Fiber Reinforcement for Enhancing Structural Fire Resistance of Ultra-High-Strength Concrete Columns

  • Dr Joo-Ha Lee, Samsung C&T Corporation, Korea
  • Mr Yu-Shin Sohn, Samsung C&T Corporation, Korea
  • Mr Seung-Hoon Lee, Samsung C&T Corporation, Korea

The most common and practical method for fire resistance of high-strength concrete is the use of polypropylene fibers when considering economical efficiency and workability. However, for ultra-high-strength concrete, the only use of polypropylene fibers is not enough. In order to enhance fire resistance of ultra-high-strength concrete, various types and relatively high content ratios of fiber should be necessary. Therefore, this study investigated fire resistance performance for ultra-high-strength concrete (120MPa ~ 200MPa) columns reinforced with various fibers such as polypropylene, nylon, and steel fibers. First, 24 small size column specimens were tested with standard heating curve of ISO 834 for 3 hours. The main parameters were the length of polypropylene fibers and the content ratios of each fiber. In addition, the effect of aggregate types of electric arc furnace oxidizing slag aggregates and natural aggregates was studied. The fire resistance performance of the specimens was investigated, including the temperature in concrete, the spalling depth, the residual compressive strength, the weight loss, carbonation, porosity, and the microstructures by the scanning electron microscope (SEM). The test results showed that the hybrid fiber reinforcement of polypropylene, nylon, and steel fibers were the most effective. After the fire test of small size columns, full-size columns were constructed and tested using ISO-834 fire curve for 3 hours. Consequently, the fire resistibility of ultra-high-strength concrete columns can be obtained by the hybrid fiber reinforcement of 0.2 Vol.% of polypropylene, 0.2 Vol.% of nylon, and 0.5 Vol.% of steel fibers.