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This study aims to develop an assessment strategy for fire damaged infrastructures based on the implementation of quick diagnostic techniques and consistent interpretation procedures, so to determine the residual safety margin and any need for repair works.

In this perspective, several tailored non-destructive test (NDT) methods have been developed in the past two decades, providing immediate results, with no need for time-consuming laboratory analyses. Moreover, matching their indications with the calculated effects of a tentative fire scenario allows harmonizing distinct pieces of evidence in the coherent physical framework of fire dynamics and heat transfer.

This approach was followed in the investigations on a concrete overpass in Verona (Italy) after a coach violently impacted one supporting pillar and caught fire in 2017. Technical specifications of the vehicle made it possible to bound the acceptable ranges for fire load and maximum rate of heat release, while surveillance video footage indicated the duration of the burning stage. Some established NDT methods (evaluation of discolouration, de-hydroxylation and rebar hardness) were implemented, together with advanced ultrasonic tests based on pulse refraction and pulse-echo tomography.

The results clearly showed the extension of the most damaged area at the intrados of the box girders and validated the maximum heating depth, as predicted by numerical analysis of the heat transient ensuing from the localized fire model.

Durability, high-temperature resistance, impact and blast resilience, radiation-shielding properties, irradiation endurance and - of course - good mechanical properties are required of the cementitious composites to be used in a variety of high-performance structures. Among these, tall buildings, road and railway tunnels, off-shore platforms, gasification plants, wind and solar mills for the production of "clean" energy should be mentioned, as well as nuclear power plants, and radioactive- and hazardous-waste repositories. Hence, understanding, measuring and modelling concrete behavior under extreme environmental conditions is instrumental in making concrete structures safer and more efficient. To this end, the hot and residual properties associated with the exposure to high temperature, fire and thermal shock are treated in this paper. Reference is made to ordinary vibrated concrete (Normal-Strength Concrete - NSC), as well as to a number of innovative cementitious composites, such as Fiber-Reinforced Concrete - FRC, High-Performance/High-Strength Concrete - HPC/HSC, Ultra High-Performance/Very High-Strength Concrete - UHPC /VHSC, Self-Compacting/Consolidating Concrete - SCC, Light-Weight Concrete - LWC, shotcrete and high-strength mortars. It is shown that these materials can be "tailored" according to a variety of requirements and functions, even if several aspects of their behavior (like spalling in fire and long-term mechanical properties under sustained high temperature) are still open to investigation.

Crowdfunding (CF) is a digital-financial innovation that, bypassing credit crisis, bank system rigidities and constraints of the capital market, is allowing new ventures and established companies to get the needed funds to support innovations. After one decade of research, mainly focused on relations between variables and outcomes of the CF campaign, the literature shows methodological lacks about the study of its overall behavior. These reflect into a weak theoretical understanding and inconsistent managerial guidance, leading to a 27% success ratio of campaigns. To bridge this gap, this paper embraces a “complex system” perspective of the CF campaign, able to explore the system's behavior of a campaign over time, in light of its causal loop structure.

By adopting and following the document model building (DMB) methodology, a set of 26 variables and mutual causal relations modeled the system “Crowdfunding campaign” and a data set based on them and crafted to model the “Crowdfunding campaign” with a causal loop diagram. Finally, system archetypes have been used to link the causal loop structure with qualitative trends of CF's behavior (i.e. the raised capital over time).

The research brought to 26 variables making the system a “Crowdfunding campaign.” The variables influence each other, thus showing a set of feedback loops, whose structure determines the behavior of the CF campaign. The causal loop structure is traced back to three system archetypes, presiding the behavior in three stages of the campaign.

The value of this paper is both methodological and theoretical. First, the DMB methodology has been expanded and reinforced concerning previous applications; second, we carried out a causation analysis, unlike the common correlation analysis; further, we created a theoretical model of a “Crowdfunding Campaign” unlike the common empirical models built on CF platform's data.

The study presents test results concerning the impact of high temperature and different cooling conditions on the mechanical properties of quenched and self-tempered reinforcing steel. The purpose of this paper is to clarify the extent of the history of the material’s temperature development profile, the course and the intensity of fire exposure and how cooling conditions determines its properties.

