Publication

Abstract : Buildings are often exposed to elevated temperature due to lack of fire safety, sabotages, etc. A recent survey about India’s risk says that fire has been rated among top three risks by most of sectors across India. The study investigates the influence of cooling condition on concrete slab exposed to fire. The variables considered for the study are thickness of slab 125 mm, retention period of one-hour and four-hour, subjected to temperature of 300, 400 and 500 °C, and two types of cooling regimes like air cooling and quench cooling. The slab which was exposed to temperature of 500 °C for four-hour duration had temperature of 143 °C at the unexposed surface which is marginally less than the allowable limit, but other slabs reveal good resistance to insulation. The reduction in flexural stiffness of concrete slab exposed to 500 °C for four-hour retention period was 28.67 and 37.89% for air cooled and quench-cooled specimens, respectively. The irrecoverable loss in flexural stiffness of concrete slab was influenced by the retention period, exposed temperature and cooling regimes.