Experimental study on fire performance of axially-restrained NSC and HSC columns

This paper describes fire performance of eight axially restrained reinforced concrete (RC) columns under a combination of two different load ratios and two different axial restraint ratios. The eight RC columns were all concentrically loaded and subjected to ISO834 standard fire on all sides. Axial restraints were imposed at the top of the columns to simulate the restraining effect of the rest of the whole frame. The axial restraint was effective when the column was expanding as well as contracting. As the results of the experiments have shown, the stiffness of the axial restraint and load level play an important role in the fire behaviors of both HSC and NSC columns. It is found that (a) the maximum deformations during expanding phase were influenced mostly by load ratio and hardly by axial restraint ratio, (b) For a given load ratio, axial restraint ratio had a great impact on the development of axial deformation during contraction phase beyond the initial equilibrium state, (c) increasing the axial restraint increased the value of restraint force generated in both the NSC and HSC columns, and (d) the development of column axial force during the contracting and cooling phase followed nearly parallel trend for columns under the same load ratio.