Experimental Study on the Structural Performance of Reinforced Truss Concrete Composite Slabs during and after Fire

Standard fire resistance tests and post-fire tests on residual mechanical properties were carried out on two four-edge simply supported reinforced truss concrete two-way composite slabs with wide seam splicing (“integral seam”) and close seam splicing (“separated seam”), and the effects of the different splicing forms on the mechanical properties of the reinforced truss concrete composite slabs during and after exposure to high temperatures were explored. The results indicate that there are significant differences in terms of crack developments, moisture loss times on the slab surface, spalling characteristics of the bottom of the slab and cross-section temperature gradients of concrete and steel reinforcement along the thickness direction between the wide seam spliced reinforced truss concrete composite two-way slab (referred to as “S1 composite slab”) and the close seam spliced reinforced truss concrete composite two-way slab (referred to as “S2 composite slab”) in the fire test. This is mainly due to differences in the splicing forms and structural measures of the prefabricated base slabs at joints, which led to changes in the heat transfer path at the joints. As the temperature at the close seam can be released quickly, the stiffness recovery of the S2 composite slab is significantly greater than the stiffness weakening due to the thermal hysteresis of the concrete, so the deflection of the S2 composite slab recovers immediately after the fire stops. Overall, both the S1 and S2 composite slabs exhibit two-way high temperature deformation characteristics. The post-fire residual static load tests show that the static load-carrying capacity of the S1 composite slab is 12.08% higher than that of the S2 composite slab and the ultimate displacement is 8.74% lower than that of the S2 composite slab. It is appropriate to calculate the residual load capacities of the S1 and S2 composite slabs after the fire as a one-way slab.

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