
important issue is related to the safety analysis of nuclear reactor containment
buildings generally made of pre-stressed concrete. Although the temperature
increase up to about 210 °C in the case of a Loss of Coolant Accident (LOCA) in a
Pressurized Water Reactor (PWR) is already a problem, advanced reactors such as
liquid metal cooled reactors or high temperature gas cooled reactors are more
critical, with temperatures reaching as high as 1150 °C (Schimmelpfennig and
Altes 1982). In the case of a severe accident, several scenarios that can lead to high
temperatures are studied, such as the spillage of melted core on to the containment
basemat, or the thermal shock due to liquid metal on concrete walls. Another
important issue is related to the intermediate or long-term surface storage of
high-level nuclear wastes. In the case of a failure of the cooling system, tempera-
tures up to 250 °C might be encountered.
HPC is now often used because of its improved strength and durability compared
to OPC. These increased performances are mainly obtained by means of reduced
water-cement ratios and use of special additives such as silica-fume. As a conse-
quence, the porosity and the permeability are reduced, thus improving the resistance
of concrete to the ingress of chloride ions or carbon dioxide, which can in the
long-term lead to the active corrosion of the reinforcement.
A further consequence is that the behaviour of HPC under high temperatures
may be rather different from that of OPC, especially in the case of rapid heating, as
can be encountered during a fire. In particular, spalling may occur, leading to the
detachment of concrete pieces or layers from the surface, and to the subsequent
exposure of the remaining structure to the fire, thus accelerating the degradation
process and finally the collapse of the structure.
The needs for an improved design of HPC structures subjected to high tem-
peratures, as well as their performance and safety assessments, have boosted the
development of analytical and numerical tools during the last three decades. In
particular, in view of its inherent complexity as outlined in the next sections, a
satisfactory explanation of spalling requires a clear understanding not only of the
fundamental mechanisms but also of their orders of magnitude. This can only be
done by resorting to experimental tests complemented by modelling, because of the
non-homogeneous response of the specimens that behave like true structures.
Moreover, the cost and time required by experimental testing can be significantly
reduced by appropriate modelling investigations, which allow a better under-
standing of what is happening, what the dominating physical mechanisms are and
the most influential parameters.
In the next section, a description of the main phenomena and processes taking
place in concrete structures exposed to high temperature, is given for a better
understanding of the difficulties faced in the formulation of models that can be
considered as really predictive of the structure behaviour.
References
Bažant, Z.P., Kaplan, M.F.: Concrete at High Temperatures: Material Properties and Mathematical
Models. Longman, Harlow (1996)
CEB-FIP: Fire design of concrete structures – materials, structures and modelling, State-of-the-art
report, Bulletin 38. International Federation for Structural Concrete (fib) (2007)
CEB-FIP: Constitutive modelling of high strength/high performance concrete, State-of-the-art
report, Bulletin 42. International Federation for Structural Concrete (fib) (2008)
Pimienta P., Jansson McNamee R. and Mindeguia J-C. (Eds.) “Physical Properties and Behaviour
of High-Performance Concrete at High Temperature - State-of-the-Art Report of the RILEM
Technical Committee 227-HPB” Book published by Springer (2018)
RILEM Committee 44-PHT: Properties of materials at high temperature – Concrete. U. Schneider
(eds), Dept. of Civil Engineering, Kassel University (1985)
RILEM Committee HTC: Behaviour of ordinary concrete at high temperatures, U. Schneider and
J. Howarth (eds), Institute of Building Materials, Vienna University of Technology (2002)
RILEM TC 129-MHT: Test methods for mechanical properties of concrete at high temperatures:
Part 3: Compressive strength for service and accident conditions, Materials and Structures 28
(7), 410–414 (1995)
RILEM TC 129-MHT: Test methods for mechanical properties of concrete at high temperatures,
Recommendations Part 6: Thermal strain. Materials and Structures, Supplement March 1997,
17–21 (1997)
Recommendations, Part 7: Transient creep for service and accident condition. Materials and
Structures 31, 290–295 (1998)
Part 4: Tensile Strength for service and accident conditions. Mater. Struct. 33(228), 219–223
(2000a)
Recommendations, Part 8: Steady-state creep and creep recovery for service and accident
conditions. Materials and Structures 33, 6–13 (2000b)
Recommendations, Part 9: Shrinkage for service and accident conditions.Materials and
Structures 33, 224–228 (2000c)
RILEM TC 129-MHT: Test methods for mechanical properties of concrete at high temperatures:
Part 5: Modulus of elasticity for service and accident conditions, Materials and Structures 37
(2) 139–144 (2004)
RILEM TC 200-HTC: Test methods for mechanical properties of concrete at high temperatures,
Recommendations, Part 10: Restraint stress. Materials and Structures 38, 913–919 (2005)
1 Scope 5
RILEM TC 200-HTC: Test methods for mechanical properties of concrete at high temperatures,
Recommendation, Part 1: Introduction-General presentation. Materials and Structures 40(9),
841–853 (2007a)
RILEM TC 200-HTC: Mechanical concrete properties at high temperatures - modelling and
applications, Part 2: Stress-strain relation, Materials and Structures 40(9) 855–864 (2007b)
RILEM TC 200-HTC: Mechanical concrete properties at high temperatures-modelling and
applications, Part 11: Relaxation. Materials and Structures 40, 449–458 (2007c)
Schimmelpfennig, K., Altes, J.: Special aspects on the behaviour of PCRV under extremely high
core temperature loading. Nuclear Engineering and Design. 75, 291–302 (1982)
Schneider U.: Kinetic of strength reducing reactions of concrete under high temperatures. PhD
Dissertation (1973)
Schneider U.: A contribution to creep and relaxation of concrete at elevated temperatures,
Habilitation Thesis (1979)
Schneider U.: Behaviour of concrete at high temperatures. Deutscher Ausschuss für Stahlbeton,
Heft 337 (1982)
Schneider, U.: Modelling of concrete behaviour at high temperatures. In: Anchor, R.D, Malhotra,
H.L. and Purkiss, J.A. (eds.) Design of structures against fire, pp. 53–69. Elsevier Applied
Science Publishers, London (1986)
Schneider, U.: Concrete at high temperatures – A general review. Fire Safety Journal 13(1), 55–68
(1988)
Schneider, U., Horvath, J., Behaviour of ordinary concrete at high temperature, distributed by,
Institute of Building Materials, Vienna University of Technology, Austria, (2003)
Chapter 2
Introduction
Alain Millard
Abstract As an introduction, this chapter summarizes in a first step the physical

aspects of heated concrete. Interactions between moisture transport and physical
changes, heat flux, pore pressure changes, microstructure and associated volumetric
changes, mechanical properties and spalling phenomena are described. Main types
of models are introduced in a second step. Concerning design purposes, codes and
standards generally apply to classical situations, i.e. typical structural members,
such as beams, columns and plates. Prescriptive methods and performance-based
approaches are introduced. The possibilities offered by the routinely made calcu-
lations and their limitations are discussed. More comprehensive Thermo-
Hydro-Chemo-Mechanical (THCM) models are needed for special applications.
Refined mechanical constitutive equations are then required (as for example
description of elastic, plastic, damage, thermal, creep and shrinkage strains changes
during heating).
2.1 Physical Aspects of Heated Concrete
In general, moisture transport in concrete structures during fire may include

air-vapour mixture flow due to forced convection, free convection, and infiltration
through cracks and pores, vapour transport by diffusion, flow of liquid water due to
diffusion, capillary action, or gravity, and further complications associated with
phase changes due to condensation/evaporation, solid condensation/sublimation,
and adsorption/desorption.
Movement of air and water through the concrete is accompanied by significant
energy transfer, associated with the latent heat of water and the heats of hydration
and dehydration. At temperature largely above water critical point important
chemical transformations of components of concrete take place.
A. Millard (&)
Service d’Études Mécaniques et Thermiques, Commissariat à l’Énergie
Atomique et aux Énergies Alternatives (CEA), Saclay, France
© RILEM 2019 7
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-11995-9_2
8 A. Millard
At ambient temperature, HPC presents much better features than a normal

concrete because of their lower permeability, lower porosity and higher compact-
ness. In fact, at normal ambient temperatures, the cement matrix increases the
strength of high performance concrete, because of its higher density and homo-
geneity, involving a better distribution of the stresses among aggregates compared
to traditional concrete. At higher temperature this matrix becomes the weak point of
the materials showing low mechanical strength: With increasing temperature, the
aggregates progressively expand as long as they are not chemically altered, while
the cement matrix, after an initial expansion, is subject (over 150 °C) to a pro-
gressive shrinkage. These two opposite phenomena involve a micro-cracking
process that causes damaging of the material microstructure. Further, low perme-
ability inhibits water mass transfer causing high gas pressure values, crack-opening
and then an increase of intrinsic permeability.
During fire the surface of a concrete element is heated both by a convective heat
flux from the surrounding air of higher temperature and by a radiation heat flux,
which can be direct (from the flames) or mutual (from other heated surfaces). The
heating results in a gradual increase of the element temperature, starting from the
surface zone. Due to this process the temperature gradients in this zone are high
because almost all moisture must evaporate in the temperature range of 100–200 °C
before a further temperature increase, which requires considerable amounts of heat.
For this reason, even after several tens of minutes of fire duration the temperature of
the inner part of wall remains almost unchanged (Gawin et al. 2003, 2006).
Due to moisture evaporation, the water content in the surface zone decreases to a
very low value and a sharp front, separating the moist and dry material, moves
slowly inwards, see Fig. 2.1. At this front intensive evaporation takes place,
increasing considerably the vapour pressure. The maximum values of vapour and
gas pressures increase initially, (Kalifa et al. 2000), then they remain constant as the
surface temperature increases and the front moves inwards (Gawin et al. 2003,
2006).
The maximum value of gas pressure usually occurs at the position where the
temperature equals approximately to 170–280 °C. In the region with lower tem-
peratures, below about 130 °C, the gas pressure increase is caused mainly by a
growth of the dry air pressure due to heating. In the regions with higher temperature
the effects of a rapid increase of vapour pressure due to heating and
temperature-dependence of the saturation vapour pressure predominate. At tem-
peratures 160–350 °C the gas in the material pores consists mainly of the water
vapour (Gawin et al. 2006). The gradients of vapour pressure cause the vapour flow
both towards the surface and inwards. The latter mass flow results in vapour
condensation when the hot vapour inflows the colder, internal layers of concrete,
and in an increase of the pore saturation with liquid moisture above the initial value,
usually referred as the so called “moisture clog” phenomenon, (England and
Khoylou 1995). An additional increase of the liquid water volume in the pores is
due to the release of chemically bound water (dehydration) and to the liquid thermal
2 Introduction 9
Fig. 2.1 The four observed

zones and the process for the
build-up of pressure
expansion, which is particularly important above the temperature of about 160 °C,
(Gawin et al. 2002a). These effects cause a significant decrease of the gas perme-
ability, because the space available for the gas is decreased.
Increasing temperature causes the material expansion which in part is due to
concrete dehydration (products of the thermal dissolution of concrete components
have greater volume than their initial volume), in part due to the material cracking
and progressive cracks opening (Schneider 1988), and finally due to ‘normal’
thermal expansion of the material skeleton. The concrete cracking during heating is
caused by an incompatibility of thermal expansion of the aggregate and the cement
paste, resulting in high traction stresses and development of local micro-cracks.
Due to these cracks and chemical transformations of concrete (generally called
dehydration), the concrete strength properties degrade gradually (Gawin et al.
2003, 2005).
10 A. Millard
A thermal expansion of the external layers of a heated element is constrained by

the core material which has significantly lower temperature. This causes a con-
siderable macro-stress in the external layers of the element (traction in the direction
perpendicular to the surface) and accumulation of elastic strain energy.
Development of the cracks, both of thermo-chemical origin and the macro-stress
induced ones, causes a considerable increase of the material intrinsic permeability
(Gawin et al. 2002b, 2003), and thereupon a decrease in gas pressure in the external
layers where high temperatures are observed (Dal Pont and Ehrlacher 2004). The
highest values of gas pressure usually correspond to the temperatures 170–280 °C
(Kalifa et al. 2000), and this is also the range where thermal spalling of concrete
occurs. Physical causes of the phenomenon, and in particular a role played by
elastic strain energy of a constrained thermal accumulated in the surface layer and
by a high value of gas pressure, are discussed in detail in (Gawin et al. 2006).
Hence, for concrete, particularly at high temperature, using advanced models,
one cannot predict heat transfer only from the traditional thermal properties: thermal
conductivity and volumetric specific heat.
In the next section, a review of the approaches used in the last three decades for
modelling the behaviour of concrete at high temperature is presented.
2.2 Modelling
Concerning design purposes, codes and standards generally apply to classical sit-
uations, i.e. typical structural members, such as beams, columns and plates. In case
of non-conventional projects, it is necessary to turn to specific modelling tools to
demonstrate, for example, the fire resistance of a building. Moreover, modelling
tools can nowadays be contemplated as possible tools to optimize the HPC for-
mulation itself, in order to improve its behaviour under high temperature.
Obviously, there are a variety of modelling approaches, which on one hand
reflect the complexity of the phenomena, and on the other hand correspond to the
expected level of accuracy in the description of these phenomena. The most
straightforward approach is based on the so-called prescriptive methods. It consists
in assessing the load bearing capacity of a given structure (which can be either a
structural member or a substructure) subjected to high temperatures, by applying
codes and standards, such as Eurocode 2 (EN 1992-1-2 2004) for structural fire
design. For example, in Eurocode 2, geometrical tabulated data are available to
allow a design which guarantees the resistance of the structure under high tem-
perature for a given time.
Although very simple, this approach can be too severe and does not cover all the
structural configurations (heating scenarios, geometries, loadings, support condi-
tions, etc.), which can be encountered in practice. Therefore, there is an increasing
trend to have recourse to performance-based approaches in order to optimize
2 Introduction 11
structure design. It consists in studying the response of part of the structure or the
entire structure during the whole real heating process. When fire safety engineering
approach is applied, the cooling phase is also taken into account. For this purpose,
computer simulations are generally required, which can be more or less sophisti-
cated, the differences coming from the scale and the level of description of the
physico-chemical mechanisms. Nevertheless, whatever the level of accuracy or
complexity, a thermal analysis is required to determine the evolution of the tem-
perature distribution in the structure.
A common practice consists in adopting a thermo-mechanical framework,
together with phenomenological models. In this context, the simplest model is
based on a simplified limit state analysis, known as the “isotherm method”. In this
method, a temperature threshold is defined (around 400 °C for HPC), above which
the concrete is supposed to be totally damaged, while below, the concrete is not
affected by the temperature increase. Even though this simple method gives good
results for example in case of normalized fires, it may give non-conservative results
in case of slow heating rates and does not take into account indirect fire actions.
Moreover, it cannot be used for the cooling phases since it does not capture the
irreversible changes of the concrete strength.
Most of the routinely made calculations resort to thermo-mechanical analysis
where, in general, the temperature evolution is coupled to the mechanical analysis
through the thermal strains and the variation of the mechanical properties (Young’s
modulus, thermal expansion coefficient, compressive strength, etc.), whereas the
mechanical evolution has no significant influence on the temperature. Therefore, the
transient thermal and mechanical analysis are performed sequentially. Despite the
fact that major phenomena like moisture transfer and chemical reactions, are not
explicitly modeled, the thermo-mechanical approach can predict rather accurate
results provided that ad-hoc phenomenological equations are established to account
indirectly for their effect. For example, the variation of the concrete specific heat
with respect to the temperature accounts for different hydro-chemical phenomena
such as the vaporization of the free water around 100 °C, the decomposition of
calcium carbonate above 400 °C, etc. A great effort must be put on the constitutive
models in order to be able to describe the various strains which develop during
heating, such as drying shrinkage, transient creep and transitional thermal creep
strains, etc. These strain components can be carefully identified from experimental
measurements, following for example the recommendations for test methods issued
by the RILEM Committee 129-MHT (see references in Chap. 1).
However, one main underlying assumption in these models is to consider the
concrete as behaving like a sealed or an unsealed specimen, with respect to moisture
transfer. It is obvious that, in reality, the situation is much more complex and
generally lies between these two extreme cases, depending on the time-scale con-
sidered. Moreover, these models cannot account for the changes in pore pressure
due to heating, and in particular to the vapour pressure increase which can partly
explain spalling.
12 A. Millard
Therefore, more comprehensive models are nowadays proposed in the literature,

within a Thermo-Hydro-Chemo-Mechanical (THCM) framework. In these
approaches, the concrete is considered as a porous medium, the pores of which are
partly filled by gas (a mixture of air and vapour) and water. Mass, momentum and
energy conservation equations are solved in a coupled way. Physico-chemical
transformations such as evaporation-condensation, hydration-dehydration (chemi-
cally bound water is released from the solid skeleton upon heating), calcium car-
bonate decomposition, transformation of quartz, etc. are taken into account. The
changes in the micro-structure, such as micro-cracking, and their consequences on
macroscopic properties like porosity and permeability, can also be described. For
this purpose, refined mechanical constitutive equations are required, which include
the description of elastic, plastic, damage, thermal, creep and shrinkage strains.
Moreover, many material properties depend upon the state variables evolution
during heating.
Multi-scale approaches are also possible (Meftah 2009), which enable a deep
understanding of the different behaviours of the cement paste and of the aggregates
and their interactions, and allow describing the various mechanisms at the relevant
scale, thus requiring more intrinsic and physically based material data.
Nevertheless, such sophisticated tools are not yet ready for everyday use.
References
Dal Pont S., Ehrlacher A.: Numerical and experimental analysis of chemical dehydration, heat and
mass transfer in a concrete hollow cylinder submitted to high temperatures. International
Journal of Heat and Mass transfer 1(47):135–147 (2004)
England, G.L., Khoylou, N.: Moisture flow in concrete under steady state non-uniform temperature
states: experimental observations and theoretical modelling. Nuclear Engineering Design 156,
83–107 (1995)
EN 1992-1-2, Eurocode 2 Design of concrete structures, Part 1.2 General rules – Structural fire
design, (2004)
Gawin, D., Alonso, C., Andrade, C., Majorana, C.E., Pesavento, F.: Effect of damage on
permeability and hygro-thermal behaviour of HPCs at elevated temperatures, Part 1.
Experimental results. Computers and Concrete 2(3), 189–202 (2005)
Gawin, D., Pesavento, F., Schrefler, B.A.: Modelling of hygro-thermal behaviour and damage of
concrete at temperature above critical point of water. International Journal of Numerical and
Analytical Methods in Geomechanics 26(6), 537–562 (2002a)
Gawin, D., Pesavento, F., Schrefler, B.A.: Modelling of thermo-chemical and mechanical damage
of concrete at high temperature. Computer Methods in Applied Mechanics and Engineering
192, 1731–1771 (2003)
Gawin, D., Pesavento, F., Schrefler, B.A.: Simulation of damage–permeability coupling in
hygro-thermo-mechanical analysis of concrete at high temperature. Communications in
Numerical Methods in Engineering 18(2), 113–119 (2002b)
Gawin, D., Pesavento, F., Schrefler, B.A.: Towards prediction of the thermal spalling risk through
a multi-phase porous media model of concrete. Computer Methods in Applied Mechanics and
Engineering 195(41–43), 5707-5729 (2006)
Kalifa, P., Menneteau, F.D., Quenard, D.: Spalling and pore pressure in HPC at high temperatures.
Cement and Concrete Research 30, 1915–1927 (2000)
2 Introduction 13
Meftah, F.: A meso-scale thermo-hygro-mechanical analysis of micro-structure effects on heated

concrete behaviour. In: F. Dehn, E. Koenders (eds.), 1st International Workshop on Concrete
Spalling due to Fire Exposure, Leipzig (2009)
Schneider, U.: Concrete at high temperatures – A general review. Fire Safety Journal 13(1), 55–68
(1988)
Chapter 3
Engineering Modelling
Sven Huismann, Matthias Zeiml, Manfred Korzen and Alain Millard
Abstract This chapter presents the most commonly used approach to analyse the
thermo-mechanical behaviour of concrete structures subjected to high temperatures
as in the case of fire loading. Prescriptions of the Eurocode are detailed for the
thermal as well as the mechanical analysis. Finally, recommendations from two
national (Austrian and German) guidelines give some improvements for under-
ground infrastructure.
3.1 General Approach
Engineering models generally serve the purpose of producing numerical results of

sufficient accuracy for engineering purposes, with acceptable computational costs.
Hence, simplifications are applied whenever suitable, provided that they only
introduce deviations from reality with acceptable magnitude. This means that the
level of simplification is chosen with regard to the complexity of the problem under
consideration.
Most engineering models can be classified as thermo-mechanical models.
During the analysis two consecutive steps are applied. First, the thermal field is
determined during a thermal analysis. Based on the obtained information on the
S. Huismann (&) M. Korzen

