Modelling the contact between concrete and steel at high temperature

Abstract

Bond between concrete and steel reinforcement is a key issue in the application of reinforced concrete structures. Change of the bond not only affects the resistance, but also influences the method of crack propagation and the types of cracks. At normal operational temperature adequate bond between steel and concrete is possible because of their similar thermal expansion coefficient. On the contrary, at high temperature thermal expansion coefficient of steel and concrete changes differently. Consequently it is important from design and constructional point of view to analyse the possible change of the bond between the two materials at high temperatures. In our research this topic was examined by experimental tests
and numerical simulations.