The “Chunnel” Fire. II: Analysis of Concrete Damage

In Part I of this study, a material model for the in-situ behavior of rapidly heated concrete was developed that accounts explicitly for the dehydration of concrete and its cross-effects with deformation (chemomechanical couplings) and temperature (chemothermal couplings). In this part of the study, the model is used in finite-element analysis of the tunnel rings of the Channel Tunnel (the “Chunnel”) exposed to fire. An analysis of the finite-element results—i.e., the profiles of temperature, dehydration, stresses, and plastic strains—clearly shows that the thermal spalling that occured during the Chunnel fire is initiated by an in-plane biaxial compressive stress clog closed to the heated surface. The compressive stresses are caused by restrained thermal dilatation and are bounded by chemoplastic softening due to dehydration. They provoke permanent radial deformation, which can be attributed to spalling. The role of thermal damage and thermal decohesion is discussed by comparing elastic, chemoelastic, and chemoplastic stress developments during the 10 h fire exposure. It is found that the salient feature to capture the initiation of thermal spalling at a structural level is the chemoplastic softening behavior at a constitutive material level. It is also shown that a reinforcement on the cold-side, as well as steel fiber reinforcement of concrete, in tunnel rings may significantly increase the risk of thermal spalling.