Assessment of fire damage in concrete structures: new inspection tools and combined interpretation of results

The assessment of fire damage in concrete structures involves two complementary major tasks: on-site investigation and interpretation of the observed evidences. Concerning the first point, some innovative and viable inspection techniques are briefly illustrated in the paper. Their common trait is the ability to provide an immediate feedback, with no need for time-consuming laboratory analyses. As for the interpretation of results, the main issue is to harmonize the information provided by the available diagnostic tools, which is limited to specific ranges of temperature and to definite depths in the exposed concrete cover. The proposed approach relies on the parametric analysis of the compartment temperature developed in a set of realistic fire scenarios. The resulting temperature profiles are then checked against the results of the Non-Destructive inspection techniques, in order to select the most likely thermal input undergone by the structural members.