A Methodology for Predicting Temperature Distribution inside Concrete Pavement under A Pool Fire

Understanding the internal temperature distribution of concrete is critical to further determine the variation characteristics of its thermo-mechanical properties. Due to the complexity of heat transfer during the combustion of pool fires, the internal temperature distribution of concrete under its influence is much different from that under uniform high-temperature field. In this work, a systematic mathematical model was proposed to predict the temperature distribution inside concrete pavement under the action of pool fire, and a series of corresponding experiments were conducted to validate the prediction results. Heat transfer process during pool fire combustion and heat dissipation process of high-temperature concrete after pool fire extinction were both analyzed in detail. A comprehensive heat transfer coefficient was used to predict the temperature distribution in combustible liquid. Temperature control discretization equations inside the concrete in both the processes of pool fire combustion and extinction were derived. The established mathematical model was implemented by MATLAB programming. Finally, corresponding experiments were conducted to verify the model prediction results, and the results showed that the two were in good agreement. The results obtained in this work can facilitate a better understanding of the design and maintenance of concrete pavement.