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Nondestructive Evaluation of Postfire Full-Scale Reinforced Concrete Frames: Field Tests

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Abstract

Fire obviously causes negative effects on reinforced concrete (RC) structures. Assessment of these postfire structures is ultimately important to provide information for making decisions on demolishing or retrofitting. For retrofitting purpose, non-destructive assessment, which does not cause additional damage to structures, is preferable compared with destructive assessment. In this direction, non-destructive assessment of postfire RC frames was performed in this study. To achieve this aim, experiments were performed on eleven full-scale RC frames, included one, five, and other five frames exposed to 0 (control), 45 min, and 75 min of fire, respectively. These two fires had similar maximum temperature, but the 45-min fire had higher increasing rate of temperature (IRT). After fire exposure, methods of Schmidt rebounding, ultrasonic, and vibration tests were used to perform non-destructive assessment by comparing the results of postfire frames against the control frame. The results showed that the explosive spalling of concrete mainly occurred between 5 and 12th min and then proportionally decreased with the increase of fire duration. The IRT outstandingly affected the explosive damage of RC frames. The higher IRT resulted in higher cracking and explosive spalling of concrete; IRT is thus an important parameter to represent the severity of fire. The experimental non-destructive data was analysed and compared to provide some information on the assessment of postfire RC frames, which can be useful for decision making.

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Data Availability

The datasets generated during and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology (HCMUT), VNU-HCM for supporting this study.

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No funding was received for conducting this study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Civil Engineering, Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology (HCMUT), 268 Ly Thuong Kiet Street, District 10, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

    Vui Van Cao, Vu Nguyen Nguyen, Cuong Quoc Nguyen, Phuc Ba Nguyen Le, Ly Hai Nguyen, Hung Manh Nguyen & Ho Van Bui

  2. Vietnam National University Ho Chi Minh City, Linh Trung Ward, Thu Duc City, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

    Vui Van Cao, Vu Nguyen Nguyen, Cuong Quoc Nguyen, Phuc Ba Nguyen Le, Ly Hai Nguyen, Hung Manh Nguyen & Ho Van Bui

  3. School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, The University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia

    Hamid Ronagh

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  1. Vui Van Cao
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  2. Vu Nguyen Nguyen
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Contributions

Vui Van Cao: Conceptualization, Investigation, Formal analysis, Visualization, Writing—Original Draft, Writing-Reviewing and Editing, Supervision. Vu Nguyen Nguyen: Investigation, Methodology, Formal analysis, Writing—Original Draft. Hamid Ronagh: Conceptualization, Methodology, Writing-Reviewing and Editing, Supervision. Cuong Quoc Nguyen: Resources, Methodology, Investigation, Data curation, Formal analysis. Phuc Ba Nguyen Le: Resources, Methodology, Investigation, Data curation, Formal analysis. Ly Hai Nguyen: Resources, Methodology, Investigation, Data curation, Formal analysis. Hung Manh Nguyen: Resources, Methodology, Investigation, Data curation, Formal analysis. Ho Van Bui: Resources, Methodology, Investigation, Data curation, Formal analysis.

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Correspondence to Vui Van Cao.

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Van Cao, V., Nguyen, V.N., Ronagh, H. et al. Nondestructive Evaluation of Postfire Full-Scale Reinforced Concrete Frames: Field Tests. J Nondestruct Eval 43, 35 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10921-024-01050-3

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