Proceedings of the Institution of
Civil Engineers
Engineering and Computational
Mechanics 163
March 2010 Issue EM1
Pages 43–53
doi: 10.1680/eacm.2010.163.1.43
Paper 900004
Received 28/01/2008
Accepted 23/07/2009
Zhaohui Huang
Keywords: concrete structures/ Lecturer, Department of Civil
mathematical modelling/stress and Structural Engineering,
analysis the University of Sheffield,
Sheffield, UK
Modelling of reinforced concrete structures in fire
Z. Huang BEng, PhD
In this paper a robust finite-element procedure is
presented for three-dimensional modelling of
reinforced concrete structures under fire conditions. In
this non-linear procedure a reinforced concrete building
is modelled as an assembly of finite plain beam–
column and slab elements, reinforcing steel bar
elements and bond-link elements. Both material and
geometric non-linearities are considered in the model.
To consider the effects of concrete spalling on the
thermal and structural behaviours of concrete
structures under fire conditions, a ‘void layer’ and ‘void
segment’ are introduced to represent the spalled-
concrete part within concrete slabs, beams and
columns. A critical temperature is used as the concrete
spalling criterion. These developments enable the
model to simulate quantitatively the effects of concrete
spalling on both the thermal and structural behaviours
of reinforced concrete structures in fire. A series of
analyses are also conducted on a generic reinforced
concrete building. The results indicate that, under fire
conditions, the structural behaviour of isolated
members with the concrete spalled is very different
compared with the behaviour exhibited when
embedded within a building. The influence of bond
conditions between concrete and reinforcing steel bars
on the fire resistance of structural members is
significant. The global structural fire resistance of the
reinforced concrete building is significantly affected by
the concrete spalling on their members, in which the
most important member is floor slabs.
1. INTRODUCTION
In the past two decades, a significant amount of research has
been conducted into the performance of composite
steel-framed structures in fire. However, the same level of
development has not taken place for other forms of
construction. In terms of reinforced concrete structures, design
against fire is still based on simplistic methods developed from
standard fire tests, which do not necessarily represent real
building behaviour. This makes it difficult to determine the
level of safety achieved, or whether an appropriate level of
safety could be attained more efficiently.
There is a widely held perception among designers that
reinforced concrete structures have good fire resistance
Engineering and Computational Mechanics 163 Issue EM1
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compared with steel structures. This is based on the assumption
that concrete cross-sections retain their integrity under fire
conditions. However, in previous studies, considerable evidence
has emerged which shows that spalling of concrete in
accidental fires routinely causes severe damage to concrete
members (Ali et al., 2001; Bailey, 2002). In a full-scale fire test
carried out on the Cardington concrete frame (Bailey, 2002),
spalling of the floor slab was extensive and the bottom layer of
steel reinforcement was exposed to fire attack, although
collapse did not occur. This can possibly be attributed to a
reasonably thick slab behaving in compressive membrane
action. In recent years, a number of numerical models have
been developed for modelling the behaviour of reinforced
concrete members in fire (Terro, 1998; Huang et al., 1999; Lim
et al., 2004; Capua and Mari, 2007), but none of these have
taken spalling into account. Because of its complexity, current
design codes (BSI, 2004a) provide only simple guidance on the
influence of spalling on the fire resistance of concrete
structures. At present there is no reliable method available to
assess the residual strength of reinforced concrete structures
after concrete spalling has occurred. Hence, the primary
objective of this paper is to extend the current procedure
developed by the author at the University of Sheffield (Huang
et al., 2003a; 2003b; 2007) to take into account the effects of
concrete spalling on both thermal and structural behaviours of
concrete members under fire conditions. Using a layering or
segmenting procedure and allowing some concrete layers or
segments to be ‘void’ (with zero mechanical strength and
stiffness and zero thermal resistance), the effects of concrete
spalling on the thermal and structural behaviour of reinforced
concrete beams, columns and slabs can be more efficiently
modelled.
First of all, a detailed analysis of uniformly loaded reinforced
concrete beam and slab subjected to a standard ISO 834 fire
(ISO, 1985) was carried out. The beam was simply supported at
two ends and the slab was simply vertically supported on its
four edges. The influence of concrete spalling and bond
characteristic between reinforcing steel and concrete on the
behaviour of the slab and beam was assessed. A series of
analyses were then also carried out on a generic reinforced
concrete building which was designed to Eurocode 2 (BSI,
2004b) and represents a commercial office building with a
2-hour fire-resistance rate. A total of 16 cases have been
analysed using different extents and positions of localised fire
compartments.
Modelling of reinforced concrete structures in fire Huang 43
 2. THEORETICAL BACKGROUND OF THE MODEL
In this three-dimensional (3D) non-linear finite-element
procedure, a reinforced concrete building is modelled as an
assembly of finite plain beam–column and slab elements,
reinforcing steel bar elements and bond-link elements, as
shown in Figure 1. It is assumed that the nodes of each of these
different types of elements are defined in a common reference
plane. For modelling reinforced concrete buildings, the
reference plane is normally assumed to coincide with the
mid-surface of the concrete slab element and its location is
fixed throughout the analysis.
The beam–column and reinforcing steel bar elements are
represented by three-noded line elements (Huang et al., 2007).
Both material and geometric non-linearities are considered in
the model. The cross-section of the element is divided into a
matrix of segments, and each segment may have different
