Cornell University, Fall 2012 November 29, 2012,

Fifth Annual Cornell Student FEM Symposium & Competition

1
Analysis of Fire Effects on Steel Reinforced Concrete
Beams

Robert OCallaghan, Structural Engineering, Masters of Engineering, roo7@cornell.edu
Allen Kariuki, Structural Engineering, Masters of Engineering, ak925@cornell.edu
Scott Daniel Cipoletti, Structural Engineering, Masters of Engineering, sc86@cornell.edu

Abstract Fire damage can have one of the most hazardous effects on the structural system supporting a building.
Considering steel is very susceptible to fire damage, concrete may also act as an insulator in a reinforced concrete
member. This project focuses on using the finite-element method to determine the effects of a heat source applied to the
base of reinforced concrete members, more specifically the rate of the temperature increase through the concrete. These
results are compared to the values predicted in commonly used building codes, and with similar studies.

Index Terms Concrete, Finite-element method, Fire

INTRODUCTION
In the field of Structural Engineering, preserving the
structural integrity of a building for full evacuation in the
case of structural failure is of great importance. The collapse
of the World Trade Center after the September 11 attacks
highlighted the devastating effects of fire on a structure. A
transient heat conduction analysis using the finite-element
method provides an avenue to explore the effects of fire on a
structure and determine appropriate design methods to
ensure structural integrity.
The American Concrete Institute (ACI) requires a
minimum of 2-hour fire resistance for building evacuation,
and therefore it is an important consideration in the
preliminary design phase. Concrete structural design
requires the use of steel to provide support to the structure
under tensile load and control cracking. This is of particular
concern as steel structural elements experience lowered
strength effects at relatively low temperatures. The steel
must therefore be protected in the concrete for long enough
to meet the ACI requirements without sacrificing other
structural properties.
The simple geometry and interaction of materials in a
reinforced concrete beam are ideal for this type of analysis
and will provide useful insight into this method of design.
The interaction between the concrete and the encased steel
will be studied to determine the efficiency of concrete in
delaying the failure of the steel. Similarly, because the
boundary conditions can be modeled easily using the
commercial finite-element program ANSYS (ANSYS, 14) a
full analysis can be conducted. ANSYS will allow for a
varying time step and mesh refinement for increased
accuracy of results.
To date, several experiments have been conducted to
examine the structural performance of reinforced concrete
members under fire effects (Lie and Chabot, 1990, Lie and





Woollerton, 1988, Dotreppe et al., 1997, Kosierek et al.,
1988). To verify the finite-element solution, the results will
be compared to these past results. The results will then be
compared to building code requirements to determine the
effectiveness of reinforced concrete at withstanding fire
damage.
A 2-D transient analysis was chosen because the
temperature is assumed constant along the length of the
beam. Therefore, increasing the scope to analyze the beam
in 3-D would only increase computational strain with no
gains in accuracy under this assumption.
2-D transient heat conduction has been extensively
studied in the past, and applied to the subject of reinforced
concrete to gain a better understanding of reinforced
concrete structures under fire loading conditions. Zyvoloski
and Bruch applied the finite-element method to transient
two dimensional heat conduction problems, proving that
their results correlated well with analytical studies,
specifically the finite difference method (Bruch). Franca
and Haghighi adapted this finite element formulation with
certain error estimation, evaluation and adaptive time
stepping methods to improve the quality of the transient
thermal analysis (Franca). In terms of the specific
application to structural engineering and reinforced concrete
structures, Zhoue and Vecchio have conducted a nonlinear
finite element analysis of reinforced concrete structures due
to transient thermal loads, also within ANSYS. A 3-D
nonlinear finite-element heat transfer analysis of reinforced
concrete beams was conducted by Hawileh, and has been
validated with the UK Building Regulations fire safety
codes (Vecchio).
This paper discusses the transient heat conduction
analysis of a reinforced concrete beam using the finite
element method to determine the effects of fire on structural
members.
Cornell University, Fall 2012 November 29, 2012,
Fifth Annual Cornell Student FEM Symposium & Competition
2
MATHEMATICAL MODEL
The two-dimensional heat conduction equation which
describes the unsteady temperature distribution in a solid is
governed by the following equation.




