BEHAVIOR OF REACTIVE POWDER CONCRETE SLABS EXPOSED TO FIRE FLAME

This work is devoted to study the behavior as well as the mechanical properties of reactive powder concrete (RPC) slabs subjected to fire flame. The experimental program includes investigation the effect of burning temperature and duration on some important mechanical properties of RPC compared with normal strength concrete (NSC) such as compressive strength, modulus of rupture, splitting tensile strength and modulus of elasticity. Additional tests are also conducted to study the effect of temperature, duration, existence of steel reinforcement and slab thickness on the flexural or punching shear behavior of simply supported RPC slabs having dimensions of (520×520×50mm) under concentrated load at the center of the slab. The test results showed that the performance of RPC specimens at fire were worse than that of conventional concrete due to increased spalling. All RPC samples were spalled and loss their mechanical properties under burning at (600ºC) for (60 mins.) duration. Slab thickness of (50 mm) was enough to resist fire exposure at high temperature level without spalling of the upper surface of concrete. .