material, temperature and mechanical properties. The
complications of structural behaviour in fire conditions, such
as thermal expansion, degradation of stress–strain curves,
failure of concrete segments by cracking and crushing and
yielding of reinforcement are included. In this beam–column
element, it is possible to offset the nodes by pre-determined
distances, and the elements can easily be combined with shell
or plate elements to model reinforced concrete or composite
structures in fire.
In this model a non-linear layered finite element procedure has
been developed for modelling plain concrete slabs. The layered
procedure is based on the Mindlin/Reissner (thick plate) theory,
and both geometric and material non-linearities are considered
(Huang et al., 2003a; 2003b). As shown in Figure 1, the slab
elements are subdivided into concrete layers to take into
account temperature distributions through the thickness of
slabs, thermal strains, material degradation for each layer and
layer-by-layer failure based on stress levels at Gauss points.
A bond-link element (Huang, 2008) is also used to represent
the bond characteristic between concrete and reinforcing steel
bars in fire. The bond element shown in Figure 1 is a
specialised two-noded element of zero length, which has three
translational degrees of freedom and three rotational degrees of
freedom at each node. It is assumed that the slip between
reinforcing steel and concrete is related only to the
longitudinal axis of steel bars. Previous research indicated that
Slab elements
Reference plane
z
y
x The model developed for the beam–column element, in which
Concrete layers
Bond-link elements
Slab nodes
Steel bars for slab
Concrete segments
Nodes of beam and steel bar elements
Steel bars for beam Beam and steel bar elements
Figure 1. Division of reinforced concrete structure into
beam–column, steel bar, slab and bond-link elements
44 Engineering and Computational Mechanics 163 Issue EM1
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the bond stress–slip relationship depends on a considerable
number of influencing factors such as: type of steel bar (ribbed
or smooth), roughness (related rib area), concrete strength,
position and orientation of the bar during casting, state of
stress, boundary conditions and concrete cover. In this study,
therefore the average bond stress at ambient temperature is
calculated using an empirical bond stress–slip relationship
defined in the CEB–FIP model code 90 (CEB–FIP, 1990). In this
model the bond stress–slip curve is considered as a statistical
mean curve which is applicable as an average formulation for a
broad range of cases. Investigations into the bond strength
between concrete and reinforcing steel at room temperature
have been carried out over many years. Comparatively few
experiments have, however, been carried out to investigate the
effects of high temperatures on the bond characteristics. Due to
the complexity of bond characteristic at elevated temperatures,
simplified bi-linear and tri-linear models are used here as a
first-order approximation to calculate the degradation of bond
strengths of ribbed and smooth bars at elevated temperatures,
respectively (Bazant and Kaplan, 1996).
In the non-linear procedure described above, the material
properties such as the compressive strength of concrete and
yield strength of reinforcing steel are reduced at elevated
temperatures. The models adopted are those specified in
Eurocode 2 (BSI, 2004a). The transient state strain of concrete
at elevated temperature is assumed to be temperature-
dependent and independent of time. The shrinkage of concrete
and creep of concrete and reinforcing steel are not considered
in the model. However, for the reinforcing steel material
properties specified in Eurocode 2 the creep is considered
implicitly.
In this research, for considering the effects of concrete spalling
on the thermal and structural behaviours of concrete structures
under fire conditions, a ‘void layer’ and ‘void segment’ are
introduced to represent the spalled-concrete part within
concrete slabs, beams and columns. It is assumed that the void
layer and segment have zero mechanical strength, stiffness and
thermal resistance. After the outer-part concrete has spalled,
the inner-part concrete will therefore be exposed directly to the
fire so the fire boundary can be moved within the cross-
sections of the concrete structural members. A critical
temperature is used as the concrete spalling criteria. It is
assumed that when the temperature of the concrete segment or
layer reaches the ‘critical temperature’, then that segment or
layer is spalled. However, in this study it is assumed that the
concrete spalling cannot reach beyond the reinforcing steel
cage of the members. These developments enable the model to
simulate quantitatively the effects of concrete spalling on both
the thermal and structural behaviours of reinforced concrete
structures in fire.
concrete spalling has been taken into account, was validated
against some available test data and a reasonable accuracy was
achieved (Huang et al., 2007). The bond-link element was also
validated against experimental results with good agreement
(Huang, 2008). However, the slab element model described
above was extensively validated against the test data in which
the influence of concrete spalling was not considered (Huang et
al., 1999; 2003a; 2003b). At present there are very limited
Modelling of reinforced concrete structures in fire Huang
 available test data for concrete slab panels with significant
spalling. In the full-scale fire test (Bailey, 2002), all test data
were lost after 23 min of test time due to the fire escaping the
compartment through the top 325 mm opening and burning
out the cables which were connected to the data logger. Hence,
it is difficult to use this test for validating the model. It is also
well known that there are still no robust numerical models in
existence that can accurately predict concrete spalling.
Therefore, in this research a simplified method was developed
based on the critical temperature of concrete for predicting
concrete spalling and its impact on the global behaviour of
reinforced concrete structures in fire.
The robustness of the proposed beam–column and layered slab
elements has been investigated as part of previous research
