Modeling Aspects Concerning Fire-Exposed HSC
While heat-induced pore pressure and thermal stress effects are generally thought to be the possible
causes of explosive spalling in HSC, a basic quantitative understanding of how high temperatures cause
explosive spalling in HSC has not been completely developed. Adding to the difficulty in understanding this
failure mechanism is the inconsistent occurrences with which it has been observed in various experimental
programs. Inconsistent test procedures and measurement techniques used by different researchers also do
not allow easy quantification of parameters that may influence explosive spalling of HSC. The limited
number of analytical studies dealing with calculating the internal stresses due to pore vapor pressure in
concrete is indicative of the complexity of this problem. While there are limited fire test data of concrete
structural elements, data on fire-exposed HSC structural elements are scarce. This makes it difficult to
validate analytical models.