Fire Performance Of Green High-Performance Fiber-reinforced Cementitious Composite Frames

Green high-performance fiber-reinforced cementitious composites(GHPFRCC)has been developed based on engineering cementitious composites(ECC)by replacing a high volume of cement using fly ash,thus reducing carbon footprint and improving the cost-effectiveness of the material.Polyvinyl alcohol fibers are used in GHPFRCC to improve the tensile and fire resistance.This thesis reports experimental and numerical studies on the fire performance of three half-scale frame specimens.The effects of fire scenarios and specimen fabrication approach on the temperature distribution and structural deformation are investigated through experimentation and finite element analysis using ABAQUS software.This study includes the following contents.(1)The three frame specimens were designed,fabricated and tested in the laboratory.The frame specimens had a ‘?' shape and had the same dimensions.Two of the frame specimen were fabricated using an optimum GHPFRCC mixture developed in a previous study,while the other frame specimen was fabricated using a conventional C30 concrete as the control specimens.Each frame specimen was tested under combined fire and mechanical loading.Two different fire scenarios were investigated.(2)Based on the fire experiment,the failure pattern,temperature distributions and deformation of the tested frame specimens were analyzed to evaluate the fire performance of the GHPFRCC frame specimens.The experimental results revealed that the parts of the frame not subjected to high temperature had significant constraint to the parts subjected to high temperature,and thus,the frames tested in different fire scenarios had different horizontal displacements.In addition,internal force redistribution of the frame under the high temperature was analyzed.(3)The thermal and mechanical properties of steel reinforcing bar,concrete and GHPFRCC are reviewed and used as input material properties for finite element analysis.(4)Finite element models of the tested frames are established using ABAQUS software to analyze the temperature and deformation of the frames.The finite element models were validated again the test results,and used to analyze the effects of fire scenario and materials of beam-column joints on the temperature distribution and deformation of the beams,columns and the frame.