Study on the Compressive Behaviour of Sustainable Cement-Based Composites under One-Hour of Direct Flame Exposure

Ajitanshu Vedrtnam, Chiara Bedon and Gonzalo Barluenga
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Ajitanshu Vedrtnam: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Invertis University, Bareilly 243123, India
Chiara Bedon: Department of Engineering and Architecture, University of Trieste, 34127 Trieste, Italy
Gonzalo Barluenga: Departamento de Arquitectura, Universidad de Alcalá, 28801 Madrid, Spain

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 24, 1-21

Abstract: Fire is a significant threat to human life and civil infrastructures. Builders and architects are hankering for safer and sustainable alternatives of concrete that do not compromise with their design intent or fire safety requirements. The aim of the present work is to improve the residual compressive performance of concrete in post-fire exposure by incorporating by-products from urban residues. Based on sustainability and circular economy motivations, the attention is focused on rubber tire fly ash, aged brick powder, and plastic (PET) bottle residuals used as partial sand replacement. The selected by-products from urban residues are used for the preparation of Cement-Based Composites (CBCs) in two different proportions (10% and 15%). Thermal CBC behaviour is thus investigated under realistic fire scenarios (i.e., Direct Flame (DF) for 1 h), by following the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 834 standard provisions, but necessarily resulting in nonuniform thermal exposure for the cubic specimens. The actual thermal exposure is further explored with a Finite Element (FE) model, giving evidence of thermal boundaries effects. The post-fire residual compressive strength of heated concrete and CBC samples is hence experimentally derived, and compared to unheated specimens in ambient conditions. From the experimental study, the enhanced post-fire performance of CBCs with PET bottle residual is generally found superior to other CBCs or concrete. The structure–property relation is also established, with the support of Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) micrographs. Based on existing empirical models of literature for the prediction of the compressive or residual compressive strength of standard concrete, newly developed empirical relations for both concrete and CBCs are assessed.

Keywords: concrete; cement-based composites (CBCs); compressive strength; fire exposure; thermal boundaries; finite element (FE) numerical modelling; empirical formulations (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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