Factors influencing fire spalling of self compacting concrete

The influence of age on the fire spalling behaviour of high performance concrete is not known in detail. The present study shows that in three out of four mixes of self compacting concretes tested, the fire spalling tendency decreases at higher age whereas for the fourth mix the spalling did not decrease. The fourth mix, with the highest limestone content, spalled more after 4 years storage than the other mixes despite the fact that the moisture content was in the same region as the other mixes tested. Important findings are also that an addition of polypropylene fibres could expunge the spalling behaviour and that the specimen size and application of compressive load on the test specimens used in this type of studies influence the spalling behaviour strongly.