Performance of UHPC Mixtures Subjected to Elevated Temperatures and Cyclic Exposures
Mehboob Rasul, Shamsad Ahmad
كلية تصاميم البيئة-جامعة الملك فهد للبترول والمعادن · السعودية
Ultra-high performance concrete (UHPC) is a specific type of modern era concrete possessing excellent mechanical properties (compressive strength more than 150 MPa, high fracture toughness, etc.) with excellent durability. The constituents of UHPC include high cement content, fine quartz sand, high dosage of silica fume and superplasticizer at a very low water to binder ratio. Fibers are also added to improve the mechanical properties, specifically for post-cracking behavior.Recently, some research studies were carried out in KFUPM for the production of UHPC mixtures using local materials and for study of their mechanical properties and durability characteristics. However, the performance of the locally developed UHPC mixtures against elevated temperature and long cyclic exposures, such as heat-cool and wet-dry cycles, has not been studied. Such investigations are needed considering the risk of fire and frequent changes in weather conditions. Wet-dry cycles are representation of concrete structures in tidal zone which are exposed to alternate wetting and drying, whereas heat-cool cycles are representative of the daily ambient temperature variation in hot-arid regions. Hence, there was an immense need of research on performance evaluation of already developed UHPC mixtures exposed to elevated temperatures and cyclic exposures (wet-dry, heat-cool cycles).In this work, three mixtures of UHPC, already developed at KFUPM under previous research projects, were considered for evaluation of their performance against elevated temperature exposure with varying durations and against exposure to the heat-cool and wet-dry cycles. For wet-dry cyclic exposure, specimens were submerged into the water containing 5% Cl- for six hours and left to dry for remaining 18 hours in one cycle. For heat-cool cyclic exposure, specimens were heated at 70oC for five hours and cooled down for 19 hours in one cycle. The UHPC specimens, containing the metallic and non-metallic fibers in varying quantity, were exposed to an elevated temperature of 300oC for different exposure durations. After completion of exposures, specimens were tested to evaluate the performance in terms of residual compressive, flexural and splitting tensile strength, and modulus of elasticity. The performance of UHPC specimens subjected to cyclic exposures were evaluated in terms of residual compressive strength, flexural and splitting tensile strength, modulus of elasticity, fracture toughness, water permeability, rapid chloride ion permeability, and corrosion current density.UHPC mixtures with steel fibers have shown excellent performance even after five hours of exposure to 300oC. Although UHPC mixtures with polypropylene fibers have shown satisfactory results even after five hours of exposure to 300oC, their failure was sudden without warning. Up to 180 cycles of heating and cooling and wetting and drying, there was no significant adverse effect of the cyclic exposures on mechanical properties and durability characteristics. Rather almost all mechanical properties were slightly improved due the curing effect of cyclic exposure. The data developed in this study indicate that UHPC mixtures are suitable for use under elevated temperature and thermal and moisture variations.