(Huang et al., 2003a; 2003b; 2007). The studies indicated that
the models are quite robust in being relatively insensitive to
both segment/layer and element meshing for material linear
elastic cases. However, for reinforced concrete members in fire
it is necessary to use a high degree of segmentation or layering
in order to represent some temperature distributions and
material properties adequately. From the current author’s
experience, it is recommended that the size of the concrete
segments or layers in the areas close to the fire boundary
should be limited to less than 10 mm. The size of the concrete
segments or layers in the areas away from the fire boundary
should not exceed 40 mm. It is also recommended to limit the
size of elements to 1500 mm.
3. MODELLING OF ISOLATED REINFORCED
CONCRETE SLAB AND BEAM
The performed study was based on a generic 37.5 m 3 37.5 m
normal-weight reinforced concrete structure comprising ten
floors with a 4.5 m storey height and five 7.5 m 3 7.5 m bays
in each direction, subject to the ISO 834 standard fire test (see
A B C D E F
6
5
4
C
3
B above, the model is modified to take into account the effect of
2
7·5 m A
1 Raised floor
7·5 m Quarter
Axis of symmetry
structure
analysed
Figure 2. Concrete structure layout for the whole floor
heated by the ISO 834 fire
Engineering and Computational Mechanics 163 Issue EM1
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Figure 2). The building is designed to Eurocode 2 (BSI, 2004a;
2004b), and represents a commercial office building. The
characteristic loads are listed in Table 1.
At the fire limit state, the total design load on the slab floors
therefore is 10.75 kN/m2 when the partial safety factor of 0.5 is
applied to the imposed load. This loading is used throughout
the analysis. The characteristic strength of concrete and
reinforcing steel is assumed to be 45 MPa and 460 MPa,
respectively. The moisture content of the concrete is assumed
to be 4% by weight. It is also assumed that a 2-hour fire
resistance is required for the building. Therefore the nominal
cover of the slabs for the required fire resistance is 25 mm (BSI,
2004a). According to Eurocode 2 (BSI, 2004b), each floor slab
is nominally 250 mm thick. The nominal covers of beams and
columns for the required fire resistance are 30 mm and 25 mm,
respectively. The dimensions of the cross-sections of beams
and columns are 500 mm 3 350 mm and 350 mm 3 350 mm,
respectively. Figure 3 shows the cross-section details of beams
and columns.
In order to investigate the influence of the surrounding
structures on the behaviour of the individual slab or beam,
detailed analyses of a uniformly loaded single reinforced
concrete slab (7.5 m 3 7.5 m) and beam (7.5 m) – which have
the same dimensions and loading condition as the floor slabs
and beam within one compartment of the generic building (see
Figure 2), subject to a standard fire regime – were first carried
out. The slab has two orthogonal reinforcing steel bar layers
(with the steel area of 646 mm2 /m for each layer) at the
position of 30 mm from the bottom surface of the slab. The
slab is simply supported on four edges and the beam is simply
supported at two ends. Previous research has indicated that
concrete spalling is very likely to happen within 30 min of an
ISO 834 fire test. The critical spalling temperature of concrete
ranges from 2008C to 4008C (Yu et al., 2005). Hence, in this
research the critical spalling temperature of concrete is
assumed to be 3508C.
The first step of the analysis was to perform a thermal analysis
on the slab and beam. A computer program previously
developed by the author (Huang et al., 1996) was used to
predict the temperature distributions within the cross-sections
of structural members subject to user-specified time–
temperature fire curves. In this two-dimensional non-linear
finite-element procedure, the thermal properties of the steel
and concrete are assumed to change with temperature. The
influence of moisture initially held within the concrete and
protection materials has been taken into account in the model.
In this study, the thermal properties given in Eurocode 2 (BSI,
2004a) for concrete and steel have been adopted. As mentioned
Self-weight (assuming concrete density of 24 kN/m3) 7.5
0.5
Ceiling and services 0.5
Partitions 1.0
Imposed load 2.5
Table 1. Characteristic loads of a generic commercial office
building (kN/m2 )
Modelling of reinforced concrete structures in fire Huang 45
 2T12 the cross-section of beam was segmented into 441 segments
(21 3 21) and the cross-section of column was divided into
56
289 (17 3 17) segments. The temperature histories of the
reinforcing steel mesh in the slab for the spalling case together
with the no-spalling case are shown in Figure 4. It is evident
56 that the effect of concrete spalling on the thermal behaviour of
the slab is very significant. For the no-spalling case the
temperature of the steel mesh at 120 min is about 5008C. If
using this temperature as a reference temperature, the time to
500 reach this temperature for the spalling case is about 24 min.
Figures 5 and 6 show the temperature histories of the main
3T32 reinforcing steel bars within the beam and column,
respectively. The positions of the steel bars are indicated in
56 Figure 3. Again, the influence of concrete spalling on the
thermal behaviours of the beam and column is very significant.
The temperatures of the cross-sections of the slab, beam and
56 column generated by thermal analysis, were then used to carry
out the structural analysis for isolated members and heated
350 reinforced concrete frames.
Bar 1 Bar 2
(a)
3.1. Structural behaviour of the simply supported beam
6T32 This reinforced concrete beam has 7.5 m span with a uniform
line load of 20.16 kN/m, which is equivalent to the loading
condition for the beam within the frame (see Figure 2). In order
to consider the influence of bond characteristic between
50 concrete and reinforcing steel bar, the beam was modelled as
an assembly of five plain concrete beam elements, 25 steel bar
elements and 55 bond-link elements. By using the bond-link
50
element, the bond characteristic between concrete and steel
reinforcement can be modelled with full, partial and no
350
interactions. For comparison, the beam was also modelled as
five reinforced concrete beam elements in which a full
50 interaction between the concrete and steel bar was assumed.

