Experimental and numerical study on unsymmetrically-loaded short beam subjected to fire

Abstract

The risk of shear failure at fire condition has been demonstrate over the years by past fire incidents. However, little attention has been given to the shear capacity of the RC elements as it should be ensured in structural fire design. Most structural fire design codes and guidelines to date for RC elements are not based on shear capacity. For shear fire design, the only provision is recommended by EN 1992-1-2(2004). However, it is not fully verified. Furthermore, no design provision is available for assessing the strength of short beams, at elevated temperatures. When expose to elevated temperatures, shear failure may govern the failure mode of short beams by the combination of thermal induced stress and non-linear stress distribution that affect it. Nonetheless, no publication can be found of short beams subject to fire exposure. Therefore, in the present research program, the structural fire behaviour of short beams will be examined, followed by the utilization of a heat transfer model for simulating the response of short beams. Tests will be conducted to investigate experimentally the effects of a/d ratio, on the structural fire behaviour of short beams. The heat transfer model will be utilised to model the experimental data of short beams when exposed to fires. Besides, a design approach is used to evaluate the capacity of short beams subjected to fires