Bundesanstanlt for Materialforschung Und Prüfung (BAM), Berlin, Germany
e-mail: huismann.sven@kuk.de
M. Korzen
e-mail: manfred.korzen@bam.de
M. Zeiml
University of Innsbruck, Material Technology, Innsbruck, Austria
e-mail: matthias.z@gmx.at
A. Millard
© RILEM 2019 15
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-11995-9_3
16 S. Huismann et al.
distribution of temperature and, hence, mechanical material properties and resulting

strains and stresses, the mechanical behaviour of the structure and/or structural
component is simulated.
At the moment, a variety of national and international standards and guidelines
are available. In the following section, the Eurocode is presented as the most
prominent in Europe. Most of the regulations and recommendations included in the
Eurocode are derived and developed with respect to fire loading corresponding to
the standard temperature-time fire curve according to EN 1991-1-2, 2010 (which
also corresponds to the ISO 834 standard). Therefore, selected national guidelines
focusing on more severe fire-loading scenarios such as might occur in tunnel fires
are presented in addition to the Eurocode.
3.2 Eurocode
According to Eurocode 2 (EN 1992-1-2, 2004), a structural member or a structure is

considered to fulfil the design requirements in the load case fire, provided that
Ed;fi Rd;t;fi ð3:1Þ
where, Ed,fi is the design effect of actions for the fire situation, determined in
accordance with Eurocode 1 (EN 1991-1-2, 2010), including effects of thermal
expansions and deformations, and Rd,t,fi is the corresponding design resistance in
the fire situation.
In general, the fire design of concrete structures or structural components is
performed in two consecutive steps. First, a thermal analysis gives access to the
temperature distribution within the member. Within the subsequent mechanical
analysis, the previously-determined temperature field serves as input for the sim-
ulation of the mechanical behaviour of the structural member and/or structure.
3.3 Thermal Analysis
During the thermal analysis, the energy-conservation equation is solved considering

the appropriate fire-loading curve (temperature-time curve) and thermal boundary
conditions.
For the thermal material properties of concrete, empirical temperature-dependent
functions are given in Eurocode 2 (see Fig. 3.1 and (EN 1992-1-2, 2004) for details
on the corresponding empirical functions). These phenomenological functions
indirectly account for effects related to mass transport. The function for the specific
heat (see Fig. 3.1b) accounts for vapourisation of pore water by a peak starting at
100 °C the magnitude of which depends on the moisture content.
3 Engineering Modelling 17
Fig. 3.1 Thermal material properties of concrete according to Eurocode 2 (EN 1992-1-2, 2004):
a thermal conductivity and b specific heat for different values of the moisture content by weight
For fire loading following the standard temperature-time fire curve according to
EN 1991-1-2, 2010, the corresponding temperature field can be determined directly
from Eurocode 2 where pre-calculated temperature distributions are available for
typical types of members (e.g. slabs, beams, columns) and selected time durations
(i.e., 30, 60, 90, 120, 180, 240 min).
3.4 Mechanical Analysis
Within the design process, the following design methods can be used in order to
satisfy condition (3.1):
– detailing according to recognised design solutions (tabulated data or testing)

– simplified calculation methods for specific types of members
– advanced calculation methods for simulating the behaviour of structural mem-
bers, parts of the structure or the entire structure.
The design method shall be chosen based on the design task under consideration:
– tabulated data according to Eurocode 2:
Tabulated data given in Eurocode 2 up to a fire duration of 240 min are based on
experimental results obtained with ISO-fire loading. For typical design situa-
tions and structural members (e.g., slabs, beams, columns), minimum design
requirements are given for, e.g. member thickness (dimensions) and axis dis-
tance, depending on the required fire resistance (e.g., REI 90). For temperature
loading outside the scope of the standard temperature-time fire curve or struc-
tural design situations other than those listed in the code, this design method
cannot be applied.
– simplified calculation methods according to Eurocode 2:
Simplified calculation methods apply to the fire resistance of structural com-
ponents or parts of fire-exposed structures. The underlying temperature profiles
can be determined either from tests or by calculation (see also the temperature
distributions in the code for typical types of members such as slabs, beams or
columns and selected time durations). Subsequently, the structural resistance of
a structural member or the critical section of a substructure is in particular
determined by reducing its cross-section.
Hereby, all concrete regions with temperatures exceeding 500 °C are disre-
garded in the design process and all other concrete regions are considered with
their original strength at room temperature. The strength of the reinforcement is
determined based on the actual temperature in the respective region. Finally, the
load-bearing capacity of the member is determined with conventional calcula-
tion methods that are also applicable for room temperature.
The so-called zone method, which is applicable for the standard
temperature-time curve only, applies a similar approach. Hereby, the member is
subdivided into a certain number of zones of equal thickness. For each zone, the
corresponding values for temperature and relevant mechanical parameters for
concrete are determined. Then, the thickness for a theoretical damaged region is
determined based on the calculated values and this region is disregarded within
the subsequent determination of the load-bearing capacity. Calculation of the
latter again follows conventional calculation methods which are also applicable
for room temperature.
– advanced calculation methods according to Eurocode 2:
According to the code, the aim of advanced calculation methods is to provide a
realistic analysis of structures exposed to fire. They shall be based on funda-
mental physical behaviour leading to a reliable approximation of the expected
behaviour of the relevant structural component under fire conditions. Advanced
calculation methods apply to the analysis of the fire resistance of structural

components, parts of fire-exposed structures or the entire structure.
The temperature field can be determined in a similar manner as for simplified
calculation methods. According to the code, the influence of moisture content
and of migration of moisture may be conservatively neglected within a thermal
analysis.
Within the mechanical analysis, the code requires that the applied model shall be
based on the acknowledged principles and assumptions of the theory of struc-
tural mechanics, taking into account the changes of mechanical properties with
temperature. Furthermore, the effects of thermally induced strains and stresses
both due to temperature rise and due to temperature differentials, shall be
considered. Additionally, deformations shall be checked with respect to com-
patibility of all structural components. Moreover, a comment on spalling (and
falling-off) is included in the code, with special attention to the compressive
zone of concrete.
Simulation tools, generally known as nonlinear thermo-mechanical simulation
tools, which fulfil all above-mentioned prerequisites are hence able to simulate
the realistic build-up of thermal strains depending on the governing boundary
conditions.
The corresponding mechanical parameters for concrete are given for
normal-weight concrete with siliceous or calcareous aggregates (see Fig. 3.2 for
the compressive strength and refer to EN 1992-1-2, 2004 for the tensile strength
and for details on the corresponding empirical functions). The relevant material
properties are the compressive strength fc(T) and the corresponding strain ec1(T).
The specified phenomenological stress-strain relationship implicitly takes into
account all relevant mechanical strain components (i.e. stress-related strain,
creep strain, transient strain).
Originally, the above values were developed for normal-strength concrete. In the
latest version of Eurocode 2, the range of the compressive strength fc(T) was
extended to cover high-strength concretes also.
The thermal strain is given as an empirical temperature-dependent function
depending on the type of aggregate (see Fig. 3.3 and refer to Eurocode 2 for the
corresponding empirical functions) since the latter governs the thermal strain of
concrete.
3.5 Spalling
Only limited information and recommendations are included in Eurocode 2 con-

cerning spalling of fire-loaded concrete, showing the demand for further research in
this field.
According to the code, spalling is unlikely to occur when the moisture content of
the concrete is less than a certain moisture content k [% by weight]. This value is
Fig. 3.2 Stress-strain relationship for concrete under compression at elevated temperatures (EN
1992-1-2, 2004)
Fig. 3.3 Stress-strain relationship for concrete under compression at elevated temperatures (EN
1992-1-2, 2004)
specified in the national annex to Eurocode 2 for each country. The recommended
value is 3%. For moisture contents greater than k, a more accurate assessment of
moisture content, type of aggregate, permeability of concrete and heating rate
should be considered. From a scientific point of view, this simplistic recommen-
dation is to be questioned, since it is commonly accepted that spalling is caused by
the interaction of numerous thermo-hydro-chemo-mechanical processes with the
moisture content being only one of numerous influencing parameters.
3.6 Examples of National Guidelines
Since most of the recommendations of the Eurocode are valid only for fire-loading
scenarios up to the standard temperature-time fire, national guidelines were estab-
lished for more severe fire-loading scenarios. Such fire-loading scenarios are to be
considered, e.g. in tunnels and other underground structures.
Austrian ÖBV-guideline “Improved structural fire protection with concrete
for underground infrastructure” (ÖBV 2013)
This Austrian guideline was established in order to specify the details and typical
areas of application of numerical models with different levels of complexity within
the model category defined in the Eurocode 2 as advanced calculation methods.
In this guideline it is suggested that determination of the thermal loading and the
resulting temperature distributions within the structural members should either be
based on a thermal analysis according to Eurocode 2 or on empirical temperature
distributions determined from fire experiments (Kusterle et al. 2005) with
fire-loading conditions typical for tunnel fires (see Fig. 3.4 and (ÖBV 2013) for
details as well as the numerical values corresponding to the displayed curves).
For the subsequent mechanical analysis following the recommendations given in
Eurocode 2, (ÖBV 2013) distinguishes between linear and nonlinear model
assumptions:
– linear model assumptions:
In order to be used in standard linear-elastic beam-spring models, the nonlinear
temperature distribution resulting from the thermal analysis is transformed into a
so-called equivalent temperature (see Kusterle et al. 2005; Ring et al. 2013 for
details). The internal forces caused by the governing load combination for the
design case fire are determined considering linear-elastic material behaviour of
both concrete and reinforcing steel.
– nonlinear model assumptions:
In the case that nonlinear model assumptions are applied, the nonlinear tem-
perature distributions are incorporated directly into the mechanical analysis
model. The internal forces are determined considering elasto-plastic material
behaviour and the mechanical material parameters according to Eurocode 2 (see
Sect. 3.5 for details).
Based on the above statements of linear and nonlinear model assumptions,
recommendations are given on when linear or nonlinear model assumptions are to
be applied. Based on numerical simulations of fire experiments and benchmark
examples (see Ring 2012; Ring et al. 2013a, b for details), the main influencing
parameters determining the choice of the model assumptions are the duration of the
Fig. 3.4 Empirical temperature distributions for structural fire design according to (ÖBV 2013)
(curves are valid for PP-fibre reinforced concrete with a moisture content comparable to (Kusterle
et al. 2004) and a dry density between 2000 and 2600 kg/m3; curves cover the following
fire-loading scenarios: RWS, HCinc, HC, EUREKA, ISO 834)
fire (i.e. the required fire resistance) and the complexity of the structure (e.g.
rectangular, frame-like structures, arched or circular cross sections).
German DB-guideline 853 “Design, construction and maintenance of railway
tunnels” (DB-guideline 853 2011)
This German guideline deals with, among numerous other topics, the structural
design of tubbing tunnels and recommends a specific type of advanced calculation
method (as defined in Eurocode 2). Hereby, the special model feature of tubbing
tunnels, namely nonlinear hinges representing the joints between tubbing segments,
is incorporated into the model by the following design steps:
– determination of time-dependent internal forces due to thermal restraint:
The structural model for determining the internal forces due to thermal restraint
represents a tubbing tunnel without nonlinear hinges representing the joints. The
overall stiffness of the numerical model is determined at the time instant where
the restraint forces reach their maximum values.
– determination of the restraint internal forces for a unit temperature loading:
With the same structural model as in the previous step, the internal forces due to
thermal restraint are determined with a unit temperature loading (i.e. a fixed
value for the components of the so-called equivalent temperature).
– determination of unit temperatures for the given structural model:
The unit temperatures for the structural model under consideration are deter-
mined by the quotient of the internal stress resultants of the two
above-mentioned analysis steps.
– fire simulation of final tunnel structure:
With the temperature values determined in the previous analysis step, the final
structural model (i.e. tubbing tunnel including the nonlinear hinges representing
the joints between tubbing segments) is analysed. Hereby, the previously
determined stiffness is considered.
The reason for recommending this rather laborious analysis scheme is that
common engineering software tools can consider nonlinear material behaviour
together with nonlinear temperature distributions (that typically develop in concrete
with its low heat diffusivity), but are not able to consider these features together
with nonlinear hinges at nodes, which are necessary to take into account all relevant
nonlinearities present in common tubbing tunnels. Nonlinear hinges are currently
incorporated only in standard beam-spring models which in turn cannot incorporate
nonlinear temperature distributions. Since software tools will evolve in the future,
eventually becoming capable of incorporating all above-mentioned nonlinearities in
one numerical model, the described analysis scheme will become obsolete and a
direct non-linear analysis (in the sense of an advanced calculation method
according to Eurocode 2) will be possible.
3.7 Discussion, Limits
Engineering models are mainly developed for a straight-forward structural design

under fire loading, i.e. the verification that a specific structure is able to withstand
the fire for a specific period of time, expressed as a fire resistance (e.g. REI90).
Engineering models in general do not consider the cooling phase since numerous
nonlinear and irreversible processes require to take into account hysteretic effects,
which is a quite challenging task.
For standard problems, which are the majority in engineering practice, there are
no significant differences between the numerical results obtained from engineering
models and those obtained from advanced models (Franssen 2004) (see the fol-
lowing section for details on advanced models). Some of the main differences
between engineering models and advanced models are
– Engineering models perform a thermo-mechanical analysis implicitly taking into
account hydro-chemical phenomena via empirical material functions; advanced
models perform a fully-coupled thermo-hydro-chemo-mechanical analysis tak-
ing into account in detail the relevant interactions.
– Engineering models consider strain components implicitly by empirical
stress-strain relationships (e.g. according to Eurocode 2); advanced models
consider the different strain components explicitly (see following section for
details).
The aim of engineering models is to simplify the analysis in order to optimize
the computational cost and necessary manpower. The simplification has to be
limited, however, to an extent at which the quality of prediction is still within the
boundaries of reasonable accuracy. Since these boundaries as well as the quality of
prediction of a certain model depends on the problem under consideration, the level
of idealization and simplification has to be chosen with regard to the complexity of
the design task under consideration.
Concerning spalling, only limited information has been implemented in stan-
dards and guidelines. At the most, recommendations on investigating/considering
spalling from an empirical point of view are included. In some guidelines, it is only
mentioned that, or under which circumstances, spalling needs to be taken into
account within structural simulations. This clearly shows the need for the estab-
lishment of a common standard spalling assessment, whether experimental, based
on a risk analysis or through modelling.
References
EN 1992-1-2:2004: Eurocode 2: Design of concrete structures – Part 1–2: General rules –

Structural fire design (2004)
EN 1991-1-2:2010: Eurocode 1: Actions on structures – Part 1–2: General actions – Actions on
structures exposed to fire (2010)
Franssen, J.-M.: Plastic analysis of concrete structures subjected to fire. Fire design of concrete
structures: What now? What next?, Milan, 133–145 (2004)
ÖBV-guideline “Improved structural fire protection with concrete for underground infrastructure”
(“Erhöhter baulicher Brandschutz mit Beton für unterirdische Verkehrsbauwerke”). Austrian
Society for Construction Technology, in German (2013)
Kusterle, W., Lindlbauer, W., Hampejs, G., Heel, A., Donauer, P.-F., Zeiml, M., Brunnsteiner, W.,
Dietze, R., Hermann, W., Viechtbauer, H., Schreiner, M., Vierthaler, R., Stadlober, H., Winter,
H., Lemmerer, J., Kammeringer, E.: Brandbeständigkeit von Faser-, Stahl- und Spannbeton
[Fire resistance of fiber-reinforced, reinforced, and prestressed concrete]. Tech. Rep. 544,
Bundesministerium für Verkehr, Innovation und Technologie, Vienna, in German (2004)
Ring, T., Zeiml, M., Lackner, R.: Underground concrete frame structures subjected to fire loading:
Part II – re-analysis of large-scale fire tests. Engineering Structures, in print (2013a)
Ring, T., Wikete, C., Kari, H., Zeiml, M., Lackner, R.: Der Einfluss des Rechen- und
Materialmodells auf die Strukturantwort bei der Simulation von Tunnel unter Brandbelastung
[The influence of numerical and material model on the structural response of tunnels subjected
to fire loading], Bauingenieur 88, p. 35–44, in German (2013b)
Ring, T.: Experimental characterization and modelling of concrete at high temperatures – structural
safety assessment of different tunnel cross-sections subjected to fire loading. PhD thesis,
Vienna University of Technology, Vienna, Austria (2012)
DB-guideline 853 “Design, construction and maintenance of railway tunnels” (“Eisenbahntunnel
planen, bauen und instandhalten”). Deutsche Bahn AG, in German (2011)
Chapter 4
Advanced Modelling
Fekri Meftah, Francesco Pesavento, Colin Davie, Stefano Dal Pont,

Matthias Zeiml, Manfred Korzen and Alain Millard
Abstract In this chapter, advanced models based on a general Thermo-

