Constitutive Relationships for Steel Fibre Reinforced Concrete at Elevated Temperatures

Steel fibre reinforced concrete (SFRC) is an advanced cementitious composite where fibres can act as a profitable replacement for diffused reinforcement, like welded steel mesh, especially for thin cross sections. In this case fire becomes a very important condition in the design. Previous experimental research has shown the benefits in fire resistance of steel fibres, when structural elements are bent. The proper understanding of the effects of elevated temperatures on the properties of SFRC is necessary. In this study, constitutive relationships are developed for high-strength FRSC subjected to fire, with the purpose of given that capable modelling and to specify the fire-performance criteria for concrete structures. They are developed for unconfined FRSC specimens that include compressive and tensile strengths, modulus of elasticity, modulus of rupture, strain at peak stress, and compressive stress-strain relationships at elevated temperatures. The proposed relationships at elevated temperature are compared with experimental results. These results are used to establish compressive stress-strain relationships. Further experimental results for tension and the other main parameters at elevated temperature are needed in order to establish well-founded models and to improve the proposed constitutive relationships, which are general, rational, and fit well with the experimental results. © 2013 Springer Science+Business Media New York.