Thermal Propagation through Tensile Cracks in Reinforced Concrete

The thermal propagation through tensile cracks in reinforced concrete beams is examined experimentally. A comparison is made between the rate of thermal propagation through beams that are undamaged, beams that have minor cracking, and beams that have major cracking. The results show a small decrease in the thermal propagation of the cracked beams in comparison with undamaged beams during heating. It is determined that the differences observed are most likely attributable to small geometric, mechanical, and concrete compositional differences. Consequently, it is concluded that the effects of tensile cracking on the thermal propagation through concrete can be ignored in structural analyses. Significantly, this means that analyses of heated concrete structures that are cracked can be carried out with heat-transfer and mechanical analyses being conducted sequentially, as is currently normal, and fully coupled thermomechanical analyses are not required. DOI: 10.1061/(ASCE)MT.1943-5533.0000417. (C) 2012 American Society of Civil Engineers.