Hydro-Chemo-Mechanical (THCM) framework are considered. In these approa-
ches, the concrete is considered as a porous medium, the pores of which are partly
filled by gas (a mixture of air and vapour) and water. First, the main physico-
chemical phenomena that take place in heated concrete are explained. Then, mass,
momentum and energy conservation equations as well as the constitutive model are
detailed for the general model considering three fluid pressure fields. Indications are
also given for the numerical solution of the obtained final equations. Finally,
a simplified model based on a single fluid pressure field is presented.
F. Meftah (&)
Institut National des Sciences Appliquées, Rennes, France
e-mail: fekri.meftah@insa-rennes.fr
F. Pesavento
Dipartimento di Ingegneria Civile, Edile e Ambientale, Universita degli
Studi di Padova, Padua, Italy
e-mail: pesa@dicea.unipd.it
C. Davie
School of Engineering, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK
e-mail: colin.davie@newcastle.ac.uk
S. D. Pont
Laboratoire 3SR, Université Grenoble-Alpes, Grenoble, France
e-mail: stefano.dalpont@3sr-grenoble.fr
M. Zeiml
Material Technology, University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria
e-mail: matthias.z@gmx.at
M. Korzen
Bundesanstanlt for Materialforschung und prüfung (BAM), Berlin, Germany
e-mail: manfred.korzen@bam.de
A. Millard
© RILEM 2019 27
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-11995-9_4
28 F. Meftah et al.
4.1 Introduction
The advanced models can be classified into two main categories: models essentially
focused on the thermo-mechanical behaviour of concrete, and the models consid-
ering also the fluid phases (one or more) inside the pores of the material.
Firstly, we will discuss about the models considering the fluids inside the pore
network of concrete. Then, we will illustrate the more commonly used, purely
thermo-mechanical models (Sect. 4.6).
The first class of models aims at the simulation of the overall thermo-hygral and
mechanical behaviour of the material, considering sometimes also some chemical
aspects (e.g. the reactions of hydration and dehydration). To analyse hygro-thermal
phenomena in porous media, two different approaches are currently used: phe-
nomenological and mechanistic ones. In phenomenological approaches (Bažant and
Thonguthai 1978, 1979; England and Khoylou 1995; Abdel-Rahman and Ahmed
1996) moisture and heat transport are described by diffusive type differential
equations with temperature- and moisture content-dependent coefficients. The
model coefficients are usually determined by inverse problem solution, starting
from experimental tests results, in order to obtain the best agreement between
theoretical prediction and experimental evidence. A characterisitc of such models is
that they are very accurate for interpolation, but rather poor for extrapolation of the
known experimental results. Moreover, various physical phenomena are lumped
together and important processes, such as phase changes, especially at high tem-
peratures where they play a relevant role, are neglected. Mechanistic models
(Bažant and Kaplan 1996; Consolazio et al. 1998; Ulm et al. 1999a, b; Gawin et al.
1999, 2002a) are more complicated from a mathematical point of view and, con-
trary to phenomenological ones, their coefficients have a clear physical meaning.
This kind of model is often obtained from microscopic balance equations written
for each constituent of the medium, which are then averaged in the space applying
special averaging operators.
Several mathematical and numerical models, usually based on extensive labo-
ratory tests, have been developed for the analysis of heat and mass transfer in
concrete at high temperature, e.g. Gawin et al. (2003, 2004, 2006), Tenchev et al.
(2001, 2005), Ichikawa and England (2004), Davie et al. (2006), Chung et al.
(2006), Dwaikat and Kodur (2009). However, one should remember that every
interpretation possesses all limitations and simplifications that are assumed in the
mathematical model on which the simulations are based. Thus, for this purpose one
should use models considering possibly the whole complexity and mutual inter-
actions of the analysed physical processes. Hence, in the case of concrete at high
temperature, a proper choice may be models based on mechanics of multiphase
porous media, taking into account chemical reactions (dehydration), phase changes,
cracking and thermo-chemical material degradation, as well as their mutual cou-
plings and influence on the hygral, thermal, chemical and mechanical properties of
concrete. These physical aspects of the behaviour of concrete subjected to high
temperature are described below.
4 Advanced Modelling 29
4.2 Concrete as Multiphase Porous Material
Concrete is essentially a mixture of two components: aggregates and paste. The

aggregate component is usually sand, gravel or crushed stone. It is mainly
responsible for the unit weight, the elastic modulus, and the dimensional stability of
concrete. Therefore, it has a very important effect on the volume changes of con-
crete exposed to high temperatures. The paste component is typically used to bind
aggregates in concrete and mortar. It is a porous medium, which is composed of a
solid skeleton, produced from the hydration of Portland cement, and pores, which
are filled by different fluid phases. The principal solid phases generally present in
the hydrated cement paste (hcp), that can be resolved by an electron microscope, are
the calcium silicate hydrates C-S-H, which are very important in determining the
properties of the paste such as strength and permeability, and calcium hydroxide
Ca(OH)2 (also called portlandite). The pore structure is relevant for concrete. It
contributes to the mechanical strength of concrete, but it also allows interaction
with the external environment, which takes place through the connected pores.
Besides, it is the container of the liquid water and gas phases (vapour and dry air).
Figure 4.1 gives a schematic representation of cement paste seen as a partially
saturated medium.
For a given Representative Elementary Volume (REV) X, the volume of pores
Xp allows the porosity to be defined u = Xp/X. Furthermore, we introduce the
degree of saturation of pores with liquid water as Sl = Xl/Xp. It is an experimentally
determined function of the relative humidity RH (obtained through the sorption
isotherms). The remaining volume of pores is filled with a gaseous mixture with a
gas saturation: Sg = (1 − Sl) = Xg/Xp (Xl and Xg are the volumes of the liquid and
gas phases respectively).
The interfacial surface tension of water in a capillary pore leads to a concave
meniscus between liquid water and gas phase, see Fig. 4.2. This may give rise to a
discontinuity in fluid pressure. The difference between the liquid water pressure pl
Fig. 4.1 Schematic

representation of a
non-saturated porous material
30 F. Meftah et al.
Fig. 4.2 Schematic

representation of a capillary
pore
and the gas pressure pg = pv + pa (pv being the pressure of water vapour and pa the
pressure of the dry air) is called the capillary pressure pc and is a function of the
liquid water saturation Sl:
pc ðSl Þ ¼ pg pl ð4:1Þ
Assuming the contact angle c between the liquid phase and the solid matrix to be
zero, the capillary pressure of water pc can be related to the pore radius r with the
Laplace equation:
2rðT Þ
pc ¼ ¼ 2rðT Þv ð4:2Þ
r
where r(T) is the surface tension of water which depends upon temperature, and v
is the curvature of the capillary meniscus. Any change in the curvature of meniscus
will change the equilibrium between liquid and vapour phases. A relationship
between the liquid water and the vapour can be obtained by means of Kelvin’s
equation considering that liquid is incompressible and the vapour is a perfect gas.
Water can exist in the hydrated cement paste in many forms:
• capillary and physically adsorbed water; their loss is mainly responsible for the
shrinkage of the material while drying
• interlayer water; it can be lost only during strong drying, which leads to con-
siderably shrinkage of the C-S-H structure
All these types of water can evaporate at a temperature of 105 °C (at atmo-
spheric pressure and slow rate of heating). Another type of water, which is
non-evaporable, is chemically bound water. It is considered to be an integral part of
the structure of various cement hydration products and it is released when the
x- interlayer water
o - adsorbed water
A - inter particles links
B - CSH layers
Fig. 4.3 Probable structure of hydrated silicates (Feldman and Sereda 1968)
hydrates decompose on heating. Based on the Feldman-Sereda model (Feldman and

Sereda 1968), the different types of water associated with the C-S-H are illustrated
in Fig. 4.3.
In fact, there is a third phase in the concrete microstructure, known as the
transition zone, which represents the interfacial region between the particles of
coarse aggregates and the hcp. Concrete has micro-cracks in the transition zone
even before a structure is loaded. This has a great influence on the stiffness of the
concrete. In the composite material, the transition zone serves as a bridge between
the two components: the mortar matrix and the coarse aggregate particles.
Therefore, the broken bridges (i.e. voids and micro-cracks in this zone) would not
permit the transfer of stresses (Mehta and Monterio 2014).
For what has been described above, concrete can be treated as a multiphase/
multicomponent porous material. Because of this, in the last fifteen years,
mechanics of multi-phase porous media proved to be a theory that enables an
efficient modelling of cement-based materials at high temperature (Gawin et al.
1999, 2003, 2006; Davie et al. 2006). It allows for consideration of the porous and
multiphase nature of the materials, their chemical transformations, water phase
changes and different behaviour of moisture below and above the critical temper-
ature of water, mutual interactions between the thermal, hygric and degradation
processes, as well as several material nonlinearities, especially those due to tem-
perature changes, material cracking and thermo-chemical degradation.
In modelling, it is usually assumed that the material phases are in thermody-
namic equilibrium state locally. In this way their thermodynamic state is described
by one common set of state variables and not by separate sets for every component
of the material, which allows the number of unknowns in a mathematical model to
be reduced. Thus we have, for example, one common temperature for the
multi-phase material, and not different temperature values for the skeleton, liquid
water, vapour and dry air, etc. When fast hygro-thermal phenomena in a material at
high temperature are analysed, the assumption is debatable, but it is almost always
32 F. Meftah et al.
used in modelling, giving reasonable results from a physical point of view and in
part confirmed by the available experimental results.
Concrete is here considered to be a multiphase medium where the voids of the
solid skeleton could be filled with various combinations of liquid- and gas-phases
(Fig. 4.2). In the specific case the fluids filling the pore space are the moist air
(mixture of dry air and vapour), capillary water and physically adsorbed water. The
chemically bound water is considered to be part of the solid skeleton until it is
released on heating.
Below the critical temperature of water Tcr, the liquid phase consists of physi-
cally adsorbed water, which is present in the whole range of moisture content, and
capillary water, which appears when the degree of water saturation Sl exceeds the
upper limit of the hygroscopic region, Sssp (i.e. below Sssp there is only physically
adsorbed water). Above the temperature Tcr the liquid phase consists of the
adsorbed water only. In the whole temperature range the gas phase is a mixture of
dry air and water vapour.
Thanks to the mechanics of porous media and the schematisation of the material
described above, it is possible to analyse three different classes of phenomena
which characterise the behaviour of concrete at high temperature:
• Hygral phenomena
• Thermal phenomena
• Mechanical phenomena
4.2.1 Hygral Phenomena
When temperature increases in a concrete structure (e.g. in a wall), water vapour

pressure continuously increases in a zone close to the heated surface. This derives
principally from the evaporation of water inside the wall, when the temperature
reaches and passes the boiling point of water. Vapour pressure is also due to the
water that is liberated during the dehydration of cement paste. This increase of
the water vapour pressure in the hot region will create a thermodynamic imbalance
between the hot and the cold regions. This will entail a diffusion process of the
water vapour and of the dry air through the wall and towards the external atmo-
sphere in order to maintain the equilibrium between liquid and vapour (see
Fig. 4.4).
For an appropriate prediction of the moisture distribution in a concrete structure
subjected to high temperatures one needs to know the material properties that
control the movement of the fluids inside the porous medium. Permeability and
diffusivity are the most important properties of the cementitious materials. These
are very sensitive to porosity changes or micro-cracking phenomena. In fact, the
increases in permeability and porosity of such materials are currently accepted as
providing a reliable indication of their degradation whether it has thermal,
Fig. 4.4 Mass transport mechanism in a non-saturated porous medium subjected to heating (Gens
and Olivella 2001)
mechanical or physico-chemical origins. Therefore, in this document these prop-

erties and their evolutions when the concrete is subjected to high temperatures will
be studied.
4.2.2 Thermal Phenomena
Concerning thermal phenomena, it can be stated that in most cases the main
mechanism for heat transport is heat conduction. Heat conduction responds to
gradients of temperature T. However, additional heat transfer will also be accom-
plished by advection due to the movement of the three phases: solid, liquid and gas.
The latent heat inherent to phase changes may also have significant thermal effects
(Gens and Olivella 2001) (Fig. 4.5).
The evolution of the temperature distribution in any structure is governed by the
thermal properties of the material, particularly heat capacity and thermal conduc-
tivity. In the case of concrete, it is difficult to determine these properties because of
the numerous phenomena that occur simultaneously within the microstructure of
concrete and cannot be separated easily. These phenomena are affected in particular
34 F. Meftah et al.
Fig. 4.5 Heat transport mechanism in a porous medium (Gens and Olivella 2001)
by the evolution of the porosity, by the moisture content, by the type and amount of
aggregate, by changes in the chemical composition and by the latent heat con-
sumption generated by certain chemical phenomena. Because of these effects, a
unique relationship cannot rigorously describe the dependence of concrete prop-
erties on temperature (Harmathy 1965, 1970).
4.2.3 Mechanical Phenomena
When mechanically loaded and simultaneously heated, the overall measured strain
of concrete is assumed as an additive combination of different components. These
components can be conventionally classified into three families according to the
origin of the driving mechanisms:
– Mechanical strains that occur due to an applied mechanical load only. Elastic
strain, cracking strain and basic creep strain are the main mechanical
components
– Thermo-hygral strains related to the occurrence of physico-chemical processes

within the material such as drying, temperature increase and dehydration.
Thermal expansion and shrinkage are the most important components. They are
carried out in (mechanically) load-free configurations.
Interaction strains are additional components generated when the above-
mentioned physico-chemical processes occur with a concomitant applied load. In
this case, the overall measured strain differs from the sum of all strains induced by
each single mechanism. For instance, additional elastic strain, due to the evolution
of Young’s modulus with temperature, is an illustration of interaction strains. Also,
drying and dehydration creep strains belong to this category.
4.3 Heat and Mass Transfer
The general approach to heat and mass transfer processes in a partially saturated
open porous medium is to start from a set of balance equations governing the time
evolution of mass and heat of the solid matrix and the fluids filling the porous
network, taking into account the exchange between the phases and with the sur-
rounding medium. These balance equations are supplemented with an appropriate
set of constitutive relationships, which permit a reduction in the number of inde-
pendent state variables that control the physical process under investigation
(Hassanizadeh and Gray 1979a, b, 1980; Lewis and Schrefler 1998; Pesavento
2000; Schrefler 2002). In the following, the full set of balance equations will be
presented. The governing equations of the model are given in terms of the chosen
state variables: the capillary pressure pc the gas pressure pg and the temperature
T. This choice is of particular importance: the chosen quantities must describe a
well-posed initial-boundary value problem, should guarantee a good numerical
performance of the solution algorithm, and should make their experimental iden-
tification simple.
A detailed discussion about the choice of state (i.e. primary) variables can be
found in Sect. 4.3.
4.3.1 Balance Equations
The balance equations can be obtained by using the procedure of space averaging of
the microscopic balance equations, written for the individual constituents of the
medium (i.e. the governing equations at local level). The theoretical framework is
based on the works of Hassanizadeh and Gray (1979a, b, 1980), Gray and Schrefler
(2007) and Lewis and Schrefler (1998). A detailed description of the procedure can
be found also in (Pesavento 2000, Gawin et al. (2003).
36 F. Meftah et al.
For the sake of brevity, only the form of the conservation equations at macro-
scopic level is given (Gawin et al. 2003; Dal Pont et al. 2001). Hence, mass balance
equations read, for the solid matrix:
@ms
þ r ðms vs Þ ¼ m_ dehyd ð4:3Þ
@t
for the liquid water:
@ml
þ r ðml vl Þ ¼ m_ vap m_ dehyd ð4:4Þ
@t
for the vapour:
@mv
þ r ðmv vv Þ ¼ m_ vap ð4:5Þ
@t
and for the dry air:
@ma
þ r ð m a va Þ ¼ 0 ð4:6Þ
@t
where mp is the mass per unit volume of porous medium of each constituent:
ms ¼ ð1 uÞqs ; ml ¼ ql Sl u
ð4:7Þ
mv ¼ qv ð1 Sl Þu; ma ¼ qa ð1 Sl Þu
in which qp is the corresponding density, u the porosity and Sl the degree of

saturation of pores with liquid water, the complementary part of the pore volume
being filled with the gas mixture. These equations take into account phase changes
due to dehydration, evaporationevaporation and condensation phenomena (Gawin
et al. 2003; Dal Pont and Ehrlacher 2004; Sabeur et al.2008; Sabeur and Meftah
2008). Source terms, corresponding to dehydration mass rate m_ dehyd and to evap-
orationevaporation/condensation mass rate m_ vap , are therefore considered.
The dehydration mass rate m_ dehyd is the mass loss rate due to the release of
chemically-bound water from the solid phase when temperature increases and
exceeds a threshold value of (conventionally) 105 °C. This threshold is hardened to
fit continuously the greatest temperature attained by the porous medium. After
cooling and heating again, dehydration restarts only when the temperature exceeds
the actual (hardened) threshold, which is the medium’s memory with regard to
temperature history.
Hence, the occurrence of dehydration may be described by a first order kinetics
model (Feraille 2000; Dal Pont et al. 2004; Sabeur et al. 2008):
D E
mdehyd meq
dehyd
þ
m_ dehyd ¼ ð4:8Þ
sdehyd
where the symbol hi þ stands for the positive value of the argument (otherwise the
value is set to zero), sdehyd is the characteristic time and meq
dehyd ðT Þ is the dehydration
mass at equilibrium, that is, the mass loss when the temperature rate T_ is slow
enough; i.e. when the time interval of variation of temperature is great enough with
regard to sdehyd . Alternatively, a time impendent evolution law may be adopted
(Gawin et al. 2003) by considering that mass loss attains systematically its equi-
librium value irrespective of the temperature rate:
@meq
dehyd _
m_ dehyd ¼ T þ ð4:9Þ
@T
Note that meq

dehyd ðT Þ is a negative function of temperature since it corresponds to
mass loss.
In most applications, the term r ðms vs Þ ms r vs may be neglected since it
corresponds to the effect of solid deformability (volume variation) on transfer
mechanisms. Under this simplified assumption, the solid mass balance equation
(4.3) may be used only to determine the evolution of porosity appearing in the mass
balance equations of the fluids according to:
@u m_ dehyd
¼ ð4:10Þ
@t qs
where the solid phase density qs is assumed here to be constant, otherwise the
variation of qs with time should appear in Eq. (4.10). It is worth noting that
Eq. (4.10) is strictly local since the effect of the deformation of the solid skeleton on
the porosity has been neglected in the adopted context of small-strain deformations.
In this case, the variation of porosity of the medium is only due to the temperature
induced dehydration: porosity increases with a rate that is proportional to dehy-
dration rate. A more general presentation including deformability of the solid
skeleton is discussed in Sect. 4.2.3.
Moreover, fluid velocities vp in conservation equations (4.4)–(4.6) are split into
relative components in order to describe mass transport within the porous network,
by both permeation and diffusion phenomena due to pressure and concentration
gradients, respectively. They read:
vl ¼ vs þ vls vls
ð4:11Þ
vp ¼ vs þ vgs þ vpg vgs þ vpg with p ¼ v; a
where vs (which can be neglected) is the velocity of the solid phase, vp−s is the
velocity of the liquid water (p = l) and gas mixture (p = g) with respect to the solid
38 F. Meftah et al.
phase and vp−g is the velocity of the vapour (p = v) and dry air (p = a) with respect
to the gas mixture (moist air).
Having assumed here that all phases of the material are locally in thermody-
namic equilibrium, i.e. their temperatures are the same, Tp = T (p = s, w, g), with
regard to the energy conservation equation, the space averaging procedure gives
(Gawin et al. 2003):
@T
qCp þ ml Cl vls þ mg Cg vgs rT þ r q ¼ rHdehyd m_ dehyd Þ DHvap m_ vap
@t
ð4:12Þ
with the heat capacity of the whole porous medium given by:
X
qCp ¼ mp Cp with p ¼ s; l; v; a ð4:13Þ
p
where q is the density of the whole porous medium, Cp (p = s, w, g) is the specific

heat capacity of each constituent, DHvap is the enthalpy of evaporation, DHdehyd the
enthalpy of dehydration and q the flux vector of heat conduction. Note that the
second term of the left-hand side of Eq. (4.12) gives the heat convection process
which encompasses both advective and diffusive heat transfer within the porous
network. Moreover, the right-hand side corresponds to the latent heat due to phase
changes (evaporation, condensation, dehydration).
The governing equations in the form described above are now complemented by
the constitutive equations.
4.3.2 Constitutive Equations
Fluid state equations

The liquid water is considered to be incompressible such that its density depends on
the temperature only. The vapour, dry air and the gas mixture are considered to
behave as ideal gases, which gives (p = v, a, g):
Mp
qp ¼ pp ð4:14Þ
RT
where pp is the pressure, Mp the molar mass and R the universal gas constant.
Furthermore, the pressure and density of the gas mixture can be related to the partial
pressures and densities of the constituents by:
qg ¼ qv þ qa ; pg ¼ pv þ pa ð4:15Þ
which gives:
pv
M g ¼ M a þ ðM v M a Þ ð4:16Þ
pg
Liquid–Vapour equilibrium
By assuming that the evaporation process occurs without energy dissipation, that is,
liquid and vapour water have equal free enthalpies, one can derive the generalized
Clausius–Clapeyron equation, which is a relationship between liquid and vapour
pressure:

Mv
pv ¼ pvs exp pg pc pvs ð4:17Þ
ql RT
where the capillary pressure:
pc ¼ pg pl ð4:18Þ
has been introduced for the porous medium and pvs is the saturation vapour pres-
sure, which only depends on temperature.
Mass fluxes
According to the velocity decomposition (Eq. 4.11), the mass fluxes can be made
explicit:
ql krl
J ls ¼ ml vls ¼ K rpl ð4:19Þ
ll

qv krg Mv Ma pv
J vs ¼ mv vgs þ mv vvg ¼ K rpg Dqg r ð4:20Þ
lg Mg2 pg

qa krg Mv Ma pa
J as ¼ ma vgs þ ma vag ¼ K rpg Dqg r ð4:21Þ
lg Mg2 pg
In the above equations, where Darcy’s and Fick’s laws are introduced, K is the
intrinsic permeability (assumed isotropic), krp is the relative permeability, lp is the
dynamic viscosity, D is the diffusivity and Mp is the molar mass. For the gas
mixture, the Darcy’s part of the mass flux J ps with p = v, a is controlled
by the
barycentric velocity of the gas vps while the Fick’s part J pg ¼ mp vpg , which is
controlled by the concentration gradient, gives the diffusion of each component
within the gas mixture. Furthermore, the concentration gradient can be written as:
40 F. Meftah et al.

