Strength loss contributions during stages of heating, retention and cooling regimes for concretes

2015) Abstract. Concrete suffers strength loss when subjected to elevated temperatures during an accidental event such as fire. The loss in strength of concrete is mainly attributed to decomposition of C-S-H gel and release of chemically bound water, which begins when the temperature exceeds 500 ˚ C. But it is unclear about how much strength loss occurs in different stages of heating, retention and cooling regimes. This work is carried out to separate the total strength loss into losses during different stages of heating, retention and cooling. Tests were carried out on both Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC) based concrete and Ground Granulated Blast Furnace Slag (GGBFS) blended concrete for 200 ˚ C, 400 ˚ C, 600 ˚ C and 800 ˚ C with a retention period of 1 hour for each of these temperature levels. Furnace cooling was adopted throughout the experiment. This study reports strength loss contribution during heating, retention and cooling regimes for both OPC based and GGBFS based