Figure 7 shows the comparison of the deflection at mid-span of

50
the beam by modelling the beam with and without bond-link
element. In this case, full interaction between concrete and
350
steel bar was assumed and concrete spalling was not
Bar 1 Bar 2 considered. It is evident that the two methods produced almost
(b)
identical results. As shown in Figure 8, three bond conditions
for the beam were considered in which the concrete spalling
Figure 3. Cross-sectional details of beams and columns:
was not taken into account. It is clear that a ribbed steel bar
(a) cross-section of beam and (b) cross-section of column (all
dimensions in mm)

1200
concrete spalling on the thermal behaviour of the reinforced
concrete members. During the thermal analysis, the segment or
900
layer is spalled when the temperature of the concrete segment
Temperature: °C

or layer within the cross-section of the structural member

reaches the ‘critical spalling temperature’. Hence, the inner-part
600
of the concrete is exposed directly to the fire, so the fire
boundary can be moved within the cross-sections of concrete
ISO 834 fire
structural members. However, the concrete spalling cannot 300
No concrete spalling
reach beyond the reinforcing steel cage of the members.
Therefore, in this simplified model, the effect of water vapour Concrete spalled

pressure on concrete spalling cannot be considered explicitly. 0

However, the moisture content in the concrete will implicitly 0 60 120 180 240
Time: min
affect the critical spalling temperature used.
Figure 4. Temperature histories of the reinforcing steel mesh
For both thermal and structural analyses, the concrete slab was in the slab subject to ISO 834 fire test
divided into 14 concrete layers along its thickness direction;

46 Engineering and Computational Mechanics 163 Issue EM1 Modelling of reinforced concrete structures in fire Huang

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 1200

ISO 834 fire

900
Bar 1 with spalling

Temperature: °C
Bar 2 with spalling

600 Bar 3 with spalling

Bar 1 no spalling

300 Bar 2 no spalling

Bar 3 no spalling

0
0 60 120 180 240
Time: min

Figure 5. Temperature histories of the reinforcing steel bars of the beam subject to ISO 834 fire test

