The fire resistance of high-strength concrete containing natural zeolites

Kushnir, Alexandra R.L.; Heap, Michael J.; Griffiths, Luke; Wadsworth, Fabian B.; Langella, Alessio; Baud, Patrick; Reuschlé, Thierry; Kendrick, Jackie E.; Utley, James E.P.

doi:10.1016/j.cemconcomp.2020.103897

The fire resistance of high-strength concrete containing natural zeolites

Kushnir, Alexandra R.L.; Heap, Michael J.; Griffiths, Luke; Wadsworth, Fabian B.; Langella, Alessio; Baud, Patrick; Reuschlé, Thierry; Kendrick, Jackie E.; Utley, James E.P.

Authors

Alexandra R.L. Kushnir

Michael J. Heap

Luke Griffiths

Dr Fabian Wadsworth fabian.b.wadsworth@durham.ac.uk
Associate Professor

Alessio Langella

Patrick Baud

Thierry Reuschlé

Jackie E. Kendrick

James E.P. Utley

Abstract

More sustainable and environmentally friendly concretes are essential to reduce the climatic and environmental impact of the growing demand for concrete to fuel urban sprawl. This manuscript reports on an experimental study designed to test the fire resistance of one such concrete, prepared to contain natural zeolite-bearing tuff. The fire resistance of concretes containing natural zeolites has received little attention and is therefore poorly understood. Relative reductions in residual uniaxial compressive strength as a function of increasing temperature (up to 1000 °C) were very similar for the reference concrete (containing no tuff) and the tuff-bearing concrete. These data can be explained by the similar influence of high-temperature on the chemical (dehydroxylation reactions) and physical (microcracking and porosity) properties of both concretes. The satisfactory performance of the concrete containing natural zeolites following fire is welcome owing to the economic, climatic, and environmental benefits of using natural pozzolan and aggregate substitutes.

Citation

Kushnir, A. R., Heap, M. J., Griffiths, L., Wadsworth, F. B., Langella, A., Baud, P., …Utley, J. E. (2021). The fire resistance of high-strength concrete containing natural zeolites. Cement and Concrete Composites, 116, Article 103897. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cemconcomp.2020.103897

Journal Article Type	Article
Acceptance Date	Dec 9, 2020
Online Publication Date	Dec 15, 2020
Publication Date	2021-02
Deposit Date	Jan 4, 2021
Publicly Available Date	Dec 15, 2021
Journal	Cement and Concrete Composites
Print ISSN	0958-9465
Publisher	Elsevier
Peer Reviewed	Peer Reviewed
Volume	116
Article Number	103897
DOI	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cemconcomp.2020.103897

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Publisher Licence URL
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/

Copyright Statement
© 2021 This manuscript version is made available under the CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 license http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/