pv 1 qv pv qv pa
r ¼ rpp rpc ¼ r ð4:22Þ
pg pg ql pg ql pg
Thus, the vapour and dry air fluxes can be recast in the following generic form:

qp krg M v M a q v pv Mv Ma qv
J ps ¼ K rpg D rpg D rpc ð4:23Þ
lg RTMg ql pg RTMg ql
where the upper signs correspond to vapour case (p = v) while the lower signs give
the dry air flux (p = a). This form depends directly on the state variables pg and pc.
Conductive heat flux
In the energy balance equation (4.12), the heat conduction process in the porous
medium can be described by Fourier’s law which relates the temperature to the heat
flux as follows:
q ¼ kðSl ; T Þ rT ð4:24Þ
where k(Sl, T) is the effective thermal conductivity, which is a function of the

temperature and of the degree of saturation of the pores with liquid water (see
Chap. 6).
Sorption–desorption isotherm
Solving the equations presented above works towards determining the spatial and
temporal distribution of temperature, masses of constituents and corresponding
pressures within the porous medium. By introducing the previous constitutive
equations, the problem involves, at this stage, as main unknowns (Sl, pc, pg, T, m_ vap )
or alternatively (Sl, pv, pa, T, m_ vap ). This set is reduced by introducing an additional
explicit relationship (van Genuchten 1980; Baroghel-Bouny et al. 1999; Pesavento
2000; Gawin et al. 2003):
Sl ¼ Sl ð pc ; T Þ ð4:25Þ
which is the sorption–desorption isotherm, characterizing phenomenologically the

microstructure of the porous medium (pore size distribution).
Using this additional relationship, the reduced set of unknowns is then
ðpc ; pg ; T; m_ vap Þ where a choice is made here to retain the state variables (pc, pg)
instead of (pv, pa) or (pl, pa).
At this point it is necessary to decide how to gather the mass conservation
equations of the phases. For instance, it is possible to sum up the mass balance
equation of the water vapour with the one of the dry air in order to obtain the mass
balance equation of the gas phase. In such a case the mass balance equation of the
water reduces to the equation for the mass conservation of the liquid phase.
Alternatively, a classical approach is described in Schrefler (2002), Gawin et al.
(2003), in which the equation of vapour mass conservation is summed up with the
liquid water mass balance equation.
This has the effect of reducing the set of unknowns further as the evaporation
source term m_ vap is eliminated, thus obtaining the balance equation for total water
mass mw:
@mw
þ r J ws ¼ m_ dehyd ð4:26Þ
@t
with:
mw ¼ ml þ mv ð4:27Þ
J ws ¼ J ls þ J vs ð4:28Þ
In this way, at the end of the mathematical developments, we have a model with
two mass balance equations: one for the dry air and another one for the water
species (liquid plus water vapour).
The final form of the governing equations of heat and mass transfer will be
described in the next subsection, taking into account the set of primary variables
chosen at the beginning of the formulation.
Some additional discussions about the choice of the state variables and about
some key points in modelling concrete exposed to high temperature can be found in
Sect. 4.3.
4.3.3 Final Form of the Heat and Mass Balance Equations
The hygro-chemo-thermal state of cement based materials at high temperature is

described by three primary state variables, i.e. gas pressure, pg, capillary pressure, pc,
and temperature, T, as well as one internal variable describing advancement of the
dehydration processes, i.e. degree of dehydration, Cdehyd . The mathematical model
describing the material performance consists of three equations: two mass balances
(continuity equations of water and dry air), enthalpy (energy) balance and one evolution
equation (degree of dehydration). For convenience of the reader, the final form of the
model equations, expressed in terms of the primary state variables, are listed below. The
full development of the equations is presented in Gawin et al. (2003).
The Mass balance equation of dry air takes into account both the diffusive
(described by the term L.27.7) and advective air flow (L.27.8), the variations of the
saturation degree of water (L.27.1) and air density (L.27.4), as well as the variations
of porosity caused by: dehydration process (L.27.5), temperature variation (L.27.2),
42 F. Meftah et al.
skeleton density changes due to dehydration (L.27.6) and by skeleton deformations

(L.27.3). The mass balance equation (without neglecting the solid skeleton volume
variation and assuming a non-constant solid density) has the following form:
L.27.1 L.27.2 L.27.3 L.27.4 L.27.5

ð4:29Þ
L.27.6 L.27.7 L.27.8
where C_ dehyd is a normalized dehydration rate that may be related to m_ dehyd and to
the apparent solid density (Gawin et al. 2003).
The Mass balance equation of gaseous and liquid water considers the diffusive
(L.28.6) and advective flows of water vapour (L.28.7) and water (L.28.8), the mass
sources related to phase changes of vapour (evaporation-condensation, physical
adsorption–desorption) (the sum of those mass sources equals to zero) and dehy-
dration (R.28.1), and the changes of porosity caused by variation of: temperature
(L.28.3), dehydration process (L.28.10), variation of skeleton density due to
dehydration (L.28.9) and deformations of the skeleton (L.28.2), as well as the
variations of: water saturation degree (L.28.1) and the densities of vapour (L.28.4)
and liquid water (L.28.5). This gives the following equation (Gawin et al. 2003):
L.28.1 L.28.2 L.28.3 L.28.4 L.28.5
L.28.6 L.28.7 L.28.8
L.28.9 L.28.10 R.28.1

ð4:30Þ
with bslg the thermal expansion coefficient of the multiphase porous medium,
defined by:
bslg ¼ bs ð1 uÞ ql Sl þ qv Sg þ ubl ql Sl ð4:31Þ
in which bp is the thermal expansion coefficient of each phase (p = s, w, g).

The Enthalpy balance equation of the multi-phase medium, accounting for the
conductive (L.30.3) and convective (L.30.2) heat flows, the heat effects of phase
changes (R.30.1) and dehydration process (R.30.2), and heat accumulation by a

material (L.30.1), can be written as follows:
L.30.1 L.30.2 L.30.3 R.30.1 R.30.2

ð4:32Þ
where q is the conductive thermal flux and the enthalpies of vaporisation and
dehydration are:
DHvap ¼ Hv Hl
ð4:33Þ
DHdehyd ¼ Hl Hls
the vapour mass source is given by Gawin et al. (2003):
L.32.1 R.32.1 R.32.2 R.32.3 R.32.4

ð4:34Þ
R.32.5 R.32.6 R.32.7
where bsl is the thermal expansion coefficient of the solid-liquid phase, defined as:
bsl ¼ ql Sl ½ð1 uÞbs þ ubl ð4:35Þ
Equation (4.34) is obtained from the water mass conservation equation, con-
sidering the advective flow of water (R.32.4), the mass sources related to dehy-
dration (R.32.7) and the changes of porosity caused by: variation of temperature
(R.32.3), dehydration process (R.32.6), variation of skeleton density due to dehy-
dration (R.32.5) and deformations of the skeleton (R.32.2), as well as the variations
of water saturation degree (R.32.1).
4.3.4 Boundary Conditions
The hygro-thermal problem consists of determining the temperature field T and the
pressure fields pg and pc, satisfying the conservation equations (4.29), (4.30) and
(4.32) within the domain X with the following boundary conditions at the domain
boundary R:
pg ¼ pg on Rp ð4:36Þ
pc ¼ pc on Rp ð4:37Þ
44 F. Meftah et al.
T ¼ T on RT ð4:38Þ

J vs n ¼ qv hg qv q1
v on Rp ð4:39Þ

J as n ¼ qa hg qa q1 p
on R ð4:40Þ
a
J ls n ¼ ql p
on R ð4:41Þ

q DHvap J ls n ¼ qT hT ðT T1 Þ rB T 4 T1
4 T
on R ð4:42Þ
where R is part of the boundary at which the pressures and the temperature are
known (Dirichlet type boundary conditions), while R is the complementary part
(with unit outward normal n) at which the mass fluxes of fluids and heat flux are
imposed. The terms qp (p = T, a, v, l) are the imposed fluxes, while q1 p with p = v,
a, are the densities of vapour and dry air, respectively. T∞ is the temperature in the
far field surrounding gas, while hg, and hT, are the convective mass and energy,
exchange coefficients, respectively. Finally is the emissivity and rB is the Stefan–
Boltzmann constant.
Note that the convective term on the right-hand-side of Eq. (4.42) corresponds to
Newton’s law of cooling and describes the conditions occurring in most practical
situations at the interface between a porous medium and the surrounding fluid
(moist air in this case). The second left-hand-side term gives the energy exchange at
the external surface due to the vaporisation process.
Particular attention has to be given to the mass convective boundary conditions
(4.39) and (4.40) if the staggered approach discussed below is used for time inte-
gration. The mass densities qp (p = v, a) have to be expressed in terms of the
retained variables of the problem (pc, pg, T). However, the relationships relating the
densities to the state variables are strongly nonlinear, which does not permit a
straightforward algebraic form of these boundary conditions suitable for the dis-
cretised problem to be obtained. Indeed, the variables at the boundary R p should be
factorised such that additional terms, associated to these boundary conditions, arise
in the operators of the discretized formulation in order to make them well condi-
tioned. In order to overcome this difficulty, it is proposed here to linearize, for a
given time stage t, the relationships relating the densities to the state variables in the
neighbourhood of a reference time stage tref:
@qp @q @qp
qp qref
p þ pg pref þ p pc pref þ T T ref ð4:43Þ
@pg g
@pc c
@T
where (pc, pg, T)ref are the values of the variables at tref. The choice of the reference
time will depend on the adopted iterative algorithm presented in the following.
It is worth noting that this peculiar problem does not exist in the case where the
monolithic approach algorithm is adopted for the solution of the numerical model
(Gawin et al. 2003, 2006). In such a case all the variables related to the calculation
of the boundary conditions are evaluated at the same time instant and at the same
iteration.
4.4 Key Points for Modelling Cement-Based Materials

at High Temperature
Dealing with cement-based materials at high temperature introduces some physical

and theoretical difficulties, which should be overcome to be able to formulate a
mathematical model giving reliable results for the material. These key points are
discussed in the following subsections.
Choice of state variables
A proper choice of state variables for the description of materials at high temper-
ature is of particular importance. From a practical point of view, the physical
quantities used should be possibly easy to measure during experiments, and from a
theoretical point of view, they should uniquely describe the thermodynamic state of
the medium. They should also assure a good numerical performance of the com-
puter code based on the resulting mathematical model. As mentioned previously,
the necessary number of state variables may be significantly reduced if the existence
of local thermodynamic equilibrium at each point of the medium is assumed. In
such a case, the physical state of different phases of water can be described by the
same variable.
Having in mind all the aforementioned remarks, we will briefly discuss now the
state variables chosen for the presented model. Use of temperature, which is the
same for all constituents of the medium because of the assumption about the local
thermodynamic equilibrium state, and use of solid skeleton displacement vector is
rather obvious; thus it needs no further explanation. As a hygrometric state variable,
various physical quantities which are thermodynamically equivalent may be used,
e.g. moisture content by volume or by mass, liquid water saturation degree, vapour
pressure, relative humidity, or capillary pressure. Analysing materials at high
temperature, one must remember that at temperatures higher than the critical point
of water (i.e. 374.15 °C or 647.3 K) there is no capillary (or free) water present in
the material pores, and there exists only the gas phase of water, i.e. vapour. Then,
very different moisture contents may be encountered at the same moment in a
heated cement-based material, ranging from full saturation with liquid water (e.g. in
some nuclear vessels or in the so called “moisture clog” zone in a heated concrete—
see England and Khoylou 1995) up to almost completely dry material. Moreover,
some quantities (e.g. saturation or moisture content), which can be chosen as pri-
mary variable are not continuous at interfaces between different materials.
For these reasons it is apparently not possible to use, in a direct way, one single
variable for the whole range of moisture contents. However, it is possible to use a
single variable that has a different meaning depending on the state. The moisture
46 F. Meftah et al.
state variable selected in the model is capillary pressure (Gawin et al. 2002b), which
was shown to be a thermodynamic potential of the physically adsorbed water and,
with an appropriate interpretation, can be also used to describe water at pressures
higher than atmospheric. The capillary pressure has been shown to assure good
numerical performance of the computer code (Gawin et al. 2002b, 2003, 2006) and
is very convenient for analysis of the stress state in concrete, because there is a clear
relationship between pressures and stresses (Gray et al. 2009).
Therefore, as already shown, the chosen primary state variables of the presented
model are the volume averaged values of: gas pressure, pg, capillary pressure, pc,
temperature, T, and displacement vector of the solid matrix, u.
For temperatures lower than the critical point of water, T < Tcr, and for capillary
saturation range, Sl > Sssp(T) (Sssp is not only the upper limit of the hygroscopic
moisture range as mentioned earlier, but also the lower limit of the capillary one),
the capillary pressure is defined according to Eq. (4.18).
For all other situations, and in particular for T
Tcr where condition Sl < Sssp
is always fulfilled (there is no capillary water in the pores), the capillary pressure is
substituted—only formally—by the water potential Wc, defined as:

RT pv
Wc ¼ ln vs ð4:44Þ
Mw f
where Mw is the molar mass of water, R the universal gas constant and f vs the
fugacity of water vapour in thermodynamic equilibrium with a saturated film of
physically adsorbed water (Gawin et al. 2002b). For physically adsorbed water at
lower temperatures (S < Sssp and T < Tcr) the fugacity f vs should be substituted in
the definition of the potential Wc, by the saturated vapour pressure pv. Having in
mind Kelvin’s equation, valid for the equilibrium state of capillary water with water
vapour above the curved interface (meniscus):

pv pc M w
ln ¼ ð4:45Þ
pvs ql RT
We can note that in the situations where (4.44) is valid, the capillary pressure
may be treated formally as the water potential multiplied by the density of the liquid
water, ql , according to the relation:
pc ¼ Wc ql ð4:46Þ
Thanks to this similarity, it is possible to “formally” use the capillary pressure

during computations even in the low moisture content range, where the capillary
water is not present in the pores and capillary pressure has no physical meaning.
Passing the critical point of water
In a concrete structure exposed to fire conditions, temperatures higher than the
critical point of water can be encountered in a part of the structure after some time.
Above this temperature, the liquid water and gaseous water phase (water vapour)
cannot be distinguished and only the gas phase exists. As a result, there are no
phase changes of the pore water (condensation–evaporation) and capillary pressure
has no physical meaning.
Hence, after reaching, in a region of moist porous material, temperatures higher
than the critical point of water, we deal with a kind of Stefan’s problem, where two
regions, with the temperatures below and above the critical point of water, are
separated by the moving interface boundary.
In Gawin et al. (2002b) a method, which formally allows direct tracking of the
boundary position in the space to be avoided, is presented. It consists of giving
formally different physical meaning to the capillary pressure (as discussed above)
and using it still for description of the hygrometric state of concrete in the zone
where the temperature exceeds the critical point of water. Then, a special
‘switching’ procedure is applied for a finite element where this temperature is
encountered, from the below- to the above- critical temperature description of the
medium, still using the governing equations of the same form, but with different
physical meaning.
4.5 Numerical Approach
In the following, some numerical procedures that are adopted for the discretisation
and the solution of the thermo-hydraulic model are presented.
The set of non-linear partial differential equations that controls the processes of
mass transport (see 4.2.3) is usually discretised in the space domain by means of
two methods, Finite Elements or Finite Volumes. The latter has the advantage of
being flux conservative but the former is usually adopted in the literature and will
be retained for this presentation.
According to the FEM procedure, the governing equations are re-written using
the weighted residual method, and the standard Galerkin procedure is usually
adopted. Time discretisation is achieved by means of the standard Finite Difference
Method. A non-symmetric, non-linear system is finally obtained and linearization,
usually by means of the Newton-Raphson method, is required (Zienkiewicz and
Taylor 2000).
The final set of discretised, linearized governing equations is solved as a
monolithic system or, alternatively, by means of a staggered coupled procedure (see
Gawin et al. 2003 and Meftah and Dal Pont 2010 or Meftah et al. 2012).
4.5.1 Variational Formulation
Starting from the previous initial-boundary value problem, the variational formu-
lation can be obtained as below, respectively, for total water, dry air and energy:
48 F. Meftah et al.
Z Z Z
@mw

p dX rp J ws dX ¼ p ðql þ
q v h g q v q1
v ÞdR
@t
X X Rp
Z
p m_ dehydr dX ð4:47Þ
X
Z Z Z
@ma
p dX rp J as dX ¼ p ðqa hg qa q1
a ÞdR ð4:48Þ
@t
X X Rp
Z Z
@T @ml
T qCp þ ml Cl vls þ mg Cg vgs rT dX T Hvap dX
@t @t
X X
Z Z
þ T rHvap ml vls dX þ rT Hvap ml vls dX
ZX Z X
ð4:49Þ

rT qdX T Hvap þ Hdehydr m_ dehydr dX
X X
Z

¼ T ðqT hT ðT T1 Þ er T 4 T1
4
ÞdR
Rp
where p* and T* are weighting functions that respectively vanish at the boundaries
Rp and RT and in which essential boundary conditions are used.
4.5.2 Spatial Discretisation
The standard Galerkin discretisation, replacing the weighting functions with the
shape functions, is adopted. For the state variables we can write:
pg ¼ N p pg ; pc ¼ N p pc ; T ¼ Nt T ð4:50Þ
After some manipulations, the weak formulation previously stated can be written
in the following form:
@Y
Cij ðY Þ þ K ij ðY ÞY ¼ f i ðY Þ ð4:51Þ
@t
where:
0 1 0 1 0 1
Cgg Cgc Cgt K gg K gc K gt fg
Cij ¼ @ 0 Ccc Cct A; K ij ¼ @ K cg K cc K ct A; f i ¼ @ f c A ð4:52Þ
0 Ctc Ctt K tg K tc K tt ft
For the sake of brevity, the matrix C and K are not given (see e.g. Gawin et al.
2003; Meftah and Dal Pont 2012 for further details).
4.5.3 Time Discretisation
Time discretisation is obtained by means of the standard #-method (see

Zienkiewicz and Taylor 2000), thus giving:
~ cc Dpn þ 1 þ K cc pn ¼ f n þ # K
K ~ cg Dpn þ 1 þ K cg pn K
~ cT DT n þ 1 þ K cT T n ð4:53Þ
c c c g g
~ gg Dpn þ 1 þ K gg pn ¼ f n þ # K
K ~ gc Dpn þ 1 þ K gc pn K
~ gT DT n þ 1 þ K gT T n ð4:54Þ
g g g c c
~ TT DT n þ 1 þ K TT T n ¼ f n þ # K
K ~ Tc Dpn þ 1 þ K Tc pn K
~ Tg Dpn þ 1 þ K Tg pn ð4:55Þ
T c c g g
with:
Dpnc þ 1 ¼ pnc þ 1 pnc ; Dpng þ 1 ¼ png þ 1 png ; DT n þ 1 ¼ T n þ 1 T n ð4:56Þ
and:
~ ¼ C þ #K
K ð4:57Þ
Dt
where Dt is the time step, the index n makes reference to the time station tn and tn þ #
to the time station tn þ #Dtn .
4.5.4 Solution Strategy
A monolithic approach is often adopted for the solution of the linearized system. In
this approach all the equations are solved at the same time and all the state variables
are updated simultaneously during the iterative procedure. This approach guaran-
tees the optimal convergence of the system especially when dealing with strong
non-linearities (Pesavento 2000; Gawin et al. 2003).
Alternatively, the system can be solved using a staggered procedure that permits
the equations to be solved sequentially (Dal Pont et al. 2007, Meftah and Dal Pont
2010). A specific iterative algorithm to account for the interactions between all of
50 F. Meftah et al.
the transfer processes to conserve their full coupling is required. Staggered pro-
cedures show a superior flexibility compared to monolithic ones if successive fields
have to be introduced in the problem. Moreover, an appropriate partitioning reduces
the size of the discretized problem to be solved at each time step. For the sake of
clarity, some details are provided on this latter procedure.
The set of nonlinear equations (4.53)–(4.55) is solved using a staggered iterative
scheme with two nested levels of iterations. The first level (local iteration k) con-
cerns the convergence process for each of the three equations when solved for one
variable while the other variables are kept constant. The second level (global
iteration j) concerns the convergence of the interaction among the three equations
when considering simultaneously the three updated variables. Moreover, a
quasi-Newton iterative algorithm is adopted; each equation is solved for the total
increment Dxn þ 1 (with Dxc ¼ Dpc , Dxg ¼ Dpg ; Dxt ¼ DT) by keeping fixed the
linearization point at the previous converged step (at time stage tn ) and by cumu-
lating the residuals during the iterations. Accordingly, the set of Eqs. (4.53)–(4.55)
can be put in the following generic form:
~ n Dxn þ 1;j þ 1;k þ 1 ¼ f n þ # K n xn K

K ~ n Dxn þ 1;j
aa a a aa a ab b
ð4:58Þ
~ n Dxn þ 1;j K n xn þ R
K nab xnb K n þ #;j þ 1;k
ac c ac c a
n þ #;j þ 1;k is the sum of the residuals of

with a ¼ c; g; T; b; c 6¼ a; b 6¼ c and where R a
the k previous iterations. Solving the above equation gives:
xna þ 1;j þ 1;k þ 1 ¼ xna þ Dxna þ 1;j þ 1;k þ 1

ð4:59Þ
xna þ #;j þ 1;k þ 1 ¼ xna þ #Dxna þ 1;j þ 1;k þ 1
n þ #;j þ 1;k to be determined:

which allows the updated residual R a
na þ #;j þ 1;k ¼ fan þ # fan þ #;j þ 1;k þ 1

R ð4:60Þ
Hence, after some manipulations, the final form of the set of Eqs. (4.53)–(4.55)
to be solved at each local iteration k + 1 is given by:
~ n Dxn þ 1;j þ 1;k þ 1 Dxn þ 1;j þ 1;k þ 1 ¼ Y n þ #;j þ 1;k

K ð4:61Þ
aa a a a
with:
n
Y na þ #;j þ 1;k ¼ f na þ # þ K ~ K ~ n þ #;j þ 1;k Dxn þ 1;j þ 1;k K n þ #;j þ 1;k xn
aa aa a aa a
K ~ n þ #;j þ 1;k
Dx n þ 1;j
K n þ #;j þ 1;k n
x ð4:62Þ
ab b ab b
~ n þ #;j þ 1;k Dxn þ 1;j K n þ #;j þ 1;k xn
K ac c ac c
The procedure is summarized in Fig. 4.6.