1200

900
ISO 834 fire
Temperature: °C

Bar 1 with spalling

600 Bar 2 with spalling

Bar 1 no spalling

Bar 2 no spalling
300

0
0 60 120 180 240
Time: min

Figure 6. Temperature histories of the reinforcing steel bars of the column subject to ISO 834 fire test

0 0

⫺250 ⫺250
Mid-span deflection: mm
Mid-span deflection: mm

Full bonded

Partial bonded
⫺500 ⫺500 (ribbed bar)
With bond-link element

Without bond-link element Partial bonded

⫺750 (smooth bar)
⫺750

⫺1000 ⫺1000
0 60 120 180 240 0 60 120 180 240
Time: min Time: min

Figure 7. Comparison of mid-span deflections of the simply Figure 8. Comparison of mid-span deflections of the simply
supported beam with full bond condition supported beam for different bond conditions

can provide a very good bond condition in this case. However, compared with the ribbed bar. It is evident that the influence of
the bond condition of the ribbed bar is also dependent on the the bond condition between the concrete and steel bar is very
concrete strength. The fire resistance of the beam with a significant and should be considered in the structural fire
smooth steel bar is reduced by almost more than 40% design of a reinforced concrete building.

Engineering and Computational Mechanics 163 Issue EM1 Modelling of reinforced concrete structures in fire Huang 47

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 The impact of concrete spalling on the structural behaviour is 0
demonstrated in Figure 9. In this case, the full bond condition
and the concrete spalling for the whole beam was assumed. It
is clear from the results that the influence of concrete spalling ⫺250

Mid-span deflection: mm
on the structural behaviour of the concrete beam is very 1 2 3 4 5
significant for this support condition. Using the deflection
criterion of span/20, 226 min of fire resistance can be achieved ⫺500
No spalling
for the no-spalling case. However, the spalled beam has only
43 min of fire resistance. This is attributable to the main Whole beam spalled

tension reinforcing steel bar 1 (see Figure 3) being directly ⫺750 Spalled at element 3

exposed to fire at about 25 min because of the concrete Spalled at elements 2 and 4

spalling. The temperatures of the steel bar 1 and bar 2 were Spalled at elements 1 and 5

increased dramatically afterwards and reached 7118C and ⫺1000

0 60 120 180 240
5308C, respectively, at 43 min (see Figure 5). Figure 10 shows Time: min
the influence of the spalling locations along the beam. It is
evident that the effect of the spalling close to mid-span is more Figure 10. Comparison of mid-span deflections of the simply
significant than the locations near the supports. This is supported beam for different locations of concrete spalling
attributed to the bending moment distribution along the beam.

0
3.2. Structural behaviour of the slab with simple support
on its four edges
The slab modelled has the dimension of 7.5 m 3 7.5 m with a Central deflection: mm ⫺250
uniform load of 10.75 kN/m2 , which is the same loading for the
slab within the frame (see Figure 2). For considering the
influence of bond characteristic between concrete and ⫺500 Full bonded
reinforcing steel mesh, the slab was modelled as an assembly
Partial bonded
of 25 plain concrete slab elements, 50 steel bar elements (25 in (ribbed bar)
each direction) and 85 bond-link elements. Figure 11 shows the ⫺750
Partial bonded
influence of the bond conditions between the concrete and (smooth bar)
steel mesh on the structural performance of the slab in fire. In
the analyses, no concrete spalling was assumed. Again, as with ⫺1000
the beam, the effect of bond characteristic on the structural 0 60 120 180 240
Time: min
behaviour of the slab is significant. A ribbed steel bar provides
a very good bond condition compared with a smooth bar.
Figure 11. Comparison of central deflections of the simply
Using the deflection criterion of span/20, 230 min of fire supported slab for different bond conditions
resistance can be achieved for the ribbed bar case; however,
the smooth bar case has only 177 min of fire resistance. It is
noted that the influence of the bond condition on the slab is
less significant compared to the beam. This may be because of 0

the influence of tensile membrane action on the slab. As shown

in Figure 12, the impact of concrete spalling on the fire
resistance of the slab is very significant. In this case, a full ⫺250
Central deflection: mm

Span/20
0 ⫺500
Without spalling

⫺250 With spalling

Mid-span deflection: mm

⫺750
Span/20

⫺500 ⫺1000
Without spalling 0 60 120 180 240
With spalling Time: min
⫺750
Figure 12. Influence of concrete spalling on the structural
behaviour of the simply supported slab
⫺1000
0 60 120 180 240
Time: min
bond condition was assumed. With the deflection of span/20,
only 27 min of fire resistance could be achieved for the
Figure 9. Influence of concrete spalling on the structural
behaviour of the simply supported beam spalling case, whereas 230 min of fire resistance was achieved
for the non-spalling case. Because of the concrete spalling the