where k is the thermal conductivity, is the density of
concrete, c is the specific heat, Q is the heat source, T is the
temperature of the solid and t is time. The initial boundary
conditions are









and the initial condition


where S1 is the boundary on which temperature is
prescribed, S2 is the boundary on which the heat flux is
prescribed, S3 is the boundary on which (T - T) is
prescribed, l
x
and l
y
are the outward normal directions to the
boundary surface, q is the heat flux, is the convective heat
transfer coefficient and T
a
is the ambient temperature. The
initial temperature is set at 22
o
C to simulate room
temperature.

Fig I Schematic of finite model

To proceed with the finite-element solution, the weak
form of the two-dimensional heat conduction equation must
be developed. This can be done by multiplying the equation
by a weighting function W and integrating over the domain
as follows

*
x y
T T T
k k Q c
x x y y t

| | c c c c c | |
+ +
| |
c c c c c
\ .
\ .
+


where is the domain (x,y,t), d = dxdydt. Using
integration by parts the equation becomes

*
x y
W T W T T
k k WQ W c
x x y y t

| | c c c c c | |
+ +
| |
c c c c c \ . \ .
+

)


Applying the finite-element method the following
global matrix equation is attained

,-*+ ,-*-

*+


FINITE ELEMENT IMPLEMENTATION
GEOMETRY
The beam was designed to meet ACI 318 Code. A minimum
cover of 38.1mm (1.5inches) was assumed around the steel
as required by ACI 216. As the temperature was assumed
constant along the length of the beam, a 3-D analysis of the
beam was deemed unnecessary. Details of the 2-D section
geometry are shown in fig II.


Fig II Geometry of Section

MATERIAL PROPERTIES
The thermal conductivity, density and specific heat capacity
of steel were required for the transient temperature analyses
of the section. The values of these material properties can
vary significantly in concrete depending on many factors
such as the humidity at the time of pouring, the concrete
mix. To account for this uncertainty the average values
found were used in the analyses. A summary of the material
properties can be found in Table I.

Material Steel Concrete
Density 7850 kg m^-3 2400 kg m^-3
Thermal
Conductivity
434 J kg^-1 C^-1 7500 J kg^-1 C^-1

Specific Heat 60.5 W m^-1 C^-1 1 W m^-1 C^-1

Table I Material Properties
x y
T T T
k k Q c
x x y y t

| | c c c c c | |
+ + =
| |
c c c c c
\ .
\ .
s
T T =
x x y y
T T
k l k l q
x y
c c
=
c c
( )
x x y y a
T T
k l k l T T
x y
o
c c
=
c c
0
( , , ) ( , ) T x y t T x y =
on S1
on S2
on S3
at t=0
Cornell University, Fall 2012 November 29, 2012,
Fifth Annual Cornell Student FEM Symposium & Competition
3
LOADING
Fire conditions were replicated by applying a time-
dependent temperature to the external face of the beam. The
industry standard time-temperature curve is known as the
Cellulosic curve which is outlined in ISO 834. It is used
throughout industry to test the fire resistance of materials
subject to a category A fire hazard. This fire hazard rating
is based on the burning rate of general combustible
materials and building contents. The ISO 834 is the least
"intensive" of the fire curves and has been experimentally
shown to effectively represent building fires. The time
dependent temperature is represented by the function below

( )


