Recuring Studies on Concretes Subjected to Elevated Temperatures and Suddenly Cooled by Water Quenching

Concrete is found to undergo degradation when subjected to elevated temperatures during an accidental event, such as fire and lose substantial amount of its original strength. The loss of strength in concrete is mainly attributed to the decomposition of Calcium Silicate Hydrate (C-S-H) and release of chemically bound water, which begins when the exposure temperature exceeds 500°C. When such a concrete is supplied with water and allowed to recure, it is found to recover substantial amount of its lost strength. This work is carried out to investigate the effect of recuring on strength recovery of un-blended and blended concrete specimen (100 mm cubes) subjected to elevated temperatures from 400°C to 700°C, in steps of 100°C, for a retention period of two hours at the designated temperatures. The concrete cubes immediately after exposure were subjected to thermal shock by quenching them in water, and then temperature of thermally shocked concrete is allowed to cool to room temperature. The cooled specimen were then recured in water for 1, 3, 7, 14, 21, 28, 56 days and tested for compressive strength recovery. These studies were carried out for Portland Cement (PC) based concrete and Portland & Granulated Blast Furnace Slag (70% PC + 30% GGBS) based concrete (blended concrete), and some interesting results are presented and discussed in this paper.