48 Engineering and Computational Mechanics 163 Issue EM1 Modelling of reinforced concrete structures in fire Huang

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 steel mesh of the slab was exposed to fire at about 22 min, and 0
its temperature was increased dramatically afterwards. At
27 min, the temperature of the steel mesh reached 6188C (see
Figure 4). It is evident that for simply supported conditions the ⫺250
effect of the concrete spalling on the slab is much more

Deflection: mm
significant than the beam.
⫺500
4. MODELLING OF REINFORCED CONCRETE FRAME No spalling
STRUCTURE IN FIRE Only slabs spalled
The main limitation of current codified approaches is that they ⫺750 Only beams spalled
are based on the behaviour under test of isolated simply Only columns spalled
supported members, usually heated according to the standard
ISO 834 time–temperature curve. In real buildings, structural ⫺1000
elements form part of a continuous assembly. Building fires 0 60 120 180 240
Time: min
often remain localised, with the fire-affected region of the
structure being subject to significant restraint from cooler areas
Figure 13. Predicted deflections at position A for different
surrounding it. The real behaviour of these structural elements spalling cases
can therefore be very different from that indicated by standard
furnace tests. Therefore, after the studies conducted as
described above, it is logical to ask how the slab or beam
behave when they are within the building.

The degree of restraint provided to a certain structural member 0

is dependent on the locations of the member and the fire
compartment within the building; it is therefore very difficult
to precisely simulate the real behaviour of the structural ⫺250
member based on an isolated member using experimental or
Deflection: mm

numerical methods. Of course, analysis of a single simple

element can provide lower and upper limits for the behaviour ⫺500
of the structural member in fire. Hence, to investigate the No spalling
behaviour of reinforced concrete floor slabs and beams in a Only slabs spalled
real building, the research conducted in this paper was based ⫺750 Only beams spalled
on a generic normal-weight reinforced concrete structure (as
Only columns spalled
mentioned in Section 3, see Figure 2). A total of four
compartment fires were used in this study. The temperatures of ⫺1000
heated members in the building are the same as the 0 60 120 180 240
Time: min
temperatures of isolated members (see Figures 4–6).
Figure 14. Predicted deflections at position B for different
4.1. Whole floor fire spalling cases
It is first assumed that the whole seventh floor of the building
is engulfed in fire. Because of the inherent symmetry of the
case, only a quarter of the structure was modelled. In order to
assess the influence of spalled structural members on the
global behaviour of a building, four cases were analysed:
0
(a) no-spalling for all members
(b) only slabs spalled
(c) only beams spalled ⫺250
(d ) only columns spalled.
Deflection: mm

The predicted deflections at the key positions, A, B and C and ⫺500

column B2 within the structure analysed (see Figure 2) are No spalling
presented in Figures 13–16 respectively. It can be seen that the Only slabs spalled
analysis was stopped at 187 min for the no-spalling case. This ⫺750 Only beams spalled
is due to the failure of column B2 (see Figure 16); however, the
Only columns spalled
fire resistance of this case is well beyond the design resistance
of 120 min. It is evident that the effects of the spalled slabs on ⫺1000
the deflections of the floor slabs at three key positions are very 0 60 120 180 240
Time: min
significant. The fire resistance of the building is reduced from
187 min to less than 37 min because of the slabs’ spalling. As
Figure 15. Predicted deflections at position C for different
the whole floor is heated, very little thermal restraint is spalling cases
provided through the columns. In this case, the tensile

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 0 A D E
B C F

⫺10
Deflection: mm

⫺20
No spalling
4
Only slabs spalled
⫺30 Only beams spalled FC-III
Only columns spalled
3

⫺40
FC-II
0 60 120 180 240
Time: min
2

Figure 16. Predicted deflections at the position of column B2 7·5 m FC-I

for different spalling cases
1
7·5 m Quarter Axis of symmetry
structure
analysed
membrane action is the main load-carrying mechanism of the
floor slabs at large deflections in which the steel mesh is the
Figure 17. Concrete structure layout, with different fire
key component in the slabs to resist tensile membrane forces in compartment positions marked
the central area of the compartment. After the concrete spalled
in the slabs the temperature of the steel mesh increased
dramatically, especially after the steel mesh was exposed to the
fire (see Figure 4). As a consequence, the strength of steel mesh
0
was reduced significantly at elevated temperatures.

