Flexural Toughness Test and Inversion Research on a Thermal Conductivity Formula on Steel Fiber-Reinforced Concrete Components Post-Fire

Abstract

Steel fibers are widely used because they can effectively improve the tensile, compressive and flexural properties of concrete structures. The selection of steel fiber dosage and aspect ratio at high temperature has an important impact on the flexural toughness of concrete components post-fire. In this paper, discussions are made on the simulated fire test in compliance with the ISO 834 standard to study the steel fiber-reinforced concrete (SFRC) components post-fire. The research reveals the influence of two commonly used steel fiber aspect ratios (50, 70) and steel fiber dosages (30 kg/m3, 40 kg/m3, 45 kg/m3) on the changes of the internal temperature field, the initial crack flexural strength and the flexural toughness of the SFRC components under a single-side fire. Moreover, combined with the four-point flexural test of the SFRC components post fire, the research also describes the damage of high temperatures to the flexural toughness of SFRC components, and suggests a calculation formula for SFRC thermal conductivity by way of the numerical inversion method. The results of this study have verified that the incorporation of steel fiber into concrete helps to reduce its internal thermal stress difference and improve the crack resistance and fire resistance of the concrete. Moreover, under high temperature conditions, the concrete component added with the steel fiber in an aspect ratio of 70 and a dosage of 45 kg/m3 increased their initial crack flexural strength by 56.8%, higher than that of plain concrete components, and the loss of equivalent flexural strength and flexural toughness of SFRC post fire was only 45.2% and 13.6%, respectively. The proposed calculation formula of thermal conductivity can provide a reference for a numerical simulation study of the temperature field of SFRC components in a high temperature environment.