Each specimen series was heated to the temperatures of T = 200°C, 400°C, 600°C, 700°C, 800°C and 1,000 °C. The specimens were either slowly cooled down or subjected to rapid cooling with water quenching, which can be encountered during a firefighting operation. Additionally, stress–strain relationships, microhardness and structural observations were also performed.

The results of the presented experiments have shown that the steel bars previously heated in fire conditions were very sensitive to the cooling intensity. The test results from the steel specimens – that were heated and quenched with water – demonstrate an increase in tensile strength but a significant reduction in material plasticity.

The presented piece of work provides a contribution for fire safety engineering giving insight into the fire behaviour of reinforcing steel under fire conditions and subjected to rapid or slow cooling. This study has shown the threats arising from thermally induced changes in steel microstructure because of high-temperature exposure. It should also be noted that structure changes may have a local character and refer to steel rebars that are exposed because of fire spalling of concrete cover.

This study investigates the impact of the fire decay phase on structural damage using the sectional analysis method. The primary objective of this work is to forecast the non-dimensional capacity parameters for the axial and flexural load-carrying capacity of reinforced concrete (RC) sections for heating and the subsequent post-heating phase (decay phase) of the fire.

The sectional analysis method is used to determine the moment and axial capacities. The findings of sectional analysis and heat transfer for the heating stage are initially validated, and the analysis subsequently proceeds to determine the load capacity during the fire’s heating and decay phases by appropriately incorporating non-dimensional sectional and material parameters. The numerical analysis includes four fire curves with different cooling rates and steel percentages.

The study’s findings indicate that the rate at which the cooling process occurs after undergoing heating substantially impacts the axial and flexural capacity. The maximum degradation in axial and flexural capacity occurred in the range of 15–20% for cooling rates of 3 °C/min and 5 °C/min as compared to the capacity obtained at 120 min of heating for all steel percentages. As the fire cooling rate reduced to 1 °C/min, the highest deterioration in axial and flexural capacity reached 48–50% and 42–46%, respectively, in the post-heating stage.

The established non-dimensional parameters for axial and flexural capacity are limited to the analysed section in the study owing to the thermal profile, however, this can be modified depending on the section geometry and fire scenario.

The study primarily focusses on the degradation of axial and flexural capacity at various time intervals during the entire fire exposure, including heating and cooling. The findings obtained showed that following the completion of the fire’s heating phase, the structural capacity continued to decrease over the subsequent post-heating period. It is recommended that structural members' fire resistance designs encompass both the heating and cooling phases of a fire. Since the capacity degradation varies with fire duration, the conventional method is inadequate to design the load capacity for appropriate fire safety. Therefore, it is essential to adopt a performance-based approach while designing structural elements' capacity for the desired fire resistance rating. The proposed technique of using non-dimensional parameters will effectively support predicting the load capacity for required fire resistance.

The fire-resistant requirements for reinforced concrete structures are generally established based on standard fire exposure conditions, which account for the fire growth phase. However, it is important to note that concrete structures can experience internal damage over time during the decay phase of fires, which can be quantitatively determined using the proposed non-dimensional parameter approach.

This paper describes a thermal and electrical model, used at Robert Bosch GmbH for the design of an innovative motor for a water‐pump. In addition, it offers an example of a highly integrated mechatronic system. A bonded‐ferrite inner rotor has been developed with an integrated front centrifugal impeller which is driven by the magnetic interaction of a rotating field created by claw‐poles. The two phase unipolar coil arrangement is fed by an internal circuit using two MOSFETS controlled by the commutation signal from a bipolar Hall‐IC. This is the first mass‐production example of an electrical machine for an automotive application where the claw pole topology is used to realise the armature of the motor (i.e. the rotating field) and not the excitation field.

The purpose of the paper is to mathematically model and predict the characteristics of thermo-mechanically treated (TMT) rebar when subjected to elevated temperatures.

Data were collected from a few selected studies for developing the constitutive relations. Using the exposed temperature and the duration of heating as independent variables, the empirical relations were developed for determining the changes in mechanical properties of TMT rebars at elevated temperatures.

Recrystallization of TMT rebar crystals took place around 500 °C, which led to a decrease in the dislocation density along with the increase of large-sized grains, resulting in the degradation of strength. Up to a temperature range of 500 °C, the normalized fracture strength was higher, while the normalized fracture strain is not so high. This indicated a failure of brittle nature.