It is interesting that the impact of the spalled beam on the

⫺250
behaviour of the building is much less significant compared to
Deflection: mm

the spalled slabs. A fire resistance of 140 min can be achieved

in this case compared to 187 min for the non-spalling case. The
⫺500
results indicate that non-spalled slabs still have quite a good
load-carrying capacity through the columns supported at the No spalling

corners of the compartment; even the edge’s beams are
seriously weakened due to the concrete spalling. For the spalled
columns’ case, the reduction of the fire resistance of the
building is very significant. The columns failed at about 52 min
(see Figure 16).
4.2. Fire compartments in different locations
In order to study the interactions between the cool and hot
zones of the structure, a series of analyses have been carried
out for different extents and positions of localised fire
compartments. Three different locations of fire compartment
were modelled, as indicated in Figure 17. The temperature
distributions for the structural members within the fire
compartment are assumed to remain the same as those outlined
above. The structure beyond the fire compartment is assumed
to remain at an ambient temperature. In this investigation, four
spalling scenarios for the members within the fire compartment
were used:
(a) no-spalling for all members
(b) only slabs spalled
(c) only beams spalled
(d ) both slabs and beams spalled.
Figure 18 plots the deflections at the centre of the fire
compartment of FC-I (see Figure 17) against time for the no-
spalling and spalling cases. The distributions of the principal
Only slabs spalled
⫺750
Only beams spalled
Both slabs and beams spalled
⫺1000
0 60 120 180 240
Time: min
Figure 18. Predicted deflections at the centre of the fire
compartment of FC-I for different spalling cases
membrane tractions within the floor slabs at 200 min for the
no-spalling case and at 35 min for the ‘both slabs and beams
spalled case’ are shown in Figures 19 and 20, respectively. In
the figures, the compressive membrane traction (measured in
N/mm) is represented as a thick line and the tensile membrane
traction is shown by the thin line. The length of the lines is
also proportional to the magnitude of the tractions. It can be
seen that the behaviour of the floor slabs within the fire
compartment is very similar to the case with whole floor
engulfed in fire. In this corner compartment, the surrounding
cool structure is only capable of providing a little in-plane
restraint, and so the floor slabs within the corner bay need to
be almost self-equilibrating in the horizontal plane. This means
that, at large deflection, the tensile membrane tractions within
the central zone of the floor slabs are balanced by the
compression forces formed around the perimeter of the fire

50 Engineering and Computational Mechanics 163 Issue EM1 Modelling of reinforced concrete structures in fire Huang

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3 that the influence of the concrete spalling on the floor slabs is
2 and 23 show the distributions of the principal membrane
1
A B C
Figure 19. Case FC-I: distribution of the principal membrane
tractions at 200 min for the no-spalling case (thick line
represents compression; thin line represents tension)
The deflections of the floor slabs at the centre of the fire
compartment of FC-II (see Figure 17) are presented in Figure 21
for the no-spalling and spalling cases. It is interesting to see
significantly reduced. This is because the floor slabs in the fire
compartment are subjected to the large restraint provided by
the surrounding cooler structures. Hence, the floor slabs behave
as compressive membrane action during the fire. Figures 22
tractions in the slab at 180 min for the no-spalling and spalling
cases, respectively. It is evident that the floor slabs within the
fire compartment are subjected to compressive membrane
forces for both cases and concrete spalling has little influence
on them. The load-carrying mechanism of floor slabs is mainly
through compressive membrane actions. Hence, the influence
of the steel mesh is limited in this case. Similarly, in the case of
FC-I, the deflections of the edge’s beams for both slab and
beam spalled case were increased significantly due to the
concrete spalling on the beams. Therefore, the compressive
membrane action of the slabs was significantly reduced. The

3 ⫺150
Deflection: mm

⫺300

No spalling
2
Only slabs spalled
⫺450
Only beams spalled
Both slabs and beams spalled

⫺600
0 60 120 180 240
1 Time: min
A B C
Figure 21. Predicted deflections at the centre of the fire
Figure 20. Case FC-I: distribution of the principal membrane compartment of FC-II for different spalling cases
tractions at 35 min for both slabs and beams spalled case
(thick line represents compression; thin line represents
tension)

compartment. These are made possible by the presence of 3

vertical support due to the concrete beams, which forces the
slab to deform in double curvature and thus to generate the
membrane traction fields shown in Figure 19. The load-
carrying capacity of the slabs is increased significantly due to
this tensile membrane action, in which the steel mesh is a key 2
component. This is why the concrete spalling within the slabs
has such a big impact on the floor slabs in the fire
compartment. Because the beams at the edges of the fire
compartment were significantly weakened by concrete spalling,
the deflections of those beams were increased significantly. As
1
a result, the tensile membrane action of the slabs was
A B C
significantly reduced. Hence, only 35 min of fire resistance can
be achieved for the slabs and beams spalled case compared to
Figure 22. Case FC-II: distribution of the principal membrane
61 min of fire resistance for the only slabs spalled case. This is
tractions at 180 min for the no-spalling case (thick line
further confirmed by the membrane traction fields shown in represents compression; thin line represents tension)
Figure 20.