Fig III ISO 834 Fire Curve


FAILURE CRITERIA
The failure criteria of this study were established as the
plastic failure of the tensile reinforcement steel in the beam.
This would occur when the tensile force generated by the
bending moment of the beam exceeded the ultimate tensile
strength of the steel.
The beam was designed to ACI standards for a uniform
load of 6.81K/lf. This design calculated a requirement of 6
#10 steel bars made of 60 grade steel. This design utilized a
factor of safety for both dead and live loads. To calculate
the steel strength required for the beam to fail
catastrophically the system was redesigned without any
factor of safety. The corresponding steel strength for this
failure was calculated as 45ksi.
The strength of steel decreases with respect to an
increase in temperature. The strength of 60 grade steel has
been experimentally shown to decrease in strength in
accordance to:

/
)

between 0 and 600 degrees Celsius, and

(


)

at temperatures above 600
o
C in accordance to Society of
Fire Protection Engineers,1988.
Using these equations it was found that the critical steel
stress of 45ksi was found at a temperature of 338
o
C. The
critical steel strength and the decline of strength in respect
to temperature is plotted in figure IV below.


Fig IV Steel Strength Vs. Temp

To analyze the heat flow through the concrete a 2-D
transient thermal model of a cross section of the beam was
created in ANSYS Finite Element Package.


ELEMENT CHOICE
Within ANSYS, the PLANE55 element was used to model
the cross section of the concrete beam. This element was
chosen among other planar solid elements, and was used
because of its simplicity and effectiveness for transient
thermal analysis. PLANE55 is a four noded element with a
single degree of freedom at each node. In this case the DOF
is temperature, as the application of the element is for its 2-
D thermal conduction capabilities.
As a note, similar elements such as PLANE 77 and
PLANE182 were also considered for the ANSYS
implementation. The former of these elements has the same
geometry and properties as PLANE55 except for a mid-side
node capability. PLANE182 is the equivalent structural
element, and should only be used for further structural
examination following the transient thermal analysis.
Because neither of these additional element capabilities was
necessary for this analysis, PLANE55 was kept as the planar
element for our ANSYS implementation.
For this application, temperature is interpreted as a
pressure within the ANSYS program, and applied at each of
the four nodes of our quadrilateral element. Relevant
material properties of PLANE55 for our thermal analysis
are the absolute permeabilitys KXX and KYY, the density
0
200
400
600
800
1000
1200
1400
0 20 40 60
T
e
m
p

(
C
)

Time (Min)
ISO 834
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
0 200 400 600 800 1000
S
t
e
e
l

S
t
r
e
n
g
t
h

(
K
s
i
)

Temp (C)
Steel Yield Strength
Cornell University, Fall 2012 November 29, 2012,
Fifth Annual Cornell Student FEM Symposium & Competition
4
and specific heat. For this four noded quadrilateral solid
element formulation, the following shape functions are used
in ANSYS, and provided in the APDL Theory Reference.

( )( )

( )( )

( )( )

( )( )/

)

In this case, the variables s and t refer to and , and
all u variables are some equating constant for the shape
function

MESH REFINEMENT
To ensure the section was meshed with the optimum mesh
density, a mesh refinement study was conducted. As it was
deemed impractical to conduct a refinement study using
transient analyses, the section was analyzed under 2-D
steady state heat flow. A constant temperature of 1000
o
C
applied to the external face of the beam, and a steady state
temperature of 22
o
C applied to the top surface of the beam.
The steady state temperature at the concrete steel interface
was then found for varying mesh densities. Diagrams of the
variations applied to the mesh density at the face of the
beam can be found in Appendix A. It was found that the
probed temperature varies substantially as the mesh density
is initially increased. This variation is less pronounced once
the mesh exceeds a certain refinement. The optimum mesh
is required to give as accurate results as possible without
excessive computational demand. A plot of the steady state
temperature versus the number of elements on the bottom
face of the element is shown in figure V below.


Fig V Convergence Study


The optimum mesh found from this refinement study
was then imported from the steady state model into the
transient thermal analyses and is shown in figure VI below.

