Assessment and Rehabilitation of Fire Damaged Reinforced Concrete Building – A Case Study

Abstract

This paper presents a case study of fire damaged reinforced concrete frame structure built with a central core and supported on raft foundation. A fire broke on top floor (16th floor) and spread down to fourth floor for about 10 hours duration. Damage assessment was carried out based on facts, observations and data collection through visual and structural surveys, material testing through destructive and nondestructive (NDT) testing, and load test to estimate residual strength. Crack patterns were recorded, depth of spalling of concrete and deflections measured, and interpreted to identify critically damaged structural members, assess residual capacity and requirement of strengthening to resist design loads. In addition, finite element structural analysis was conducted using ETABS by integrating changed material properties due to elevated temperatures and results compared with original structural design.