Open Access

The work aims to assess the textile reinforced concrete at elevated temperatures and applications of additional fire protection as well.

Textile-reinforced concrete is currently most frequently used for non-load–bearing structures, but there is a vision for also using it in load–bearing construction elements. In recent years, this construction material has been subjected to detailed examination. Different combinations of materials for potential use in textile-reinforced concrete have been described. These differ in the type of concrete mix and the composition of the textile reinforcement. The aim of this work is to test the application of a specific textile-reinforced concrete, consisting of high-performance concrete, textile reinforcement from carbon fibers and its epoxy resin matrix, at an elevated temperature. The combination of these materials makes it possible to produce subtle load–bearing structures with excellent mechanical properties. The critical issue is the behavior of these structures when exposed to fire. A series of medium-scale fire condition experiments were carried out with a temperature load based on the ISO 834 curve, followed up by mechanical tests. The aim of these experiments was to describe critical areas of textile-reinforced concrete in fire and to propose possible solutions. In an indicative fire experiment, experimental samples displayed massive spall of concrete layers, and interaction between materials was lost due to the low temperature resistance of the epoxy resin. Concurrently, the optimal quantity of polypropylene fibers was experimentally determined. This paper presents an experimental demonstration of the problematic aspects of textile-reinforced concrete and subsequent recommendations for future work with practical application in the design of load–bearing structures.

Intumescent coatings are used in civil engineering to improve the fire resistance of steel constructions. Due to the thin coating thickness and the profile-following application, the architectural appearance of the steel structure can be preserved. EN 13381-8 provides regulations to determine the contribution to the fire resistance of intumescent coatings applied to steel beams and columns. The scope of this standard excludes tension members and steel members with solid sections. For products that have already been successfully tested and assessed on beams and columns, EN 13381-10 offers the possibility based on unloaded fire tests to extend the scope of application of intumescent coatings to tension bars with solid sections. This approach contradicts the national safety level in Germany, where mechanically loaded testing is mandatory. Therefore, a new part of the test standard series EN 13381 is currently developed to enable the application of intumescent coatings on steel tension bars with solid section based on mechanically loaded fire tests. BAM has already carried out numerous fire tests on loaded steel tension members with intumescent coatings. Currently, in the BAM research project FIRESTEMIC, the influence of the steel bar orientation and the profile type on the thermal performance of intumescent coatings are investigated. Both questions concerning the thermal protection ability of intumescent coatings were analysed based on three different test sets, which were carried out in the tension furnace (Fig. 1a). The fire exposure corresponds to the standard temperature-time curve according to EN 1363-1. This paper summarises the main findings from the fire tests conducted in the FIRESTEMIC project. The results serve as an experimental background for the proposal of the new standard. Regarding the bar orientation, a new test setup was developed and proposed for the new standard. The two tested commercial water-based intumescent coatings with applied dry film thickness from 1.5 mm to 2.5 mm showed only a slight dependence on the bar orientation. In terms of the steel profile type, circular and rectangular solid sections with identical section factor and applied dry film thickness were tested. It was observed that the circular solid bars with diameter 30 mm heat up faster compared to the solid rectangular bars with dimension 30×30 mm (Fig. 1b). Also at larger steel bars, i.e. diameter 40 mm and dimension 40×40 mm, the same trend occurred. Thus, it is recommended for the new test standard to allow a transfer of the test results from circular to rectangular solid sections. In addition, the paper will describe and explain the test and assessment procedure proposed for the newly developed standard.

The presentation summarizes the results of the research project.

This article presents woven carbon-fiber-reinforced polymer (CFRP) tubular mesh used as a reinforcement on the inner surface of hollow beams made of high-performance concrete (HPC). The tubular mesh was designed to serve as both the tensile and shear reinforcement of hollow beams intended for the construction of small self-supporting structures that could be assembled without mechanization. The reinforcement was prepared with a tri-axial weaving machine from carbon filament yarn and was homogenized using epoxy resin. The interaction of the composite reinforcement with the cementitious matrix was investigated, and the surface of the reinforcement was modified using silica sand and polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) fibers to improve cohesion. The sand coating enhanced bond strength, resulting in the significantly higher flexural strength of the hollow beam of 128%. The PVA fibers had a lower positive effect of 64% on the flexural strength but improved the ductility of the beam. Individual beams were connected by gluing steel parts directly inside the hollow core of the HPC beam. This procedure provides good interaction between the CFRP reinforcement and the glued steel insert and allows for the fast and simple assembly of structures. The weaving of additional layers of the CFRP reinforcement around HPC beams was also explored. A small structure made of the hollow HPC beams with inner composite reinforcement was constructed to demonstrate the possibilities of the presented technology.