4.6 Simplified One-Fluid Model
In this section, we describe the Bažant’s model as the most representative one in the
class of the phenomenological models.
Bažant’s model has been, probably, the most popular model for analysing the
behaviour of concrete at high temperature between the 1980s and 1990s. Bažant
and Thonguthai (1978, 1979), on the basis of Luikov’s theory, proposed field
equations for the coupled heat and moisture transfer in concrete at high tempera-
tures. Making use of experimental data, they simplified the expression of the mass
flux (a function only of the gradient of the pressure) and presented some
semi-empirical relationships for the desorption isotherms, for the dependence of
permeability on temperature, for the change of porosity because of dehydration, and
so on. Here, only a brief description will be given and the reader is referred to
Bažant and Thonguthai (1978, 1979), and Bažant and Kaplan (1996) for further
details.
This model is based on a typical phenomenological approach and considers a
single moisture flux, i.e. a single fluid phase is present, which includes both liquid
water and moist air. Thus, the flux of mass in concrete J consists of a part due to the
gradient of moisture concentration, i.e. is a diffusive flux (Fick’s law), and a part
due to the gradient of temperature, i.e. convective flux (Soret flux). Similarly, the
heat flux q, consists of a flux due to the gradient of temperature, i.e. conductive flux
(Fourier’s law) as well as the flux due to the gradient of moisture concentration, i.e.
convective flux (Dufour flux). We can write (Bažant and Kaplan 1996):
J ¼ Dww rmw DwT rT

ð4:63Þ
q ¼ DTw rmw DTT rT
where mw is the water-content (Eq. 4.27), i.e., the total mass of free water (not
chemically bound) per m3 of concrete at a certain temperature.
Note that generally the diffusion coefficients Dij (i, j = w, T) in Eq. (4.63) are not
symmetric and that the relationship is written assuming that the mass and heat
fluxes are not affected by solid (concrete) deformability.
From Eq. (4.63)1, Bažant gives the following relationship for moisture flux by
neglecting the convective flux due to thermal gradient (Soret effect):
J ¼ Dh rh ð4:64Þ
where Dh is the diffusion coefficient of the moisture (without distinction between

liquid and vapour phase) transfer into the partially saturated porous network due to
the gradient of relative humidity h with:
pv
h¼ ð4:65Þ
pvs
52 F. Meftah et al.
Fig. 4.6 Staggered iterative algorithm—two nested levels of iterations

Using Eq. (4.64) and Kelvin’s equation (4.45), the moisture flux in Eq. (4.64)
can be alternatively expressed in terms of gradient of capillary pressure:
J ¼ Dc rpc ð4:66Þ
Likewise, it is possible to write down the relationship for heat flux, neglecting
the convective part of the flow (Dufour):
q ¼ brT ð4:67Þ
where b is the thermal conduction coefficient. In such a way a partial uncoupling of

the Eqs. (4.63) is possible, obtaining a final system of conservation equations (mass
plus heat) only partly coupled.
The uncoupling is only partial because Eq. (4.64) also gives a nonzero thermal
moisture flux. Thus, the final form of the conservation equations for moisture and
energy in concrete exposed to high temperature will be:
@w @wd
¼ r J ð4:68Þ
@t @t
@T @w
qC Ca Cw JrT ¼ r q ð4:69Þ
@t @t
in which wd is the mass of chemically bound (hydrate) water that has been released
into the pores as a result of dehydration of cement paste (i.e. part of the solid phase)
caused by heating, q and C are the density and specific heat of concrete including
chemically bound water, but excluding free water, and finally, Ca and Cw are the
heat of sorption of free water and the isobaric heat capacity of bulk (liquid) water,
respectively. The term Cw JrT represents the rate of heat supply due to heat
convection by moving water. Usually this term is neglected in Bažant’s model, but
in rapid heating, such as during a fire or a nuclear accident, it can be of importance.
The most important shortcoming of this model is that water vapour and liquid
water content are treated as one variable (moisture). The formulation of the des-
orption isotherms proposed by Bažant is analytically derived from the thermody-
namics of water at high temperature, but it is empirically modified to match the
experimental data. In such a way the equilibrium between the liquid phase and its
vapour phase is no longer assured and it is possible to obtain values of relative
humidity greater than 100%, which is physically meaningless. Moreover, part of the
description of the material microstructure, i.e. the porosity, is automatically
encompassed in the isotherms definition.
Furthermore, in the original formulation of the model the mechanical behaviour
is not considered, so it is limited to the heat and mass transfer simulation.
54 F. Meftah et al.
4.7 Simplified Thermo-mechanical Approach
Most of the routinely made calculations are based on simplified thermo-mechanical

equations where the temperature evolution is coupled to the mechanical analysis
through the thermal strains and the variation of the mechanical properties with
temperature, without explicitly describing important phenomena like moisture
transfer and chemical reactions. Ad hoc phenomenological equations are estab-
lished to account indirectly for their effect.
4.7.1 Heat Balance Equation
In this approach, only the heat transfer process is considered, with the temperature
field as the unknown. It is determined by solving the linearized energy balance
equation, which can be put in the following form when neglecting mechanical
interaction (which has negligible contribution when high temperatures are consid-
ered) and local source terms:
@T
qCp þr q ¼ 0 ð4:70Þ
@t
where q is the material density, Cp is the specific heat and q is the heat flux.
It is worth noting that, in a simplified thermo-mechanical approach, the rate of
energy release or energy consumption due to phase changes (as evaporation,
condensation and dehydration) at any material point depends only on the temper-
ature at this point. In other words, the supply (or loss) of water to this point by the
surrounding medium cannot be considered during the heating process.
Thus, phase changes are taken into account by adopting suitable phenomeno-
logical evolution laws of the specific heat capacity as functions of temperature. For
instance, an increase in specific heat capacity can be considered in the range of
temperature where water evaporation is assumed to intensively occur.
This simplification is a limitation in the thermo-mechanical approach since the
heat capacity of the material point is constrained by the adopted
temperature-dependent evolution law disregarding the transient hygral state of the
point.
Another limitation in the simplified thermo-mechanical approach is that
advective heat transfer (which may affect significantly the temperature field due to
mass fluxes of fluids) is ignored.
4.7.2 Heat Flux
The heat flux is classically given by Fourier’s constitutive equation for heat
transfer:
q ¼ kðT ÞrT ð4:71Þ
where kðT Þ is the thermal conductivity. Assuming that the thermal conductivity
depends on the temperature only restricts the model in a way that there is no
possibility of accounting for the effect of the transient hygral state on the heat
transfer mechanism.
4.7.3 Boundary Conditions
The heat transfer problem consists of determining the temperature field T ðx; tÞ
satisfying Eq. (4.70) (supplemented by constitutive Eq. (4.71)) within a given
domain X. The boundary conditions can be of various types:
on a part @XT of the domain boundary:
– prescribed temperatures T
T ¼ T 8 x 2 @XT ð4:72Þ
– prescribed heat flux q(T) on a part @Xq of the boundary:
n q ¼ q 8 x 2 @XT ð4:73Þ
where n is the outward normal to the boundary and q is the heat flux across the
boundary, accounting for conduction, convection and radiation where appropriate:

q ¼ hT ðT T1 Þ þ rB T 4 T1
4
ð4:74Þ
where, T is the temperature of the concrete, T1 is the temperature surrounding of

the environment, hT is the coefficient of convective heat transfer, is the emissivity
and rB is the Stefan-Boltzman constant.
4.8 Mechanical Modelling
4.8.1 Momentum Balance
For completeness, the momentum balance equations are recalled here while limiting
the analysis to quasi-static mechanical loadings. Introducing the Cauchy stress
56 F. Meftah et al.
second-order tensor rðx; tÞ at time stage t and spatial position x of any material
point of the studied domain X, the momentum balance equations can be written, in
the quasi-static case, i.e. neglecting the inertia effects, as:
x2X: div r þ f ¼ 0 ð4:75Þ
where f is the vector of applied forces per unit volume.

These equations are complemented by the boundary conditions, which are either
on part @Xu of the boundary @X of the studied domain X,
prescribed displacements u

x 2 @Xu : u ¼ u ð4:76Þ
or prescribed surface forces on the complementary part @Xr of the boundary,
x 2 @Xr : r n ¼ f ð4:77Þ
where n denotes the outward normal vector to the boundary @Xr and stands for the
scalar product.
4.8.2 Strain Decomposition
Different strains can be identified in a concrete which is mechanically loaded and

simultaneously heated. Accordingly, the overall measured strain tensor e may
conventionally be split as follows (Schneider 1988; Khoury et al. 2002):
e ¼ ee þ ef þ eth þ ec ð4:78Þ
where ee is the temperature dependent elastic strain, ef is the cracking induced

strain, eth is the free thermal strain and ec is the transient creep strain.
The free thermal strain eth is the apparent strain experimentally measured during
a standard free (unconstrained) thermal dilatation test. It results from the super-
position of the effective thermal strain et , the shrinkage strain es and the
micro-cracking strain emf which is induced by the incompatibility between
shrinking cement paste and expanding aggregates. Hence, the thermo-hygral strain
tensor can be written as:
eth ¼ et þ es þ emf ð4:79Þ
Note that the identification of the component emf requires analysis of the
behaviour of the material at the meso-scale, i.e., the scale at which concrete is seen
as a set of granular inclusions embedded in a cementitious matrix.
With regard to the shrinkage strain es two main driving mechanisms can be
discriminated:
– Drying shrinkage which involves the mechanical action of the capillary pressure
which increases due the loss of water by desiccation. This component appears to
be less significant than the second mechanism since the liquid saturation of
heated concrete quickly drops to zero in addition to the counteracting effect of
dilatation of initially available capillary water.
– Dehydration shrinkage which is due to a reduction of the material volume
induced by the departure of the initially chemically bounded water. The pro-
gressive reorganization, at the microstructure scale, of the formed anhydrous
phases lead to this shrinkage component, the magnitude of which appears to be
more important than the previous one.
Furthermore, the transient creep strain ec in Eq. (4.78) encompasses both the
basic creep strain ebc and the transient thermal creep strain etc :
ec ¼ ebc þ etc ð4:80Þ
This strain is obtained from an experimental test during which a non-sealed

(mass exchange allowed) specimen is continuously heated under a constant load. It
is obtained by removing from the overall measured strain the other strain compo-
nents (obtained from an ad hoc companion test) according to Eq. (4.78). Therefore,
the transient thermal creep component can be obtained from Eq. (4.80) when the
basic creep component is measured on a companion specimen subjected to a
constant load while sealed and kept at a constant temperature. It is generally
assumed that basic creep of heated concrete is negligible which means that transient
creep strain ec mainly reduces to the transient thermal creep strain etc . The latter
appears (Thelanderson et al. 1988; Torrenti et al. 1997; Benboudjema 2002; Feraille
2000; Pasquero 2004; Anderberg and Thelandersson 1973; Khoury et al. 1985;
Bažant and Kaplan 1996; Gawin et al. 2004) to be the additional strain which
comes from the evolution of the microstructure due to the material drying and
dehydration when under a sustained stress state.
Moreover, some works (Khoury et al. 1985; Schneider 1988; Khoury 2003) refer
to the so-called load-induced transient strain etm (LITS) which is the sum of the
elastic ee , cracking ef and transient thermal creep etc strains:
etm ¼ ee þ ef þ etc ð4:81Þ
From experimental tests, LITS is obtained by removing the free thermal strain eth
from the strain measured during a test at which the specimen is firstly loaded and
then heated while the load is maintained.
It is worth noting that the identification of strain components of heated concrete
according to Eqs. (4.78)–(4.81) is not straightforward since it requires a proper
quantification of the contribution of cracking processes. Cracking strain needs to be
evaluated by ad hoc cracking models since it cannot be measured experimentally.
58 F. Meftah et al.
A back analysis based on a numerical approach should accompany the experiment

in order to assess the effective contribution of each strain component.
In the next section, constitutive models are presented for each strain component
according to additive decomposition given by Eqs. (4.78)–(4.81). It is worth
mention that the following constitutive equations are given for illustrative purposes;
that is, other laws can be adopted instead. Note also that intermediate decompo-
sition of total strain may be adopted with constitutive equations written for these
intermediate strains each of them gathering some elementary components of the
decomposition presented above. For instance a constitutive law may be elaborated
for the intermediate strain em ¼ ee þ ef .
4.8.3 Constitutive Equations
Free thermal strain

Usually, free thermal strain is considered by adopting the following phenomeno-
logical constitutive relationship for the strain rate tensor e_ th :
_
e_ th ¼ ath ðT ÞTd ð4:82Þ
where d is the second-order unit tensor, T_ is the temperature rate and T_ is the
tangent temperature-dependent thermal expansion coefficient.
Constitutive equation (4.82) is the usual adopted approach for modelling thermal
expansion. However, the thermal expansion coefficient is identified experimentally
from the standard free thermal expansion test during which mass and heat transfer
occur within the specimen with some characteristic times that depend on the
specimen size and the transfer properties (conductivity, permeability, dehydration
kinetics…) of the material.
Since the identified thermal expansion coefficient depends on the test conditions
it cannot be considered as an objective constitutive (material) parameter. To
overcome the inherent drawback in the standard experimental identification pro-
cedure, the free thermal strain eth should be split according to Eq. (4.79) with an
appropriate constitutive law for each strain. Then, experiment and computation
should be used in conjunction to identify all involved physical parameters.
Effective thermal strain
Similarly to the approach of apparent thermal strain, an effective thermal expansion
coefficient at ðT Þ may be considered for expressing the effective thermal strain rate e_ t :
_
e_ t ¼ at ðT ÞTd ð4:83Þ
The identification of the effective coefficient at ðT Þ from the apparent thermal

strain eth needs the knowledge of appropriate constitutive equations for the two other
components in the right-hand-side of Eq. (4.79). The shrinkage component es is
made explicit hereafter while the meso-scale cracking strain emf comes from mod-
elling of the cracking process at this scale (due to incompatibility between aggregate
and cement paste) with an appropriate cracking, plasticity, damage… based model.
Shrinkage strain
A simple model for this strain component considers it as proportional to water loss
without distinguishing previously described mechanisms of shrinkage. Accordingly,
the shrinkage strain rate tensor can be written as (Benboudjema 2002, Al Najim et al.
2003; Benboudjema et al. 2007; Sabeur et al. 2008; Sabeur and Meftah 2008):
e_ s ¼ as hm_ l i d ð4:84Þ
where as is the shrinkage coefficient, m_ l is the mass loss of water that comes from
mass and heat transfer modelling (cf. Sect. 4.2) and the symbol hi stands for the
negative part, that is, only a water loss (negative m_ l ) will lead to shrinkage.
An alternative constitutive equation for the drying shrinkage component comes
from making the two driving mechanisms previously described (cf. Sect. 4.7.2)
explicit in the constitutive law. Distinction is made between shrinkage induced by
drying and shrinkage induced by dehydration. The former is assumed to be the
deformation of the solid skeleton that is induced mechanically by capillary effects:
capillary forces give rise to an increase of suction within the pore space leading to a
contraction of the porous medium. The second mechanism is rather related to a
volume decrease of the solid phase (skeleton) due to loss of chemically bound water
by dehydration. This is conventionally assumed to start when the temperature
exceeds a threshold of about 105–115 °C.
Hence, the shrinkage strain tensor in this alternative approach
reads (Benboudjema et al. 2007; Sabeur et al. 2008; Sabeur and Meftah 2008):
e_ s ¼ e_ drys þ e_ hyds ¼ e_ drys þ ahs m_ dehyd d ð4:85Þ
While an explicit constitutive law is needed for strain rate tensor of dehydration
shrinkage e_ hyds , the drying (capillarity) induced shrinkage may be implicitly
embedded in the total strain by the use of a poro-mechanical constitutive behaviour
(cf. section on effective stress). Indeed, the capillary pressure (Eq. 4.18) as a part of
pore pressure will generate an effective stress r0 (Eq. 4.89) that leads to a defor-
mation of the porous medium. For instance, a time dependent constitutive law
(creep) may be adopted for the porous medium leading to a drying shrinkage strain
that is the time dependent response of the medium due to capillary pressure (suc-
tion) acting on the creeping skeleton (Benboudjema et al. 2007; Sabeur et al. 2008;
Sabeur and Meftah 2008).
60 F. Meftah et al.
Transient Creep
During first-time heating of a concrete specimen under sustained load, a significant
increase in strains associated with the increase in temperature occurs. This phe-
nomenon cannot be solely explained by the thermo-mechanical degradation of the
elastic properties nor by the occurrence of micro-cracking. It has rather been linked
to an additional strain component, which takes place in a very short period of time.
This strain component, called transient thermo-mechanical interaction strain or
transient creep strain, is considered to be a function of the temperature as well as of
the stress. Even though there is no consensus on the physical mechanisms driving
this phenomenon, a federating twofold assumption is made: whereby between 100
and 200 °C drying of the cement matrix is the most important factor (drying creep),
while for higher temperatures a change of the chemical structure of the hydrates is
primarily assumed to be responsible.
Based on experimental investigation, Anderberg and Thelandersson (1976)
proposed a uni-axial constitutive law for transient creep strain rate that has been
extended to multi-axial behaviour by Thelandersson (1987):
_
e_ tc ¼ TQ:r ð4:86Þ
where Q is the forth order tensor of transient creep compliance given by:

ath btc 1
Qijkl ¼ ð1 þ ctc Þ dik djl þ dil djk ctc dij dkl ð4:87Þ
fc 2
in which fc is the compressive strength at ambient temperature and ðbtc ; ctc Þ are
model parameters identified from transient creep tests: btc comes from a uni-axial
test while ctc refers to the “Poisson’s” ratio of transient creep.
The constitutive relationship (4.86) has been successfully incorporated into a
thermo-elasto-plastic modelling approach for heated concrete by Khennane and
Baker (1992) and by Heinfling (1998). The approach was also extended to a
damage-based framework by Nechenech et al. (2002):
_ r
e_ tc ¼ TQ:~ ð4:88Þ
where r~ is the effective stress (cf. section Stress-strain relationship) according to

damage mechanics (Kachanov 1986).
More recently, Sabeur et al. (2008) have proposed a constitutive model for
transient creep that relates the strain rate to two assumed driving mechanism: drying
creep and dehydration creep.
Effective stress
Within the framework of poro-mechanics, the effective stress is the stress acting on
the solid skeleton of the porous medium due to the combination of the apparent stress
acting on the porous medium and the stress induced by fluids filling the pore space.
Accordingly, a common expression of the apparent stress tensor r is written as:
r ¼ r0 þ aps d ð4:89Þ
where r0 is the effective (Bishop’s) stress tensor, a is the Biot coefficient, ps is the
pore pressure transferred to the solid skeleton and d is the identity tensor (Gray et al.
2009).
Pore pressure definition
Different expressions for the pore pressure that transfers to the solid concrete
material phase as stress can be found in the literature. A first definition is (Tenchev
et al. 2001):
ps ¼ pg ð4:90Þ
where pg is the gas pressure. A second definition is (Gawin et al. 1999):

ps ¼ pg patm for Sl Sbl

ð4:91Þ
Sl Sbl pl þ 1 Sl Sbl pg patm for Sl [ Sbl
where pl is the liquid water pressure, patm is the atmospheric pressure and Sbl is the
saturation threshold beyond which the liquid phase present in the pore cannot exert
a significant pressure on the solid skeleton. Based on the same key idea (Gawin
et al. 2003), an alternative expression to the previous reads:
(
pg patm for Sl Sbl
ps ¼ Sl Sbl ð4:92Þ
1Sbl
pl þ 1Sl
1Sbl
pg patm for Sl [ Sbl
Finally, the pore pressure can be related to gas pressure and capillary pressure as
follows:
ps ¼ pg v l pc ð4:93Þ
where vl is the solid surface fraction in contact with the wetting film (Al Najim et al.
2003; Benboujema et al. 2007; Sabeur and Meftah 2008; Gray et al. 2009).
Stress-strain relationship
Typically when modelling concrete exposed to elevated temperatures, it is con-
sidered most appropriate and convenient to assume elastic behaviour of the solid
component and account for non-linear behaviour via a damage formulation (e.g.
Gawin et al. 1999, 2004; Tenchev and Purnell 2005; Davie et al. 2010; de Sa and
Benboudjema 2011). That said, some authors have recently started to combine
damage and plasticity models in order to more comprehensively capture observed
behaviour, especially in multi-axial stress conditions (e.g. Nechnech et al. 2002; Al
Najim et al. 2003; Gernay et al. 2013).
62 F. Meftah et al.
The use of a damage formulation has the added advantage that, for thermo-
hydro-chemo-mechanical models, the change in some other material properties
(particularly for example permeability (see Sect. 5.1.5) can be directly associated
with the damage formulation (e.g. Gawin et al. 2002b; Al Najim et al. 2003; Davie
et al. 2010).
In the general case, the damage formulation is based on the concept of the
~ in the sense of damage mechanics (Kachanov 1986), which may
effective stress r
be related to the effective stress r0 in the sense of poro-mechanics as:
r0 ¼ ð1 xÞ~
r ¼ ð1 xÞC0 :ee ð4:94Þ
Whereby the damage parameter, x.,ontrols the reduction of the initial elasticity
tensor C0 due to the effective loss of load carrying cross-section as micro-cracks
develop in the solid skeleton of the concrete.
Classic damage models consider the effects of mechanical stress in the devel-
opment of damage, but when considering concrete at elevated temperatures it is
necessary to consider also the fact that damage can be caused by thermal degra-
dation of the material (i.e. the breakdown of the solid and the development of
micro-cracks due to an increase in temperature, even without load).
This thermal damage xT is typically accounted for through the degradation of
the elastic modulus (as described in Sect. 5.3.1.3) (e.g. Baker and Stabler 1999;
Nechnech et al. 2002; Al Najim et al. 2003; Gawin et al. 2003; Davie et al. 2010)
and is treated multiplicatively with the mechanical damage xM such that:
r0 ¼ ð1 xT Þð1 xM ÞC0 : ee ð4:95Þ
However, some authors account for thermal effects through the temperature
dependent evolution of the damage and/or yield surfaces (e.g. Gernay, Millard et al.
2013).
The definition of the mechanical damage can take many forms and the most
appropriate form is dependent on the required application. Generally, thermal
dependence of the parameters of the model is required in order to capture the
change in mechanical behaviour at elevated temperatures. Examples of various
approaches to thermally dependent mechanical damage formulations can be found
in Gawin et al. (1999, 2003), Nechnech et al. (2002), Al Najim et al. (2003),
Luccioni et al. (2003), Tenchev and Purnell (2005), Davie et al. (2010), de Sa and
Benboudjema (2011), Gernay et al. (2013).
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à haute température, Thèse de doctorat, ENPC, France, 191 p. (In French)
Pesavento, F.: Non-linear modeling of concrete as multiphase porous material in high temperature
conditions. Dissertation, University of Padova (2000)
Sabeur H, Meftah F. Dehydration creep of concrete at high temperatures. Materials and Structures
41(1), 17–30 (2008)
Sabeur H, Meftah F, Colina H, Plateret G. Correlation between transient creep of concrete and its
dehydration. Magazine of Concrete Research, 60(3):157–163 (2008)
Schneider U. (1988), Concrete at high temperatures: A general review, Fire safety Journal, vol. 13,
p 55–68
Schrefler, B.A.: Mechanics and Thermodynamics of Saturated-Unsaturated Porous Materials and
Quantitative Solutions. Applied Mechanics Review. 55(4): 351–388 (2002)
Tenchev, R., Purnell, P.: An application of a damage constitutive model to concrete at high
temperature and prediction of spalling. Int. J. Solids Struct. 42(26), 6550–6565 (2005)
Tenchev, R.T., Li, L.Y., Purkiss, J.A.: Finite element analysis of coupled heat and moisture
transfer in concrete subjected to fire. Num. Heat Transfer, Part A: Appl. 39(7), 685–710 (2001)
Thelandresson, S.: Modeling of combined thermal and mechanical action in concrete. J. Engrg.
Mech., ASCE, 113(6), 893–906 (1987)
Thelandersson S., Martensson A. and Dahlblom O. (1988), Tension softening and cracking in
drying concrete, Materials and Structures, 21, p. 416–424
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ambiance variable, Revue Française de Génie Civil, 1 (4), p. 687–698 (In French)
Ulm, F.-J., Coussy, O., Bažant, Z.P.: The “Chunnel” fire. I. Chemoplastic softening in rapidly
heated concrete. J. Eng. Mech. ASCE 125(3), 272–282 (1999a)
Ulm, F.-J., Acker, P., Levy, M.: The “Chunnel” fire. II. Analysis of concrete damage. J. Eng.
Mech. ASCE 125(3), 283–289 (1999b)
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Butterworth-Heinemann, Oxford (2000)
Chapter 5
Constitutive Parameters
Fekri Meftah, Colin Davie, Stefano Dal Pont and Alain Millard
Abstract The numerous parameters which appear in the advanced models

described in the previous chapter are in general dependent of some of the state
variables, such as temperature. In this chapter, many expressions used in practice
for the evolution of the hygral, thermal and mechanical parameters are presented.
5.1 Hygral Parameters
5.1.1 Evolution of Pore Structure During Heating
The loss of stability of solid phases in concrete, paste and aggregates, when
exposed to high temperatures, affects its pore structure. The physical and chemical
changes occurring in solid phases induce changes in pore size distribution and total
porosity. Noumowe (1995) has given the variation of porosity with different levels
of temperatures for an ordinary concrete and a high performance concrete heated up
to 600 °C. The total pore volume of a heated concrete increases non-linearly with
the increase of temperature. On heating up to 300 °C, a relatively small increase in
pore volume is observed in comparison to the weight losses. This was considered to
F. Meftah (&)
Institut National des Sciences Appliquées, Rennes, France
e-mail: fekri.meftah@insa-rennes.fr
C. Davie
School of Engineering, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK
e-mail: colin.davie@newcastle.ac.uk
S. D. Pont
Laboratoire 3SR, Université Grenoble-Alpes, Grenoble, France
e-mail: stefano.dalpont@3sr-grenoble.fr
A. Millard
Service d’Études Mécaniques et Thermiques, Commissariat à l’Énergie Atomique
et aux Énergies Alternatives (CEA), Saclay, France
© RILEM 2019 67
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-11995-9_5
68 F. Meftah et al.
be due to structural changes resulting from the desiccation and dehydration pro-
cesses occurring mainly in pores of radii less than 40 Å (Andrade et al. 2003).
Heating up to 600 °C will increase the total pore volume. This increase is higher
than would be expected in comparison with weight losses (Fig. 5.1). On the other
hand Bažant and Thonguthai (1978, 1979) observed an upward jump in concrete
permeability of two orders of magnitude. This was related to the fact that the pore
volume available for capillary water must increase significantly when temperature
and pore pressure increase. Then, it may therefore be suspected that either an
expansion of pores has occurred by break down of partition walls, or micro-cracks
are formed (Andrade et al. 2003).
Many authors have investigated micro-cracking (Dougill 1968; Blundell et al.
1976). They have indicated that the differential strain between the aggregate (which
expands) and the cement paste (which shrinks) at different temperatures will ini-
tially induced a small compressive stress in the paste. As the temperature increases,
the compressive stress is reduced and changes to a larger tensile stress. The changes
of porosity with the increase of temperature were measured for several types of
concrete by Schneider and Herbst (1989). Their results showed that the dependence
of porosity on temperature can be approximated for concrete by a linear
relationship:
Fig. 5.1 Weight variations (Noumowe 1995)

5 Constitutive Parameters 69
Fig. 5.2 Porosity from experimental data (Schneider and Herbst 1989) and approximations using
Eq. 5.1
uT ¼ u0 þ Au ðT T0 Þ ð5:1Þ
where Au is a constant dependent on the type of concrete, and T0 corresponds to

room temperature. For the experimental data for three types of the B35-concrete,
the following coefficients in (5.1) have been found by using the least-squares
method (Gawin et al. 1999) (Fig. 5.2):
Silicate concrete Limestone concrete Basalt concrete

u0 0.060 0.087 0.0802
Au ðK1 Þ 0.000195 0.000163 0.00017
Another relationship for the evolution of porosity due to the dehydration pro-
cesses has been proposed by Feraille (2000) as follows:
uT ¼ u0 þ 0:72 103 mdehyd ð5:2Þ
where u0 is the initial porosity and mdehyd is the mass of water which is to be
experimentally determined from the dehydration processes, as will be seen in detail
in the following section. It should be noted also that the above equation takes into
account the Le Chatelier contraction.
70 F. Meftah et al.
5.1.2 Dehydration Processes—Chemical Reaction
The combined reaction in cement paste and aggregate in concrete, which are ini-
tiated when concrete is subjected to elevated temperature, have been examined by
many authors (Harmathy and Allen 1973; Schneider 1982) with the aid of differ-
ential thermal analysis investigations. Dehydration (i.e. release of chemically bound
water) from the C-S-H becomes significant above 105 °C, while the dehydration of
the calcium hydroxide Ca(OH)2 takes place at about 500 °C producing CaO and
H2O. Both will produce a reduction in the mass of the cement paste of the solid
skeleton. However, the strength of concrete is more related to the C-S-H than the Ca
(OH)2.
The amount of water that is released upon heating due to dehydration into the
pores of concrete depends on the amount of hydrated water mhydr (consumed by the
hydration process) before heating. Therefore, it is a function of the degree of
hydration. The degree of hydration before heating depends on the age of concrete as
well as its temperature and humidity history. The degree of hydration may con-
veniently be referred to the equivalent hydration period (maturity) te. It represents
the period of hydration, in water and at 25 °C, needed to give the same degree of
hydration as the actual time period gives at variable RH and T. By fitting the results
of Powers and Brownyard (1948) at 25 °C, it has been found (Bažant and Kaplan
1996) that:

te
mhyd ðte Þ 0:21c ð5:3Þ
te þ se
where the characteristic period se ¼ 23 days for a concrete with w/c = 0.43.
The amount of water that is released by the dehydration mdehydr (kg per m3 of
concrete), when reaching various temperatures is experimentally obtained by
weight loss measurements on heated specimens and can be expressed according to
Bažant and Kaplan (1996) as:

mdehyd ðT Þ ¼ m105
hydr f ðT Þ
C
ð5:4Þ

105 C
in which mhydr is the hydrated water content at 105 °C and f ðT Þ is a function of
dehydration. Gawin et al. (2001) have calculated the dehydrated water content
mdehyd ðT Þ, when temperature increases, by using a step function showing a sharp
change between 200 and 500 °C. The following law can represent this kind of
behaviour:
mdehyd ðT Þ ¼ c faging fstechio f ðT Þ ð5:5Þ
where c is the cement content, faging is the aging degree of the concrete (between
0 and 1), fstechio is stechiometric factor and f ðT Þ is a function of dehydration (Gawin
et al. 2001).
Based on an experimental work on cement paste, Feraille (2000) has noted the
evolution of dehydration and observed thatit is not an instantaneous process but
needs some time to take place. The author has proposed the following formula,
which takes into account the asymptotic evolution of dehydration m_ dehyd through
the characteristic time sdehyd of mass loss:
D E
mdehyd meq
dehyd
þ
m_ dehyd ¼ ð5:6Þ
sdehyd
where meqdehyd is the water mass at the equilibrium measured during the
thermo-gravimetric tests. It is expressed as:

7:5 105 C T 105 2 105 C
meq
dehyd ¼ mhydr 1 exp H ðT 105Þ þ mhydr
100 200 100

T 400 1:5 105 C T 540
1 exp H ðT 400Þ þ m 1 exp
10 100 hydr 5
H ðT 540Þ
ð5:7Þ
105 C

where H is the Heaviside function and mhydr ¼ c 1 þ 0:2faging in (kg/m3).
Equation 5.7 is used to calculate the dehydrated water content mdehyd ðT Þ, and the
evolution of dehydration as follows:
@ @T
m_ dehyd ¼ mdehyd ðT Þ ð5:8Þ
@T @t
5.1.3 Liquid-Vapour Equilibrium
It is assumed here that no dissipation occurs during phase change. This in turn
requires the assumption that the liquid water (both capillary and adsorbed) and the
vapour remain in a local thermodynamic equilibrium. Therefore, this local equi-
librium gives rise to a set of restrictions in the equilibrium configuration that must
be satisfied at all times. However, it can be considered that the specific Gibbs
functions of the two phases, considered at the same temperature, are equal at all
times.
In the work of Dal Pont (2004) the following steps are followed to establish a
relationship between the pure liquid water and vapour phases; starting with the
consideration that the enthalpies of both liquid water gl ðpl ; T Þ and vapour gv ðpv ; T Þ
are functions of temperature T and pressure p, the partial derivatives of these two
functions with respect to their pressures can be written as follows:
72 F. Meftah et al.
@ 1
gl ð pl ; T Þ ¼ ð5:9Þ
@pl ql ðpl ; T Þ
@ 1
gv ð pv ; T Þ ¼ ð5:10Þ
@pv q v ð pv ; T Þ
and considering that the liquid water is incompressible (ql is independent of pl ) and

the vapour is an ideal gas qv ¼ pRT
v Ml
. After integrating the two equations above, we
obtain:
pl
gl ð pl ; T Þ ¼ þ C1 ðT Þ ð5:11Þ
q l ðT Þ
RT
gv ð pv ; T Þ ¼ lnðpv Þ þ C2 ðT Þ ð5:12Þ
Ml
from the equality of enthalpies of the two phase we can get:
pl RT
þ lnðpv Þ þ C1 ðT Þ þ C2 ðT Þ ¼ 0 ð5:13Þ
q l ðT Þ Ml
To determine C1 ðT Þ þ C2 ðT Þ Dal Pont (2004) considered the case in which the

liquid water and the vapour coexist in a big and closed container. The separation
surface between the two phases is flat (no capillary effect). In this case and at
equilibrium conditions, the pressure of both liquid and vapour is the same (no body
force is considered) and will be equal to the saturation pressure of pure vapour
pvs ðT Þ. This state can be taken as a reference state and should verify (5.13). So we
can find C1 ðT Þ þ C2 ðT Þ. Finally, the relationship between the liquid and the vapour,
which is known as the generalised Clapeyron relationship, would be expressed as
follows (Dal Pont 2004):

ql ðT ÞRT pv
pl ¼ pvs ðT Þ þ ln ð5:14Þ
Ml pvs ðT Þ
Now if we consider the case in which three phases (i.e. liquid water, vapour and dry
air) can coexist at the same time, like in the case of a partially saturated concrete,
then the condition of equilibrium over the separation surface must change so that
(pv ¼ pvs and pl ¼ pvs þ pa ) and we can get the following relationship:

ql ðT ÞRT pv
pl ¼ pvs ðT Þ þ pa þ ln ð5:15Þ
Ml pvs ðT Þ
If we know that at 20 °C the saturation vapour pressure is pvs ¼ 2350 Pa and the
dry air pressure is pa ¼ 99;000 Pa, then pg ¼ patm ¼ 101;325 Pa. This can be a
particular case of (5.15) which can give the known relationship of Kelvin as
follows:

ql ðT ÞRT pv
pl ¼ patm þ ln ð5:16Þ
Ml pvs ðT Þ
The saturation pressure of pure vapour pvs ðT Þ, which depends only upon temper-
ature, could be obtained from empirical correlation. Tabulated results (Raznjevic
1970), which link the water vapour saturation pressure pvs with temperature T could
be approximated by the following formula (Monteith and Unsworth 1990):
7:5T
pvs ðT Þ ¼ 610:7 10T þ 237:3 ð5:17Þ
It should be noted that this equation is taken until the critical point of water
647.15 K, after which it is not possible to distinguish between the liquid and
vapour. Another equation can be taken for pvs after the critical temperatures fol-
lowing the L-function given in Ju and Zhang (1998) for the superheated steam:
" 2 #
T T
pvs ðT Þ ¼ pvs ð647:15Þ L0 þ L1 þ L2 ð5:18Þ
647:15 647:15
where L0 ¼ 15:8568, L1 ¼ 34:1706 and L2 ¼ 15:7437.

In (5.15), the saturation vapour pressure pvs should be the pressure that takes into
account the coexistence of air. In fact, it is different from that one given in (5.14),
which is the saturation pressure of pure vapour. However, Feraille (2000) showed
that below the critical temperature of water, the two saturation vapour pressures
coincide. A boiling-point temperature can be introduced which, when reached,
gives an additional evaporation in the pore until the full drying of material. This
boiling temperature is the temperature for which the saturation vapour pressure is
equal to the gas pore pressure. When this situation is met, the temperature remains
constant while the water saturation degree decreases. Note that beyond the
boiling-point temperature, no liquid water exists. Therefore, there is no need to
define specific liquid water properties (density, viscosity, heat capacity…) after the
critical temperature.
The state equation of liquid water is rather complex, and usually creates
numerical problems. As a sufficient approximation of the dependence of the bulk
density of liquid water upon its temperature and pressure, the following formula
may be used (Gawin et al. 1999),

ql ¼ q0l 1 bl ðT T0 Þ þ al ðpl p0l ð5:19Þ
where q0l ¼ 999:84 kg m3 is the water density at the reference temperature T0

and pressure p0l , bl ¼ m1l @m
@T pl is volume thermal expansion coefficient of the
l
74 F. Meftah et al.