Engineering and Computational Mechanics 163 Issue EM1 Modelling of reinforced concrete structures in fire Huang 51

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 3 3

2 2

1 1
A B C A B C

Figure 23. Case FC-II: distribution of the principal membrane Figure 25. Case FC-III: distribution of the principal membrane
tractions at 180 min for both slabs and beams spalled case tractions at 220 min for the no-spalling case (thick line
(thick line represents compression; thin line represents represents compression; thin line represents tension)
tension)

notable deflection increases can be observed in Figure 21

compared to the only slabs spalled case. This is further
demonstrated in Figure 23. 3

The fire compartment of FC-III (see Figure 17) is located at the

centre of the building. Therefore, the thermal restraint provided
by the surrounding cool structures is significantly larger
compared to the FC-II case. Figure 24 shows the deflections of
2
the floor slabs at the centre of the fire compartment for the no-
spalling and spalling cases. Again, the results confirm that the
effect of concrete spalling on the deflection of the floor slabs is
very small. The fire resistance of 220 min can be reached for
this case. The distributions of the principal membrane tractions
in the slab at 220 min for the no-spalling and spalling cases 1
are shown in Figures 25 and 26, respectively. As with the FC-II A B C
case, the main reason is because the floor slabs in the fire
compartment are subjected to compression membrane actions. Figure 26. Case FC-III: distribution of the principal membrane
Hence, the influence of the steel mesh on the load-carrying tractions at 220 min for both slabs and beams spalled case
capacity of the floor slabs is negligible. (thick line represents compression; thin line represents
tension)

0
5. CONCLUSIONS
In this paper a finite-element procedure is presented for 3D
⫺150 modelling of reinforced concrete structures under fire
conditions. In this non-linear procedure, a reinforced concrete
Deflection: mm

building is modelled as an assembly of finite plain beam–

⫺300 column and slab elements, reinforcing steel bar elements and
bond-link elements. To consider the effects of concrete spalling
No spalling
on the thermal and structural behaviours of concrete structures
Only slabs spalled
⫺450 under fire conditions, a ‘void layer’ and ‘void segment’ are
Only beams spalled introduced to represent the spalled-concrete part within
Both slabs and beams spalled concrete slabs, beams and columns. It is assumed that the void
⫺600 layer and segment have zero mechanical strength, stiffness and
0 60 120 180 240 thermal resistance. A critical temperature is used as the
Time: min
concrete spalling criteria. These developments enable the model
to quantitatively simulate the effects of concrete spalling on
Figure 24. Predicted deflections at the centre of the fire
compartment of FC-III for different spalling cases both the thermal and structural behaviours of reinforced
concrete structures in fire.

52 Engineering and Computational Mechanics 163 Issue EM1 Modelling of reinforced concrete structures in fire Huang

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 For the first time, the effects of concrete spalling on the global
structural behaviour of a reinforced concrete building under
fire conditions has been quantitatively investigated. Several
conclusions can be made.
(a) Under fire conditions, the structural behaviour of isolated
members is very different compared to their behaviour
within the building. Hence, for structural fire engineering
design of reinforced concrete buildings, it is necessary to
adopt the performance-based design approach.
(b) The influence of bond conditions between concrete and
reinforcing steel bars on the fire resistance of structural
members is significant. For concrete grade above C30, it is
reasonable to assume full bond condition when ribbed steel
bars are used for structural fire resistance design; however,
if smooth bars are used the assumption of full bond
condition is not conservative.
(c) The global structural fire resistance of a reinforced concrete
building is significantly affected by the concrete spalling on
their members in which the first important member is floor
slabs and the second is columns. The influence of spalled
beams on the global structural behaviour of a building is
much less significant compared to slabs and columns.
(d ) The impacts of the concrete spalling on the structural
behaviour of reinforced concrete slabs are largely
dependent on the degree of thermal restraint provided by
the slabs. It can be concluded from this research that the
compressive membrane force is a major player in reducing
the impact of concrete spalling on the structural behaviour
of concrete floor slabs within the fire compartment.
Concrete spalling therefore has very little influence on the
fire resistance of concrete floor slabs in the central fire
compartment of the building due to the high thermal
restraint provided by the surrounding cool structures.
However, concrete spalling can significantly reduce the fire
resistance of the floor slabs in the corner bay of the
buildings because there is very little thermal restraint in
those compartments.
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