<p>In recent years, there have been a number of truck fires involving
bridges with concrete components. If the fire burns for a significant period of
time, the structural integrity of concrete components could be damaged due to fire.
Research-based guidance for evaluating the level of fire damage is currently unavailable
and would be beneficial for post-fire bridge inspectors. </p>
<p>This research project focused on evaluating the effects of
fire induced damage on concrete bridge deck elements. In order to achieve this
goal, a series of controlled heating experiments and material analysis were
conducted. Two concrete bridge deck specimens from the I-469 bridge over
Feighner Road were heated for different time durations (40 - 80 min.) following
the ISO-834 temperature-time curve. The deck specimens were cooled naturally
after the specific heating durations. The temperature profiles through the
depth of deck specimens were measured during heating and cooling. After testing,
concrete samples were taken from the deck specimens for material analysis. Different
types of material tests were conducted on samples taken from the undamaged and
damaged deck specimens. The material test results were used to evaluate the
effects of fire induced damage on the concrete microstructure, and to correlate
the microstructure degradation with the through-depth temperature profiles of
deck specimens. </p>
<p>From the experimental results, several critical parameters
that can affected by fire temperature and duration were discussed: (i) through-depth
temperature profiles of deck specimens, (ii) cracks on the exposed surface of
deck specimens, (iii) color changes of deck specimens, (iv) microstructure of heated
concrete samples, (v) content of calcium hydroxide in fire damaged concrete
samples at various depths. Based on the results from heating experiments and
observations from material analysis, recommendations and guidance for
evaluating concrete decks subjected to realistic fire scenarios are provided to
assist bridge inspectors.</p>
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:purdue.edu/oai:figshare.com:article/9104870 |
| Date | 16 August 2019 |
| Creators | Sijia Wang (7041299) |
| Source Sets | Purdue University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, Thesis |
| Rights | CC BY 4.0 |
| Relation | https://figshare.com/articles/Post-Fire_Assessment_of_Concrete_in_Bridge_Decks/9104870 |
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