Steel Heat Treatment: Metallurgy and Technologies (Steel Heat Treatment Handbook)
CRC | 848 pages | 2006-09-28 | ISBN: 0849384559 | PDF | 33.3MB

Fire Design of Concrete Structures

The often devastating effects that fires have on entire structures or single structural members have been lately brought back to the scene, because of the increasing road traffic (fires in the tunnels), structural complexity (tall buildings), extreme environmental conditions (off-shore platforms), terrorism and war-related events. In all these cases, what matters is not only the fire duration of a given structure, but also its safety and serviceability level after a fire, the latter having to do with structural repair and strengthening, which is often a must, like in historical and monumental buildings, as well as in vital infrastructures.
The increasing implications of fire-related effects in structural design have been lately dealt with in a few international research projects and committees’ activities. These initiatives are favoring the collection of new test data, the development of innovative theoretical models and computational tools, and the refinement and/or extension of the design rules, by means of code improvements and specific guidelines. Within this context, the workshop was meant to be focused on the engineering aspects of structural fire design, starting from the application of the most recent results that the scientific and technological community has brought on to the scene, in terms of materials properties and structural modeling .
The workshop was organized by the Task Group 4.3 “Fire Design of Concrete Structures” of fib (International Federation for Structural Concrete). Since it was established early in 2000, the scope of the group has been to consider the implications that fire has on conceptual design, in order to achieve a satisfactory balance between materials response and structural response.
A first workshop was held in Malta in March 2001, and in that occasion two Working Parties were formed, with the aim of preparing a set of guidelines on concrete modeling in fire conditions (WP 4.3.1), and on the global response of fire-exposed structures (WP 4.3.2).
The Task Group and the Working Parties count many experts coming from all around the world, all active in the field of concrete and R/C exposed to fire and high temperature. This was considered by the Organizing Committee as the best prerequisite for the success of the workshop, that has fostered also three remarkable pre- and post-events: the meeting of RILEM Committee TCHTC (Mechanical Concrete Properties at High Temperature, chaired by Prof. Ulrich Schneider), a seminar on the failure of concrete-like materials under extreme temperatures (given by Prof. Kaspar Willam) and the joint meeting of fib Task Group 4.3 (Fire Design of Concrete Structures, convened by Dr. Niels Peter Hoj) and fib Working Party 4.3.2 (Structural Behaviour, convened by Prof. Luc Taerwe). As recognized by the participants, the workshop came up to the expectations, with reference not only to the presentation of past and present activities on fire design, but also to the exchange of ideas and to possible joint research projects.