@ml
water, al ¼ m1l @pl T is the isothermal compression modulus of water
9 1
(bl ¼ 4:3 10 Pa ), and ml ¼ q1 is the water specific volume. The coefficient bl
l
changes in a non-linear manner with temperature (e.g. bl ¼ 0:68 104 K1 at

T = 273.15 K and bl ¼ 10:1 104 K1 at T = 420 K), thus an average value for
the temperature range of interest should be used in calculations. The state
Eq. (5.19), basically valid for the bulk (free) liquid water, is often used also for the
description of the capillary and bound water, e.g. (Gawin et al. 1999). However,
due to a very complex nature of interaction between the water and skeleton, its
applicability is questionable, especially as far as pressure dependence is concerned
(although capillary water is in traction, its density is not expected to be lower than
that for bulk water). Nevertheless, because of a lack of any reliable data, Eq. (5.19)
may be used, but assuming water incompressibility, i.e. al ¼ 0 (Gawin et al. 1999).
We can use the experimental results given by Raznjevic (1970) for the density of
liquid water as a function of temperature, which could be approximated by the
following formula given in Deseur (1999):
" 0:55
1
#0:55
T 273:15
ql ¼ 314:4 þ 685:6 1 ð5:20Þ
374:14
Gas Properties
Ideal Gases
The following expressions of density of gases can be found in the literature:
Mp
qp ¼ pp ð5:21Þ
RT
where, pp is the density of gas phase, R is the ideal gas constant, T is the tem-
perature, Mp is the molar mass of gas and pp is the partial pressure of the gas phase
(e.g. Gawin et al. 1999; Tenchev et al. 2001; Davie et al. 2006)
Mv
qv ¼ pv þ Dqv ð5:22Þ
RT
where, qv is the density of the vapour phase, Mv is the molar mass of vapour, pv is
the partial pressure of the vapour phase and Dpv is a correction factor to bring the
ideal gas behaviour in line with measured values of vapour density with temper-
ature (Gawin et al. 2002).
Partial Pressures and Densities
pg ¼ pv þ pa ð5:23Þ
qg ¼ qv þ qa ð5:24Þ
where pg is the pressure of the combined gas phase, pv is the partial vapour pressure
and pa is the partial pressure of dry air. pg is the density of the combined gas phase,
pv is the density of the vapour phase and pa is the density of the dry air (Gawin et al.
1999; Tenchev et al. 2001; Davie et al. 2006).
5.1.4 Sorption and Desorption Isotherms
The sorption and desorption isotherms are useful for calculation of pores water
vapour pressures. These isotherms are the equilibrium curves of pore relative
vapour pressure versus specific water content at constant temperatures. In another
words, relative humidity RH is controlled while the moisture content within the
sample is measured. Since the degree of saturation Sl is fundamental for realistic
modelling of thermo-hygral behaviour of the specific concrete, it must be deter-
mined during sorption tests at several temperatures (Bažant and Thonguthai 1978).
However, isotherms are only available for moderate temperature. Theoretically,
it should be possible to determine these isotherms also above 100 °C, but this
would require measurements at very high ambient pressure. Such data are not
available (Bažant and Kaplan 1996).
At elevated temperature Bažant and Thonguthai (1978) assumed that a local
thermodynamic equilibrium always exists between the phases of pore water (vapour
and liquid) within a very small element of concrete. An approximate, but rational,
constitutive relation, which relates pore pressure pv, water content w and temper-
ature T is presented as follows:
w h
ws0 im1 pv
¼ RH with RH ¼ ð5:25Þ
c c pvs ðT Þ
where c = mass of (anhydrous) cement per m3 of concrete; ws0 = saturation water

content at 25 °C. The value of ws0/c can be determined if the concrete mix is
specified (Neville 1973; Powers and Brownyard 1948). The same value for concrete
that was mentioned in Bažant and Thonguthai (1978), ws0/c = 100/300 has been
taken. The function m(T) in Eq. (5.21) has been empirically corrected by fitting
with test data given by England and Ross (1970). It has been found that the
following semi-empirical expression (5.22) is acceptable (Bažant and Thonguthai
1978):
76 F. Meftah et al.
2
T0 T þ 10
mðT Þ ¼ 1:04 with T 0 ¼ ð5:26Þ
22:34 þ T 0 T0 þ 10
where T is the temperature in °C; T0 ¼ 25 C.

From (5.21) we can write the degree of saturation Sl ¼ Sl ðRH; T Þ as a function
of relative humidity and temperature as follows:
ðw=cÞRH;T
Sl ðRH; T Þ ¼ ð5:27Þ
ðw=cÞRH0 ;T0
where ðw=cÞRH0 ;T0 is calculated at the initial state. According to this equation it can
be seen that at a higher temperature the saturated state is reached with lower water
content. The degree of liquid saturation Sl can also be related to the capillary
pressure pc. Since a direct experimental determination is difficult, an indirect
determination of the Sl − pc relationship by using the desorption isotherm is gen-
erally employed. Applying Kelvin’s law, which relates the relative humidity to the
capillary pressure, yields an expression for the missing capillary pressure curve and
the degree of saturation Sl ¼ Sl ðpc ; T Þ as follows:

1=mðT Þ
1 ws0 Ml
Sl ð pc ; T Þ ¼ exp pc ð5:28Þ
ðw=cÞRH0 ;T0 c ql RT
The following equation between capillary pressure, temperature and saturation can
be alternatively developed based on the work of Bendar (2002):
rðT Þ
S l ð pc ; T Þ ¼ Sl ð pc Þ ð5:29Þ
rð T 0 Þ
where r(T) is the surface tension of water which depends upon temperature, and
can be given by Le Neindre (1993) as follows:

T n
rðT Þ ¼ r0 1 ð5:30Þ
Tcr
where r0 = 0.155 [N/m2] and n = 1.26. Based upon the pore network model of
Mualem (1976), a relationship between the capillary pressure and the liquid satu-
ration is proposed in van Genuchten (1980) in the form:
" 1=ð1AÞ #A
j pc j
Sl ðpc Þ ¼ 1 þ ð5:31Þ
B
where A, B are parameters of the material, evaluated with a least-square fit in

comparison with the experimental results of the retention curve. Figure 5.3 shows
Fig. 5.3 Desorption isotherms Sl(pc, T)
the evolution of Sl with capillary pressure pc using (5.31). We can relate the
capillary pressure pc to the saturation degree Sl by the following relationship Baggio
et al. (1993):
11=b
pc ðSl Þ ¼ a Sb
l 1 ð5:32Þ
where a and b are material parameters identified for each studied case.
5.1.5 Permeability
Darcy’s Law
Pressure driven fluid flow can be written as:
K Kp
vi ¼ rpp ð5:33Þ
li
78 F. Meftah et al.
where vp is the velocity of the fluid p, K is the intrinsic permeability of the concrete,
Kp is the relative permeability of the phase, lp is the dynamic viscosity of the phase
and pp is the driving pressure. pp is typically the pressure of the phase pl or pg but
may be calculated from capillary pressure and may include pressures due to gravity
(e.g. Gawin et al. 1999; Tenchev et al. 2001; Davie et al. 2006; Mounajed and
Obeid 2004; Baroghel-Bouny et al. 1999; Chung and Consolazio 2005).
In a partially saturated porous medium like concrete the liquid and gas transport
will be governed by the absolute permeability of the material, which can be defined as:
K krp
K0 ¼ ð5:34Þ
lp
where, K′ in [m3/kg s] is the conventional permeability (apparent permeability) of

the material, K in [m2] is defined as the intrinsic permeability, which is a material
property independent of the fluid, krp [−] is the relative permeability of the fluid and
depends on the degree of saturation of the liquid phase and lp in [Pa s] is the
dynamic viscosity of fluid and p = l, g.
In the following sections we will carry out a detailed study of each one of the
above properties and their evolutions with high temperatures.
Intrinsic Permeability
Intrinsic permeability is a characteristic of the geometrical connectivity of the
porous network, irrespective of the filling fluid. Therefore, the relative permeability
is the additional variable that must take into consideration the penetration of gas and
liquid and their coexistence within the porous network. In their investigations on
pore pressures in heated concrete (Bažant and Thonguthai 1978, 1979) found an
upward jump in the permeability of concrete by two orders of magnitude (about 200
times) as the temperature rises above 100 °C. It was concluded that the pore volume
available to capillary water must increase significantly as temperature and pore
pressure increase. That means porosity changes from a system of closed, isolated
pores to an open interconnected network.
Kalifa et al. (1998) studied the influence of high temperature on the intrinsic
permeability K [m2] of concrete. The main features of this work can be seen in
Fig. 5.4. At 105 °C, the permeability of high performance concrete
(HPC) (1017 m2 ) is 10 times inferior to the one of a normal concrete
(NC) (1016 m2 ). Between 105 and 400 °C, the permeability of the HPC increases
more quickly than the one of the NC; At 400 °C, the permeability of the HPC
(3 1015 m2 ) is slightly superior to that one of the NC (1015 m2 ). According
to the authors, below 300 °C the augmentation of permeability is due to an increase
in the capillary pores, while above 300 °C micro-cracking plays a very important
role in permeability augmentation.
Besides the temperature effect, the mechanical load also influences the evolution
of intrinsic permeability. Indeed, a load applied up to the ultimate strength is
assumed to cause extensive damage in the specimen generating macroscopic
Fig. 5.4 The intrinsic permeability versus temperature for an ordinary concrete (NC) and for high
performance concrete (HPC) (Kalifa et al. 1998)
cracking and, therefore, a sharp increase in permeability (Gérard et al. 1996; Wang
et al. 1997; Torrenti et al. 1999).
An experimental study was conducted by Picandet et al. (2001) to characterize
the effect of external load-induced cracking on the permeability of concrete after
unloading. Compared to the undamaged sample, a uniaxial compressive load at
90% of the ultimate strength can increase the axial permeability by about one order
of magnitude after unloading. This increase in permeability is directly related to the
maximum applied strain during loading and is due to the formation of a connected
network of micro-cracks, which does not close down completely after the samples
are unloaded (see Fig. 5.5). An expression has been proposed by the author in order
to reproduce the experimental results as follows:
K ðuM Þ ¼ K0 expðA uM ÞB ð5:35Þ
A generic relationship by Gawin et al. (1999) gives the intrinsic permeability as a

function of temperature and gas pressure:
Ap
AT ðTT0 Þ pg
K T; pg ¼ K0 10 ð5:36Þ
pg0
where K0 is the intrinsic permeability at reference temperature T0 and gas pressure

pg0.
80 F. Meftah et al.
Fig. 5.5 Relationship between increase in permeability and damage value from ‘Grindosonic’
evaluation and the curve fitted according to (5.35) (Picandet et al. 2001)
An approach was developed by Meschke and Grasberger (2003) based on an

additive decomposition of the permeability into two portions: the first related to the
moisture transport through the partially saturated pore space ku multiplied by the
initial intrinsic permeability K0 and the second one related to the moisture flux
within a crack Kd.
K ¼ K0 ku ðuÞ þ Kd ð5:37Þ
The relationship between permeability and pore structure of hardening cement paste
at early ages was investigated experimentally by Nyame and Illston (1981).
According to this work a relationship between permeability and the pore structure
can be expressed as follows Meschke and Grasberger (2003):
6ðu u0 Þ
ku ðuÞ ¼ 10d with d ¼ ð5:38Þ
0:3 0:4u0
where u0 denotes the initial porosity and u u0 is the change of porosity.

When it is necessary to consider cracking of concrete, the increase of perme-
ability due to the change of porosity is insufficient. The effect of cracks on moisture
transport is significantly larger compared to the effect of elastic and inelastic change
of porosity. In a smeared crack approach, isotropic damage permeability Kd is
introduced as a function of the width wc [µm] of a discrete crack smeared over an
equivalent strain localisation zone with a characteristic length lc (Meschke and
Grasberger 2003). The authors proposed the following relationship:
w3h Wc2
Kd ¼ with wh ¼ for wc wh ð5:39Þ
12lc R2:5
where wh in [µm] is the equivalent hydraulic width and R is a parameter which

describes the crack roughness. More recently (Rastiello et al. 2014) developed a
phenomenological correction coefficient for the latter relationship.
Relative Permeability of Fluids
Few experimental results exist concerning the relative permeability of cement-based
materials to gas and even less concerning the relative permeability to liquid. To
overcome this difficulty, analytical expressions have been derived by van
Genuchten (1980), based on the model of Mualem, which predicts the hydraulic
conductivity from the statistical pore size distribution:

A 2
pffiffiffiffi 1=A
krl ðSl Þ ¼ Sl 1 1 Sl ð5:40Þ
In addition, the author proposed a methodology to estimate the parameters of this

equation, by using the fitted expression. Thus the parameter A is the exponent
appearing in the capillary pressure curve of Eq. (5.31).
In the particular case of cement-based materials (Savage and Janssen 1997) have
shown the relevance of (5.40) in considering the liquid-water movement in a
non-saturated Portland cement concrete.
According to Couture et al. (1996) and Nasrallah and Perre (1988), the water
relative permeability for concrete depends upon the saturation with liquid phase and
can be usually expressed as the following:

S Sir Al
krl ¼ for S [ Sir ð5:41Þ
1 Sir
where Sir is the irreducible saturation (sometimes assumed as Sir = 0), and Al is a
constant, with the value from the range 〈1, 3〉.
When the relative humidity RH reaches a value higher than 75%, a rapid increase
of the capillary water flux is observed (Bažant and Najjar 1972). Such behaviour
can be described by the following relationship (Gawin et al. 1999).
" #1
1 RH Bl
krl ¼ 1 þ SA l ð5:42Þ
0:25
where Al, Bl are constants with values in the range 〈1, 3〉. It should be noted that the
term in square brackets has a form originally proposed in Bažant and Najjar (1972).
According to Gawin et al. (1999) this equation has good numerical properties and
allows the use of the irreducible saturation concept to be avoide; a concept that
creates serious theoretical and numerical problems (Couture et al. 1996).
82 F. Meftah et al.
The gas relative permeability of concrete, similarly to most capillary porous

materials, may be described from the analytic expressions given by Luckner et al.
(1989), based on the model of Mualem (1976):
pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
2A
krg ðSÞ ¼ 1 S 1 S1=A ð5:43Þ
Moreover it can also be described by the formula given by Couture et al. (1996) and
Nasrallah and Perre (1988):
Ag
S
krg ¼ 1 for S\Scr ð5:44Þ
Scr
where Scr is the critical saturation value, above which there is no gas flow in the
medium, Ag is a constant, which usually has value from the range 〈1, 3〉.
Viscosity of Fluids
The dynamic viscosity of liquid water µl [Pa s] depends strongly upon temperature
and can be evaluated, with sufficient accuracy, in a wide temperature range, using
the approximate formula (Thomas and Sansom 1995):
ll ¼ 0:6612ðT 229Þ1:562 ð5:45Þ
The dynamic viscosity of moist air µg [Pa s], which depends upon the temperature
and the ratio of the vapour and gas pressure, using the data from Mason and
Monchik (1965), can be approximated using the following formula (Forsyth and
Simpson 1991):
a 0:608
p
lg ¼ lv þ ðla lv Þ ð5:46Þ
pg
where the ratio pa/pg is the mole fraction of dry air in the gas phase, and lv is the
water vapour dynamic viscosity:
lv ¼ lv0 þ av ðT T0 Þ ð5:47Þ

with lv0 ¼ 8:85 106 ½Pa s, av ¼ 3:53 108 Pa s K1 . Further, the dry air
dynamic viscosity la is given by:
la ¼ la0 þ aa ðT T0 Þ þ ba ðT T0 Þ2 ð5:48Þ

with la0 ¼ 17:17 106 ½Pa s, aa ¼ 4:73 108 Pa s K1 , ba ¼ 2:22 1011

Pa s K2 . Another formula exists in the literature (Pezzani 1988), which is simpler
since it is function of temperature only:
lg ¼ 3:85 108 T ð5:49Þ
5.1.6 Diffusivity
The diffusivity of vapour in the air at temperature T and pressure pg is given in

Daian (1989):
Av
T pg0
Dva T; pg ¼ Dv0 ð5:50Þ
T0 pg
where Dv0 ¼ 2:58 105 ½m2 s1 is the diffusion coefficient of vapour species in
the air at the reference temperature T0 ¼ 273:15 K and pressure pg0 ¼ 101;325 Pa
(Forsyth and Simpson 1991). Av is a constant, and for the value Av ¼ 1:667 there is
a good correlation with the experimental data concerning vapour diffusion at dif-
ferent temperatures (Mason and Monchik 1965).
The pore space in concrete has a very complex inner structure, that influences the
vapour diffusion process. Therefore, and because of the lack of experimental
results, the simplest way of taking it into account is the introduction of a tortuosity
factor, as it has been suggested by Bažant and Najjar (1972) and Perre (1987),
which considers the tortuous nature of the pathway in the porous media. The
tortuosity factor is usually assumed to be constant in the whole range of moisture
content although (Millington 1959) showed that it can be approximated by the
following formula:
sð/; Sl Þ ¼ /1=3 ð1 Sl Þ7=3 ð5:51Þ
For concrete the range is typically s ffi 0:40:6, used by several authors (e.g. Daian
1989).
Several authors (e.g. Perre 1987) have defined the effective diffusion coefficient,
taking into account the reduction of space offered to the diffusion of gaseous
constituents and the tortuosity, as:
Deff ðSl Þ ¼ u ð1 Sl ÞBv sDva ðT; pl Þ ð5:52Þ
where Bv is a constant, usually in the range 〈1, 3〉 (Daïan 1988).

As an alternative, the resistance factor (structure factor) fs can be introduced,
which considers both the tortuosity effect s and the reduction of space offered to the
diffusion of gaseous constituents.
84 F. Meftah et al.

Deff ðSl Þ ¼ fs ðu; Sl ÞDva T; pg ð5:53Þ
where ug ¼ ð1 Sl Þu.
This structure factor fs could be also approached through the expression derived
by Millington (1959) for variably saturated porous media and used by several
authors (e.g. Adenekan et al. 1993; Sleep and Sykes 1993; Mainguy et al. 2001),
2
fs ðu; Sl Þ ¼ u4=3
g ð1 Sl Þ ¼ u
4=3
ð1 Sl Þ10=3 ð5:54Þ
During diffusion of vapour in a porous material with very narrow pores (e.g. in
concrete), the number of collisions of water molecules with the solid matrix is
non-negligible compared with the number of collisions with air molecules. This is
known as the Knudsen effect, but it is generally ignored.
5.2 Thermal Parameters
5.2.1 Thermal Conductivity
For an ordinary concrete thermal conductivity will decrease when the temperature
rises. Thermal conductivity as a function of high temperature is very difficult to
measure due to the influence of many parameters such as porosity, moisture con-
tent, type and amount of aggregates. The reduction in thermal conductivity due to
the temperature is marked for a concrete with siliceous aggregates, weak for cal-
careous aggregates, and very weak for lightweight aggregates [Fig. 5.6 (Collet
1977)].
The thermal conductivity, k, of siliceous concrete presented in Anderberg (2003)
and used in Swedish fire engineering design is shown in Fig. 5.7. In Eurocode 2
(2004) and Eurocode 4 (2004) a compromise has been made in order to permit the
thermal conductivity to be chosen between an upper and a lower limit as shown in
Fig. 5.7. These limits, for normal weight concrete, are described by Eq. 5.55 in the
range of temperature 20 C
T
1200 C:
k ¼ 2 0:2451ðT=100Þ þ 0:0107ðT=100Þ2 ðupper limitÞ

2
ð5:55Þ
k ¼ 1:36 0:136ðT=100Þ þ 0:0057ðT=100Þ ðlower limitÞ
The effective thermal conductivity of a partially saturated concrete depends upon

the degree of saturation and the temperature (Gawin et al. 1999).