Fig VI Mesh Schematic
TIME STEP INTEGRATION
Automatic time stepping was utilized to find the optimal
time stepping used in the transient analyses. Auto time
stepping reduces the solution time for transient problems by
adjusting the amount the load is increased at each step.
ANSYS calculates the load increment based on several
criteria including the response frequency of the structure
and the degree of nonlinearities in the analyses. Full details
of the time steps calculated can be found in the ANSYS
report attached in Appendix B.


NUMERICAL RESULTS
ANSYS RESULTS
The max temperature of the steel concrete boundary was
observed for each of the reinforcing bars. The temperature
of the bars situated closest to the edge of the beam increased
at the greatest rate. A sample profile of the temperature
across the beam at the mid height of the reinforcing steel is
shown in figure VII. The high points on the edge show
where the heat is being applied. The four dips highlight the
areas of concrete between the steel bars that are at a lower
temperature due to the lower thermal conductivity of
concrete.

Fig VII Temp Profile

As the outermost bars increased in temperature at the
fastest rate, it was this elements temperature that was
monitored over time to find the systems decline in strength.
965.5
966
966.5
967
967.5
0 10 20 30 40
M
a
x

T
e
m
p

a
t

S
t
e
e
l

C
o
n
c
r
e
t
e

i
n
t
e
r
f
a
c
e

# of Elements at Base of Beam
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
800
0 10 20
T
e
m
p

(
C
)

Location Along Beam (inches)
Cornell University, Fall 2012 November 29, 2012,
Fifth Annual Cornell Student FEM Symposium & Competition
5
The temperature in the bar was found to vary very little at
the beginning of the simulation, as the concrete initially
insulates the steel. Once the concrete begins to increase in
temperature the temperature of the adjacent steel also
increases. The increase of the temperature in the bar over
time can be found in fig VIII.

Fig VIII Temp Variation

COMPARISON WITH EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS
To compare the finite-element solution with experimental
values, the time-temperature relationship was examined.
Stawiski (2006) concluded that based on experimental
evidence conducted by Kosiorek (1988) that for a cover of
2.5 cm steel reinforcement heated to a temperature of 550
o
C after one hour. For a cover of 5cm the time taken to
reach this same temperature was 2 hours. From figure VIII it
can be concluded that the finite-element solution produces a
much lower rate of temperature growth than concluded by
Stawiski (2006). After two hours the finite-element model
predicts temperatures under 300
o
C for a cover of 3.8cm.
This analysis models the concrete as an isotropic material
which may produce a slower rate of temperature growth. As
concrete develops cracks under gravity and fire loading the
finite element solution would likely underestimate these
results. Under experimental conditions, fire would therefore
be able to penetrate the cracks in the material and gain a
faster access to the steel reinforcement. Other experimental
results showed the temperature changes at the concrete
surface and did not provide conclusive evidence for the
temperature changes in the steel reinforcement. As the heat
source was applied on the boundary of the domain, the
finite-element solution temperature is prescribed and not
comparable to experimental data. Therefore, using these
values was not a method to validate the results.
COMPARISON WITH CODE REQUIREMENTS
The American Concrete Institute and American Society of
Testing Materials have certain specifications within their
code for cover requirements and fire resistance,
respectively, to prevent the degradation of concrete
structural elements due to elements such as fire. ASTM
defines a standard fire test to emulate a regular building
fire, and have completed tests which correlate the
temperature of such fires, along with additional loading
conditions to the failure of concrete elements. Also, the
ACI has published Standard Method for Determining Fire
Resistance of Concrete and Masonry Construction
Assemblies (ACI 216.1-07/TMS 0216.1-07) from which
fire resistance ratings and cover requirements can be
validated, and also compared with our results.
In the ANSYS model, the fire effects on the beam
measured temperature as traveled from the base of the
concrete to the interaction with the steel reinforcement, a
standard cover of 1.5 in. The ACI code has correlated the
unrestrained fire resistance rating, time in hours, of different
concrete aggregate types to the minimum cover for concrete
slabs. For siliceous, carbonate, and lightweight aggregates,
a three hour fire resistance rating would require a slab cover
distance of 1.25 in.
In comparison with our finite element model, this is a
very positive correlation. A fire resistance of three hours
would correspond with a cover of 1.5 in. which is quite
similar to the 1.25 in. dictated by the code. The max
temperature of the steel concrete boundary was observed for
each of reinforcing bars. The temperature of the bars
situated closest to the edge of the beam increased at the
greatest rate.

