RCFST COLUMNS EXPOSED TO FIRE: STANDARD THERMAL TEST RESULTS DISCUSSION

This paper presents a discussion on the results from a thermal experimental testing program, performed on full-scale fire-exposed Reinforced Concrete-Filled Steel Tubes (RCFST) and Reinforced Con-crete (RC) short columns (outer diameter 457 mm and length 1600 mm). In the companion papers, full details about the test procedure, thermal field, load-displacement curves are provided. The experimental research work is relative to the results of five tests for thermal field measurements, with four specimens heated in a gas furnace in standard fire conditions (ISO 834), and one specimen heated in an electric furnace in non-standard conditions; all specimens were also subjected to axial compression tests. In this paper, the results of the stand-ard thermal tests are discussed in detail and a numerical-experimental comparison is proposed.