Fire Endurance of Spherical Concrete Domes Exposed to Standard Fire

Abstract

Fire is considered a common hazard for civil structures. Public and administrative buildings are commonly designed by considering the standard fire rating and, in many cases, contain large compartments with central domes, in which fire growth can be significant. Moreover, tanks and underground fortified structures may be constructed as domes to support the heavy soil above. This paper numerically addressed such a case. First, an axisymmetric finite element model was developed and validated to predict the dome’s transient, thermal, structural, and thermal-structural behavior. Next, the model was used to conduct a parametric study to investigate the effects of the dome ring reinforcement, thickness, stiffness, central angle, base restraints, load type (external pressure or gravitational), and load ratio on the fire endurance of the dome. Design recommendations to increase the fire endurance of concrete domes were formulated based on the parametric study.