Thermal Propagation through Tensile Cracks in Reinforced Concrete
Publication: Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering
Volume 24, Issue 5
Abstract
The thermal propagation through tensile cracks in reinforced concrete beams is examined experimentally. A comparison is made between the rate of thermal propagation through beams that are undamaged, beams that have minor cracking, and beams that have major cracking. The results show a small decrease in the thermal propagation of the cracked beams in comparison with undamaged beams during heating. It is determined that the differences observed are most likely attributable to small geometric, mechanical, and concrete compositional differences. Consequently, it is concluded that the effects of tensile cracking on the thermal propagation through concrete can be ignored in structural analyses. Significantly, this means that analyses of heated concrete structures that are cracked can be carried out with heat-transfer and mechanical analyses being conducted sequentially, as is currently normal, and fully coupled thermomechanical analyses are not required.
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Acknowledgments
The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support of EPSRC (the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council), the BRE Trust, and the Scottish Funding Council (for its support of the Joint Research Institute in Civil Enigneering, part of the Edinburgh Research Partnership in Engineering and Mathematics). The technical support staff of the Univ. of Edinburgh are also thanked for their help, in particular, Michal Krajcovic, Derek Jardine, and Jim Hutcheson.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering
Volume 24 • Issue 5 • May 2012
Pages: 516 - 522
Copyright
© 2012. American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Oct 1, 2010
Accepted: Oct 31, 2011
Published online: Nov 3, 2011
Published in print: May 1, 2012
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