Fire resistance of earthquake damaged reinforced concrete walls

Fire following earthquakes is a concern to the performance of reinforced concrete structures because the potential loss of cover concrete due to earthquake demands can lead to reduced fire resistance, while the duration of a fire may be extensive due to damaged fire suppression systems and/or the inability of emergency responders to access the structure. Reduced fire resistance of structural walls following an earthquake is a potential performance issue because walls may carry a significant portion of the gravity load and/or are located at stairs and elevators which serve as the primary means of access and egress. As a preliminary investigation into the effects of earthquake damage on the fire resistance of reinforced concrete walls, a series of numerical simulations was conducted. The basis of the simulations was a series of experimental tests documented in the literature that subjected reinforced concrete walls to high-temperature loads. The walls were first modeled without damage to determine the baseline fire resistance of the walls using the standard ASTM E119 time-temperature curve and with a set of generic time-temperature curves intended to represent realistic fires. These analyses were then repeated using increasing levels of damage observed in the experimental tests to determine the reduction in the fire resistance of the walls as a function of the damage.

NCEE 2014 - 10th U.S. National Conference on Earthquake Engineering: Frontiers of Earthquake Engineering

Fire resistance of earthquake damaged reinforced concrete walls Conference Paper