Air-entrainment as an alternative to polypropylene fibers and its effect on the compressive strength of concrete at high temperatures

Although much research has been done in the area of the fire response of concrete in the past decades, only few studies are focused on the mechanical properties of air-entrained concrete at high temperatures. This paper presents preliminary results of an experimental investigation focused on the effect of air-entrainment on the compressive strength of concrete at various high temperatures. Within the scope of this work, heat treatments and compression tests have been performed on reference and air-entrained concrete specimens. The results obtained from the experiments have been analysed and show that the air entrainment seems to have an adverse effect on the compressive strength of the concrete at high temperatures when exposed for a prolonged period of time. (paper)