Experimental Study on the Performance of RC Continuous Members in Bending after Exposure to Fire

To study the mechanical behavior of reinforced concrete (RC) continuous members after exposure to fire, a series of tests, including 5 RC continuous slabs and 7 RC continuous beams, were carried out. The content of test included the static loading of the reference specimens at ambient temperature, heating in ISO strand fire and the post-fire loading test for the rest specimens. It is found the mechanical properties of the specimens dropped with the increasing of exposure time. The loss of bending rigidity is proved larger than that of the bearing capacity. Because of the difference in size, the slabs were subjected to more severe damage than the beams under the same heating condition. Comparing with the similar test of the simply supported members, it is found elevated temperature has apparently greater influence on the mechanical properties of the continuous members. (C) 2011 Published by Elsevier Ltd.