CONCLUSION
Fire damage can have one of the most hazardous effects on
the structural system supporting a building. As steel is far
more susceptible to fire damage than concrete the common
practice to prolong the stability of a building, and to ensure
all occupants can escape in the case of a fire, is to encase all
structural steel behind a cover of concrete or another
insulator. For this project the rate of heat flow through the
concrete cover was modeled and from that the duration until
the fire effects reached the steel members could be realized.
As the temperature of the steel increases its material
strength will decrease, up until the point of plastic
deformation and failure of the system.
2-D thermal transient analysis was used to model the
change in temperature throughout the concrete within
ANSYS with the PLATE55 planar element. From this
analysis, a time of 180 minutes for the steel to reach its
critical steel stress at a temperature of 338
o
C. This
corresponds to a fire rating of 3 hours, which is standard for
most buildings under the guidance of the ACI code and
ASTM. Thus, our results were deemed to be valid, by use
of our finite element formulation. Further analysis of this
type is important to understand the behavior of reinforced
concrete under unnatural loads such as earthquake and fire
loading conditions, for the ultimate design of safer
structures.


0
100
200
300
400
500
0 100 200
T
e
m
p

(
C
)

Time (min) Max Temp
Cornell University, Fall 2012 November 29, 2012,
Fifth Annual Cornell Student FEM Symposium & Competition
6
REFERENCES
Bruch Jr. J.C. & Zyvoloski G., Transient Two Dimensional
Heat Conduction Problems Solved by the Finite
Element Method, International Journal for Numerical
Methods in Engineering, Vol 8, 481-494 (1974)
Chabot M. and T.T. Lie, A Method To Predict the Fire
Resistance of Circular Concrete Filled Hollow Steel
Columns, Journal of Fire Protection Engineering 1990
2: 111
Chen, J, Young, B & Uy, B, Behavior of High Strength
Structural Steel at Elevated Temperatures, Journal of
Structural Engineering, 2006, 132(12), 1948-1954.
Copyright 2006 American Society of Civil Engineering
Franca A.S. & Haghighi K., Adaptive Finite Element
Analysis of Transient Thermal Problems, Numerical
Heat Transfer, Part B, 26:273-292, 1994
Grabiec K, Effect of Fire Temperatures on Safety of
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1987, 10.
Hawileh, Rami A., Heat Transfer Analysis of Reinforced
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Convection and Conduction Heat Transfer, 299-314
(2011)
Joint ACI-TMS Committee 216, Standard Method for
Determining Fire Resistance of Concrete and Masonry
Construction Assemblies (ACI 216.1-07/TMS 0216.1-
07), American Concrete Institute, Farmington Hills,
MI, 2007, 28 pp
Stawiski B., Attempt to estimate fire damage to concrete
building structures, Archives of Civil and Mechanical
Engineering, Vol. VI, No. 4, 2006
Thomas B.G, Samarasekera I.V and Brimacombe J.K,
Comparison of Numerical Modeling Techniques for
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Conduction Problems, Metallurgical Transactions B,
Volume 15B, June 1984
Vecchio, F.J. and C.E. Zhou, Nonlinear finite element
analysis of reinforced concrete structures subjected to
transient thermal loads, Computers and Concrete, Vol.
2, No.6, 455-479 (2005)