Fire resistance behavior of full-scale self-thermal insulation sandwich walls made of textile-reinforced concrete

Abstract

This paper attempts to disclose the fire resistance behavior of the full-scale self-thermal insulation sandwich wall made of textile-reinforced concrete (TRC). For this purpose, two full-scale unfilled specimens and ten full-scale sandwich wall specimens were tested in fire. The author then explored how the fire resistance limit and failure features of the specimens are affected by the following factors: The type of cementitious material, the thickness of the core layer, the thickness of TRC panels, the type of reinforcing material, the additional short polypropylene (PP) fibers, as well as the type of fire proof coating. The following findings were made through the exploration. For Portland cement-based specimens with 16 mm-thick TRC panels and a 90 mm-thick core layer, the fire-resistance limit is 203 min, much longer than the requirement for partition walls and non-load-bearing walls of fire rating I. The high alumina cement-based specimens can maintain its integrity in the fire, although their thermal insulation is slightly weaker than the Portland cement-based ones. Besides, the fire-resistance of specimens can be improved effectively by increasing the thickness of the core layer and the TRC panels and adopting fireproof coatings. Finally, the heat transfer process of the specimens in fire was simulated on ABAQUS6.10. The simulated results were found to agree well with the measured results.