Scaling of thermal damage of cementitious materials

Within the framework of the study of concrete structures subjected to fire, a theoretical and experimental work has been achieved. The aim of this study is to investigate and to model the damage mechanisms of concrete after exposure to high temperature. The multiphase Digital Concrete Model and the damage model, MODEV, implemented on finite-element software SYMPHONIE, were used simultaneously to model the thermal damage of concrete exposed to high temperature. In order to validate the thermal damage model, an experimental investigation was carried out. The measurement of the mechanical characteristics of 5 cementitious materials, cement paste, mortar, ordinary concrete and 2 HPC concretes were performed by 3-point bending tests after heating/cooling cycles at 120, 250 and 400 V. The experimental tests on the 3 different cementitious materials compared to numerical simulation are presented for temperatures up to 400 V. After the validation of the models, several applications have been investigated, such as fire resistance of concretes.