Abstract
Prestressed concrete exhibits resistance to damage induced by fire and associated elevated temperatures, often permitting reuse of structural elements following exposure to accidental fire. However, prudent determination of suitability for reuse or rehabilitation of fire-damaged prestressed concrete requires a post-fire structural evaluation, which can be greatly aided by application of nondestructive testing for quantitative assessment of residual material properties, structural strength, and serviceability. In this study, a suite of nondestructive inspection and evaluation methods including visual documentation, camber surveying, penetration resistance testing, and impact-echo are applied to fire-damaged and unaffected double-tee joists of a precast, prestressed roof system. Qualitative and quantitative measures of fire damage obtained through the nondestructive tests are presented and strong correlations, in particular between longitudinal wave speed estimates obtained in impact-echo testing and depth of probe penetration, are exhibited in the test results. Furthermore, the test results are compared with empirical models of residual compressive strength and residual elastic modulus of concrete following exposure to high temperatures. These results support recent laboratory studies suggesting that nondestructive measurements of longitudinal wave speed or pulse velocity through fire-damaged concrete may be linearly related to relative reductions in compressive strength. Results from a survey of the camber in the fire damaged joists is also presented with conceivable interpretation of the observed profiles to highlight the shortcomings of this often recommended practice and emphasize the need for more definitive nondestructive test methods.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Acknowledgments
The authors acknowledge the gracious assistance of graduate students, Colby Hietbrink, Ashley Skipper, and Timothy Kernicky, as well as undergraduate students, Divya Radhakrishnan and Alexandra Gotta, for their assistance with the on-site testing and visual inspection.
References
ASTM. (2010). “Standard test method for penetration resistance of hardened concrete.” C803-03, West Conshohocken, PA.
ASTM. (2011). “Standard test method for measuring the p-wave speed and thickness of concrete plates using the impact-echo method.” C1383-04, West Conshohocken, PA.
Carino, N. (2001). “Impact-echo method: An overview.” Structures Congress and Exposition, ASCE, Washington, DC.
Chang, Y., Chen, Y., Sheu, M., and Yao, G. (2006). “Residual stress-strain relationship for concrete after exposure to high temperatures.” Cem. Concr. Res., 36(10), 1999–2005.
Chung, H.-W., and Law, K. (1985). “Assessing fire damage of concrete by the ultrasonic pulse technique.” Cem. Concr. Aggregates, 7(2), 84–88.
Ciolko, A., and Tabatabai, H. (1999). “Nondestructive methods for condition evaluation of prestressing steel strands in concrete bridges.”, National Research Council, Washington, DC.
Concrete Materials Incorporated. (1969). Prestressed precast concrete design handbook for standard products, 1st Ed., Charlotte, NC.
Dilek, U. (2005). “Evaluation of fire damage to a precast concrete structure: Nondestructive, laboratory, and load testing.” J. Perform. Constr. Facil., 42–48.
Dilek, U. (2007). “Assessment of fire damage to a reinforced concrete structure during construction.” J. Perform. Constr. Facil., 257–263.
Dilek, U., and Leming, M. (2007). “Comparison of pulse velocity and impact-echo findings to properties of thin disks from a fire damaged slab.” J. Perform. Constr. Facil., 13–21.
Epasto, G., Proverbio, E., and Venturi, V. (2010). “Evaluation of fire-damaged concrete using impact-echo method.” Mater. Struct., 43(1–2), 235–245.
Erlin, B., Hime, W., and Kuenning, W. (1972). “Evaluating fire damage to concrete structures.” Concr. Constr., 17, 6.
Eurocode. (2005). “Eurocode 4—Design of composite steel and concrete structures—Part 1–2: General rules—Structural fire design.”, European Committee for Standardization, Brussels, Belgium.
Federation internationale du beton. (2008). “Fire design of concrete structures: Structural behavior and assessment: State of the art report.” Volume 46 of Bulletin, Lausanne, Switzerland.
Felicetti, R., Gambarova, P., and Bamonte, P. (2013). “Thermal and mechanical properties of light-weight concrete exposed to high temperature.” Fire Mater., 37(3), 200–216.
Kesner, K., Sansalone, M., and Poston, R. (2004). “Use of the impact-echo method to evaluate damage due to distributed cracking in concrete plate members.”, Transportation Research Board, Washington, DC, 61–69.
Lin, C.-C., Liu, P.-L., and Yeh, P.-L. (2009). “Application of empirical mode decomposition in the impact-echo test.” NDT&E Int., 42(7), 589–598.
Lin, J., Sansalone, M., and Streett, W. (1997). “Procedure for determining -wave speed in concrete for use in impact-echo testing using a -wave speed measurement technique.” ACI Mater. J., 94(6), 531–539.
Lin, Y., Hsiao, C., Yang, H., and Lin, Y.-F. (2011). “The effect of post-fire-curing on strength-velocity relationship for nondestructive assessment of fire-damaged concrete strength.” Fire Saf. J., 46(4), 178–185.
Malholtra, V., and Carette, G. (2004). “Penetration resistance methods.” Handbook on nondestructive testing of concrete, 2nd Ed., CRC Press, West Conshohocken, PA.
Naik, T., Malhotra, V., and Popovics, J. (2004). “The ultrasonic pulse velocity method.” Handbook on nondestructive testing of concrete, 2nd Ed., CRC Press, West Conshohocken, PA.
Naus, D. (2006). “The effect of elevated temperature on concrete materials and structures—A literature review.”, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN.
Naus, D. (2010). “A compilation of elevated temperature concrete material property data and information for use in assessments of nuclear power plant reinforced concrete structures.”, United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Oak Ridge, TN.
PCI. (1989). “Design for fire resistance of precast prestressed concrete.”, Precast/Prestressed Concrete Institute, Chicago, IL.
PCI. (2008). “Tolerance manual for precast and prestressed concrete construction.”, Precast/Prestressed Concrete Institute, Chicago, IL.
PCI. (2010). PCI design handbook, 7th Ed., Precast/Prestressed Concrete Institute, Chicago, IL.
Sansalone, M., and Streett, W. (1997). Impact-echo: Nondestructive evaluation of concrete and masonry, Bullbrier Press, Ithaca, NY.
Weiss, J. (2006). “Elastic properties, creep, and relaxation.” Significance of tests and properties of concrete and concrete-making materials, ASTM International, Bridgeport, NJ, 194–206.
Yang, H., Lin, Y., Hsiao, C., and Liu, J.-Y. (2009). “Evaluating residual compressive strength of concrete at elevated temperatures using ultrasonic pulse velocity.” Fire Saf. J., 44(1), 121–130.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Copyright
© 2014 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Jun 28, 2013
Accepted: Nov 14, 2013
Published online: Nov 16, 2013
Discussion open until: Dec 21, 2014
Published in print: Apr 1, 2015
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.