Sl uql
k ¼ kd 1 þ 4 ð5:56Þ
ð1 uÞqs
Fig. 5.6 Thermal conductivity of different structural concretes (Collet 1977)
Fig. 5.7 Thermal conductivity of siliceous aggregate concrete (Anderberg 2003)

86 F. Meftah et al.
Table 5.1 Thermal kdo 1.39 (W/(m K))

conductivity parameters
Ak 0.0006 (K−1)
qs 2590 (kg/m3)
ql 999.84 (kg/m3)
T0 293.15 (K)
Fig. 5.8 Dependence of thermal conductivity from temperature according to (5.56)
where ql is the liquid water density, u is the porosity, ql is the density of liquid
water, S is the saturation with liquid water, qs is the density of the solid phase, and
kd(T) is thermal conductivity of the dry material, whose temperature dependence
can be expressed by means of the following relationship (Harmathy 1970):
kd ¼ kd0 ½1 Ak ðT T0 Þ ð5:57Þ
kd0 being the dry conductivity at the reference temperature T0 and Ak being a
coefficient which takes into account the effect of the thermal damage on the dry
thermal conductivity. An example of the thermal conductivity for concrete using
(5.56), with the following data (Table 5.1) is presented in Fig. 5.8.
5.2.2 Heat Capacity
Heat capacity is the amount of heat per unit mass required to change the temper-
ature of the material by one degree. At a constant pressure p, the heat capacity, Cp,
may be expressed as follows (Harmathy 1970; Harmathy and Allen 1973):

@H
Cp ¼ ð5:58Þ
@Tp
where H is enthalpy and T is temperature.

At elevated temperatures the changes in the heat capacity for different concrete
types may be caused by the latent heat of the different reactions involved during
heating (water release, dehydration, decarbonisation, a ! b quartz inversion).
From test results, Schneider (1988) has concluded that:
• The type of aggregate has little influence on the heat capacity if temperatures
below 800 °C are considered.
• The water content is important for temperatures below 200 °C. Wet concrete
shows an apparent heat capacity nearly twice that of oven-dried concretes.
Also according to Franssen (1987), wet concretes present an obvious calorific
capacity that is nearly two times higher than that of dry concretes. For concretes that
are initially wet, heating up to 90 °C can cause a rapid but temporary increase in
heat capacity between two and three times the magnitude of the initial value
(Blundell et al. 1976; Ohigishi et al. 1972). This is due to a rapid vaporisation of
free or evaporable water. At about 150 °C, the heat capacity is the same as the
initially pre-dried concrete and it increases linearly with temperature (Blundell et al.
1976).
Harmathy (1970) estimated the heat capacity of idealised Portland cement pastes
from theoretical considerations coupled with experimental data. The most important
reactions were considered to be the dehydration of both C-S-H gel and calcium
hydroxide Ca(OH)2. Note that the latter gives the most conspicuous peak of the
curve at about 500 °C (see Fig. 5.9). The two reactions indicate that at the tem-
peratures for which dehydration occurs, i.e. from 100 to 850 °C, the latent heat
contribution to the heat capacity Cp is very significant. Its value may be several
times higher than the “sensible heat capacity C p ” due to the absorption of heat in the
dehydration reaction. If heating is accompanied by chemical reactions or phase
transitions that take place at a given temperature, the enthalpy is a function of both
the temperature T and the degree of conversion n of the reactants into the products.
According to Harmathy (1970) and Harmathy and Allen (1973) the Cp is usually
referred to “apparent heat capacity” at a constant pressure and it may be expressed
as follows:
88 F. Meftah et al.
Fig. 5.9 Heat capacity of a cement paste (Harmathy 1970)

@H @H @n p þ DHp @n
Cp ¼ þ ¼C ð5:59Þ
@T p; n @n p; T @T @T
p is the sensible heat contribution to the heat capacity at a given degree of

where C
conversion n, and DHp is the enthalpy of the reaction that occurs (evaporation,
dehydration).
5.2.3 Enthalpy of Evaporation and Enthalpy of Dehydration
The enthalpy of evaporation, also called the latent heat of evaporation, depends on
the temperature and may be approximated by the Watson formula (Forsyth and
Simpson 1991):
DHvap ¼ 2:672 105 ðTcr T Þ0;38 ð5:60Þ
where Tcr ¼ 647:15 K is the critical temperature of water.

Concerning the enthalpy of dehydration, the non-evaporable water must be first
discussed. The non-evaporable water is the water driven from the cement paste
when it is heated to temperatures above 105 °C and generally it contains nearly all
chemically combined water in the C-S-H, all the water in the Ca(OH)2, and also
some water not held by chemical bonds. It takes 1670 J/kg to establish a bond of
non-evaporable water in the C-S-H while the energy of the water of crystallisation
of Ca(OH)2 is 3560 J/kg (Khoury and Majorana 2003). The enthalpy of dehydra-
tion is supposed constant by Tenchev et al. (2001) and Davie et al. (2006).
5.2.4 Density
According to Anderberg (2003) the density of concrete changes with temperature.

Due to a first loss of free water up to about 200 °C and then to a second loss of
chemically bound water, the density decreases with increasing temperature. The
relative decrease of density up to 1000 °C is between 11 and 13%.
These effects of water loss are reflected in the definition of concrete density q in
Eurocode 2 and are presented in Table 5.2 (Anderberg 2003).
5.2.5 Volumetric Heat Capacity
In order to assess the volumetric heat capacity qCp which is normally used in the
energy conservation equation, taking into account the effect of latent heat,
Eq. (5.61) and Table (5.2) can be used. In a partially saturated concrete the volu-
metric heat capacity qCp [J/(m3 K)] can be expressed as a combination of the
volumetric capacities of its constituents, as well as the effect of the evaporation and
dehydration processes (Gawin et al. 1999).
@T @T
qCp ¼ qCp eff þ ðDH m_ Þvap þ ðDH m_ Þdehydr ð5:61Þ
@t @t
where (qCp)eff is the effective volumetric heat capacity, DHvap and DHdehydr are the
enthalpies of evaporation and dehydration respectively and m_ vap and m_ dehydr are the
rates of evaporation and dehydration respectively. The effective volumetric heat
capacity in Eq. (5.61) reads:
Table 5.2 Variation of density with temperature influenced by water loss (Anderberg 2003)
q ¼ q20 C For 20 °C
T
115 °C
q ¼ q20 C (1–0.02(T − 115)/85) For 115 °C
T
200 °C
q ¼ q20 C (0.98–0.03(T − 200)/200) For 200 °C
T
400 °C
q ¼ q20 C (0.95–0.07(T − 400)/800) For 400 °C
T
1200 °C
90 F. Meftah et al.

qCp eff
¼ ð1 uÞqs Cps þ u Sql Cpl þ ð1 Sl Þ qa Cpa þ qv Cpv ð5:62Þ
where the thermal capacities Cpi [J/(kg K)] depend upon the temperature of the
material and qi is a density with i ¼ s; l; v; a:S:
The dependence of temperature on the volumetric heat capacity for the solid
skeleton may be approximated by a linear relationship (Harmathy and Allen 1973):
ð1 uÞqs Cps ¼ ð1 u0 Þqs0 Cps0 ½1 þ Ac ðT T0 Þ ð5:63Þ
where ð1 u0 Þqs0 Cps0 is the volumetric heat capacity of the solid skeleton at the
reference temperature T0, and Ac is a coefficient which considers the effect of
temperature on the dry volumetric heat capacity. The thermal capacity for the
gaseous constituents, in the case of a perfect gas and at a constant pressure, would
be chosen independent from temperature changes for both air and vapour. Their
heat capacities will be Cpa ¼ 1003:5 and Cpv ¼ 1880:0 (Feraille 2000). Based on
the results for the thermal capacity of the liquid water given by Raznjevic (1970),
an approximated formula has been given by Feraille (2000) as follows:

T 273 2
Cpl ¼ 4180 þ 300 ð5:64Þ
T 715
5.3 Mechanical Parameters
5.3.1 Material Properties
The solid phase skeleton of concrete generally undergoes degradation upon heating
such that its mechanical properties change (reduce) with increasing temperature.
When considering numerically the mechanical performance of concrete exposed to
elevated temperatures it is necessary to take into account these evolutions.
Primarily, the changes in strength and stiffness need to be considered but other
properties such as fracture energy may also be of interest.
5.3.1.1 Tensile Strength
While the strength of concrete may be shown to increase slightly in the early stages
of heating it is generally accepted that there is an overall loss of tensile strength and
various simplified relationships have been employed for numerical models in the
literature.
For example (Gernay et al. 2013) employ the function presented in Eurocode 2
(see also Sect. 4.2.2)
fck;t ðT Þ ¼ kc;t ðT Þ fck;t ð5:65Þ
where,
kc;t ðT Þ ¼ 1:0 for 20 C

T
100 C
ð5:66Þ
kc;t ðT Þ ¼ 1:0 ðT 100Þ=500 for 100 C\T
600 C
while (Davie et al. 2012) employed a similarly shaped quadratic curve:

2
T T0
f t ðT Þ ¼ ft0 1 0:1 ð5:67Þ
100
Tenchev and Purnell (2005) present an exponential curve, for a specific concrete,
that predicts a much slower reduction in strength with increasing temperature:

ft ¼ 6:5 14 exp 430T 0:9 ð5:68Þ
Nielsen et al. (2002) proposed an alternative, convex curve:

!
T T0 2
ft ðT Þ ¼ ft0 1 0:016 ð5:69Þ
100
and (Nechnech et al. 2002) present a relationship derived from experimental work,
which reduces more steeply even than the Eurocode curve. Luccioni et al. (2003)
also present relationships derived from experimental work and these lie in close
proximity to the curve employed by Davie et al. (2012).
These functions are all presented in Fig. 5.10.
5.3.1.2 Compressive Strength
Similarly, the compressive strength is seen to reduce with increasing temperature.

However, functions describing this numerically are more rarely presented in the
literature.
Once again (Gernay et al. 2013) employ the tabulated functions presented in
Eurocode 2 (although it should be noted that the Eurocode states that these values
are for normal weight concrete). The Eurocode presents two sets of values, for
concrete with siliceous and calcareous aggregates.
Nechnech et al. (2002) again use a function derived from experimental work,
which is very similar to the Eurocode curve for concrete with siliceous aggregate
and (Gawin et al. 2003) use a linearly reducing function, also derived from
92 F. Meftah et al.
ft
1
0.9
Normalised Tensile Strength (-)
0.8
0.7 EC2
0.6 Davie et al.
0.5 Nielsen et al.
0.4 Nechnech et al.
0.3 Luccioni et al. 1
0.1 Tenchev and Prunell
0
0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200
Temperature (C)
Fig. 5.10 Dependence of tensile strength on temperature according to various authors
experimental data, but reducing more steeply than the Eurocode curves. Luccioni
et al. (2003) present two experimentally derived curves that both suggest signifi-
cantly lower strengths than other authors in the early stages of heating but meet the
upper curves at higher temperatures.
Davie et al. (2012) do not explicitly employ compressive strength in their work
but implicitly the compressive strength follows the same evolution as the tensile
strength (5.67).
These functions are all presented in Fig. 5.11.
fc
1.0
0.9
Normalised Compressive Strength ( -)
0.8
0.7 EC2 (Siliceous)
0.6 EC2 (Calcareous)
0.5 Davie et al.
0.4 Nechnech et al.
0.3 Gawin et al.
0.0
0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200
Temperature (C)
Fig. 5.11 Dependence of compressive strength on temperature according to various authors

5.3.1.3 Elastic Modulus
The elastic modulus of concrete is also known to generally decrease with increasing
temperature due to the breakdown of the solid skeleton of the concrete and the
development of micro-cracking. Again, several authors have presented relationships
to describe this although, again, a numerical description is rarely found.
Davie et al. (2010) use a quadratically reducing curve:
2
T T0
EðT Þ ¼ E0 1 0:1 ð5:70Þ
100
while (Tenchev and Purnell 2005) proposed an exponential curve, for a specific
concrete:
32:3
E¼ ð5:71Þ
1 þ expð0:0068T 1:5Þ1:13
and (Gawin et al. 2003; Luccioni et al. 2003) and (Nechnech et al. 2002) employ
functions derived from experimental data. When plotted (see Fig. 5.12) these
functions are all broadly similar.
0.9
0.8
Normalised Elasc Modulus (-)
0.7
Davie et al.
0.6
Gawin et al.
0.5 Nechnech et al. 1
Nechnech et al. 2
0.4
Luccioni et al. 1
0.3
Luccioni et al. 2
0.2 Tenchev and Prunell
0.1
0
0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200
Temperature (C)
Fig. 5.12 Dependence of elastic modulus on temperature according to various authors

94 F. Meftah et al.
5.3.1.4 Poisson’s Ratio
The variation of Poisson’s ratio with temperature is much less often considered and
most numerical work has considered it to remain constant with increasing tem-
perature (e.g. Gawin et al. 1999; Nechnech et al. 2002; Davie et al. 2010).
However (Gernay et al. 2013) employed the following function derived from the
work of Luccioni et al. (2003)

T
mðT Þ ¼ m20 0:2 þ 0:8 TTvv20 for T
Tv
ð5:72Þ
mðT Þ ¼ 0:2m20 for T [ Tv
This function is plotted in Fig. 5.13, along with experimental data from Luccioni
et al. (2003).
5.3.1.5 Fracture Energy
The dependence of fracture energy release rate in temperature is not often con-
sidered explicitly when modelling concrete at elevated temperatures. However
(Davie et al. 2010) do employ a function as below:

0 TT0 2
Gf ¼ G0f 1 þ 0:39 TT
100 0:07 100 for 0
T
500 C ð5:73Þ
and (Luccioni et al. 2003) do report experimentally derived values in their work.
These are plotted in Fig. 5.14. Interestingly the function presented by Davie et al.
1
0.9
Normalised Poisson's rao (-)
0.8
0.7
0.6
0.3 Gernay et al.
0.2
0.1
0
0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200
Temperature (C)
Fig. 5.13 Dependence of Poisson’s ratio on temperature according to various authors

Gf
1.8
1.6
Normalised Fracture Energy ( -)
1.4
1.2
1
Davie et al.
0.8
Luccioni et al. 1
0.4
0.2
0
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800
Temperature (C)
Fig. 5.14 Dependence of fracture energy on temperature according to various authors
(2010) indicates that the fracture energy initially increases with temperature before
decreasing, while the work of Luccioni et al. (2003) shows the fracture energy
simply to decrease with increasing temperature.
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Chapter 6
Conclusion
Classical engineering approaches as well as recent sophisticated multi-physics

approaches have been presented in this report, as relevant tools to study and
appraise the behavior of reinforced concrete structures when subjected to high
temperatures. From an engineering point of view, concrete is generally considered
as an homogeneous material, at a macroscopic scale, but such an approach relies
mostly on empirical behavior laws, and might not be sufficient to evaluate, in a
predictive way, the risk of spalling of a given structure. For this purpose, it is
necessary to take into account the real complex nature of the material in order to
describe internal phenomena which occur under thermal loading.
Therefore, as an introduction, Chap. 2 has presented the detailed physical phe-
nomena which take place in a concrete volume subjected to high temperature.
A mesoscopic description of the concrete has been given, where the pore are partly
filled with liquid water and a mixture of vapor and dry air. When a concrete block is
subjected to a thermal load, the temperature increase leads to a local increase of gas
pressure in the pores. The resulting vapor gradient drives the vapor through the
concrete, towards the free surface and the inner part of the block, where the vapor
condenses and finally may create a ‘water clog’. The thermal expansion of the
concrete as well as the pore pressure increase are the two main causes of the
spalling event.
Chapter 3 has been devoted to the engineering modelling approach, which is
based on prescriptions of regulatory codes such as the Eurocode, and which gen-
A. Millard (&)
P. Pimienta
Centre Scientifique et Technique du Bâtiment (CSTB),
Université Paris-Est, Marne La Vallée, France
e-mail: pierre.pimienta@cstb.fr
© RILEM 2019 99
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-11995-9_6
erally requires a thermo-mechanical approach, without consideration of the fluids in

the concrete. Nevertheless, this approach might be sufficient for many practical
situations.
The more advanced models have been described in details in Chap. 4. They are
based on a multiphysics approach which involves the temperature, the liquid water
and dry air pressures, as well as the mechanical displacements. These quantities
obey the classical balance equations (mass, momentum and energy) as well as
specific constitutive equations. Among these equations, the sorptions isotherms,
which relate the capillary pressure to the pore water content, and the concrete
dehydration law play an important role in the heat and mass transfers. Concerning
the mechanical aspects, it is necessary to account for the occurrence of damage in
the concrete because of its significant influence on the mass transfer properties. The
numerical aspects including the discretisation aspects and the solution strategy have
also been covered in Chap. 4. Finally, for more practical applications, some sim-
plifications of the general advanced approach have been proposed.
Both engineering and advanced modelling approaches require a large number of
parameters, which may depend on state variables such as temperature or water
content. Most of these parameters have been reviewed in Chap. 5, with indication
of their currently used values and expressions, for ordinary as well as high per-
formance concretes.

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RILEM State-of-the-Art Reports

RILEM, The International Union of Laboratories and Experts in Construction

More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/8780

ISSN 2213-204X ISSN 2213-2031 (electronic)

Padua, Italy Bernhard Schrefler

U. Schneider and P. Pimienta

Robert Jansson McNamee

Ma-Cruz Alonso, Spain

Fekri Meftah, France

RILEM PROCEEDINGS (PRO)

PRO 1: Durability of High Performance Concrete (ISBN: 2-912143-03-9;

PRO 11: 4th International RILEM Conference on Reflective Cracking in

PRO 28: 6th International RILEM Symposium on Performance Testing and

PRO 43: International RILEM Workshop on Bonded Concrete Overlays

PRO 59: International RILEM Conference on On Site Assessment of Concrete,

PRO 74: International RILEM Conference on ‘Use of Superabsorsorbent

PRO 87: UHPFRC 2013—RILEM-ﬁb-AFGC International Symposium on

PRO 102 (online version): RILEM Conference on Microorganisms-

PRO 118 (4 volumes): International Conference on Advances in Construction

RILEM REPORTS (REP)

Report 36: State-of-the-Art Report of RILEM Technical Committee TC

Colin Davie School of Engineering, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne,

Alain Millard and Pierre Pimienta

1.1 General Comments

1.2 Context and Objectives

As previously written, the RILEM Technical Committee 227-HPB has been

Abstract As an introduction, this chapter summarizes in a ﬁrst step the physical

2.1 Physical Aspects of Heated Concrete

In general, moisture transport in concrete structures during ﬁre may include

At ambient temperature, HPC presents much better features than a normal

Fig. 2.1 The four observed

A thermal expansion of the external layers of a heated element is constrained by

Therefore, more comprehensive models are nowadays proposed in the literature,

Meftah, F.: A meso-scale thermo-hygro-mechanical analysis of micro-structure effects on heated

Sven Huismann, Matthias Zeiml, Manfred Korzen and Alain Millard

3.1 General Approach

Engineering models generally serve the purpose of producing numerical results of

S. Huismann (&) M. Korzen

distribution of temperature and, hence, mechanical material properties and resulting

According to Eurocode 2 (EN 1992-1-2, 2004), a structural member or a structure is

Ed;fi Rd;t;fi ð3:1Þ

3.3 Thermal Analysis

During the thermal analysis, the energy-conservation equation is solved considering

3.4 Mechanical Analysis

– detailing according to recognised design solutions (tabulated data or testing)

calculation methods apply to the analysis of the ﬁre resistance of structural

Only limited information and recommendations are included in Eurocode 2 con-

3.6 Examples of National Guidelines

3.7 Discussion, Limits

Engineering models are mainly developed for a straight-forward structural design

EN 1992-1-2:2004: Eurocode 2: Design of concrete structures – Part 1–2: General rules –

Fekri Meftah, Francesco Pesavento, Colin Davie, Stefano Dal Pont,

Abstract In this chapter, advanced models based on a general Thermo-

4.2 Concrete as Multiphase Porous Material

Concrete is essentially a mixture of two components: aggregates and paste. The

Fig. 4.1 Schematic

Fig. 4.2 Schematic

hydrates decompose on heating. Based on the Feldman-Sereda model (Feldman and

4.2.1 Hygral Phenomena

When temperature increases in a concrete structure (e.g. in a wall), water vapour

mechanical or physico-chemical origins. Therefore, in this document these prop-

4.2.2 Thermal Phenomena

4.2.3 Mechanical Phenomena