This is an original work done by others as a study to theoretically predict the mechanical behavior of TMT rebars when exposed to elevated temperature.

1. The TMT bars showed brittleness characteristics up to 500 °C and showed ductility characteristics after that on account of its recrystallization and extensive tempering of the outer martensitic rim around that temperature.

2. The comparison between the super ductile (SD) TMT and the regular TMT exhibit shows that the SD-TMT bars were about 1.5 times more ductile than the normal ones.

The TMT bars showed brittleness characteristics up to 500 °C and showed ductility characteristics after that on account of its recrystallization and extensive tempering of the outer martensitic rim around that temperature.

The comparison between the super ductile (SD) TMT and the regular TMT exhibit shows that the SD-TMT bars were about 1.5 times more ductile than the normal ones.

The structural properties of concrete have been studied most widely as a function of compressive strength at elevated temperature. However, only a limited number of studies have been conducted on the flexural behaviour of High Strength Concrete (HSC) at elevated temperature.

In this paper, an investigation of the flexural behaviour (bending strength and fracture energy) of HSC and Hybrid-Fibre-Reinforced High Strength Concrete (HFRHSC) was carried out. Physical properties and fracture energy were evaluated during heat exposure (hot test) and after heat exposure (residual test).

The results show maximum load decreased suddenly at 200 °C under the hot test environment. For specimens containing steel fibres, the maximum load did not drop suddenly in the hot test condition. It was verified from the Load-Crack Mouth Opening Displacement (CMOD) curve.

In the hot tests, the HFRHSC mixture was very effective in preventing brittle fracture.

This paper aims to present the results of testing of low-strength concrete specimens exposed to elevated temperatures. These data are limited in the existing literature and do not exist in Pakistan.

An experimental testing programme has been employed. Cylindrical specimens of 100 × 200 mm were used in the testing programme. These were heated at temperatures which were varied from 100°C to 900°C in increment of 100°C. Similar specimens were tested at ambient temperature as control specimens. The compressive and tensile properties of heat treated specimens were determined.

The colour of concrete started to change at 300°C and hairline cracks appeared at 400°C. Explosive spalling was observed in few specimens in the temperature range of 400°C-650°C which could be attributed to the pore pressure generated by steam. Significant loss of concrete compressive strength occurred on heating temperatures larger than 600°C, and the residual compressive strength was found to be 15 per cent at 900°C. Residual tensile strength of concrete became less than 10 per cent at 900°C. The loss of concrete stiffness reached 85 per cent at 600°C. Residual Poisson’s ratio of concrete increased at high temperatures and became nearly six times larger at 900°C as compared to that at ambient temperature.

The parameters of the study included heating temperature and effects of temperature on strength and stiffness properties of the concrete specimens.

Building fire incidents have increased in Pakistan. As a large number of reinforced concrete (RC) buildings exist in the country, the data related to elevated temperature properties of concrete are required. These data are not available in Pakistan presently. The study aims at providing this information for the design engineers to enable them to assess and increase fire resistance of RC structural members.

The presented study is unique in its nature in that there is no published contribution to date, to the best of authors’ knowledge, which has been carried out to assess the temperature-dependent mechanical properties of concrete in Pakistan.

This study aims to provide a factual justification of the extension to fire conditions of the well-known design models for the calculations of R/C members at the ultimate limit state in shear and torsion. Both solid and thin-walled sections are considered. In the latter case, the little-known topic of shear-transfer mechanisms at high temperature is introduced and discussed.

Both the effective-section method and the zone method are treated, as well as the strut-and-tie models required by the analysis of the so-called D zones (discontinuity zones), where heat-enhanced cracking further bears out the phenomenological basis of the models.

The increasing role played by the stirrups in shear and by the rather cold concrete core in torsion stand out clearly in fire, while high temperatures rapidly reduce the contributions of such resisting mechanisms as concrete-teeth bending, aggregate interlock and dowel action.

On the whole, beside quantifying the side contributions of web mechanisms and section core in fire conditions, this study indicates a possible approach to extend to fire the available models on the coupling of shear and bending, and shear and torsion in R/C members.