BRE EP90 PDF

INTRODUCTION

Modern concrete is vastly different from early products, with high strength, fibre reinforced, self compacting, foamed or sprayed varieties and applications now being dominated by advanced ready-mix and precast technologies. The construction process and its management are optimised with the aid of computers. Durability problems are tackled in their complexity, and there are virtually no restrictions left to limit the architect's or engineer's imagination. Design now incorporates aspects covering the fire resistance of structures, with corrective processes introduced, even at the earliest stages of the manufacturing procedure.

There has also been a tendency for concrete to increasingly take over roles hitherto assigned to other elements, to promote simplicity and cost effectiveness of construction as a whole. Concrete construction provides inherent fire resistance to structures and when properly designed and detailed, concrete construction responds effectively to the requirements of fire safety. The advances in concrete technology have enabled structures not only to withstand adverse temperature differentials due to fire, but also the resistance to withstand structural collapse in major fire accidents. This has a positive effect in saving human lives and avoids enormous financial risks.

Given that current practice has embraced the developing technology, the need for and uptake of new ideas is central to a successful industry. The contributions in this conference have certainly supported the aim to produce concrete, which is equally pleasing to the environment and to the people who make it part of their lives.

The Proceedings ‘Concrete for Fire Engineering' dealt with all these subject areas and the issues raised two clearly defined themes: (i) Design and Performance (ii) Assessing and Rectifying Damage. Each theme started with a Keynote Paper presented by the foremost exponents in their respective fields. There were 28 papers presented during the International Conference, which are compiled into these Proceedings.