Feasibility Study of Digital Image Correlation in Determining Strains in Concrete Exposed to Fire

Concrete is prone to spalling when exposed to fire. During fire tests, the strains of concrete elements are hard to identify, both from the fire-exposed face and the non-exposed face. This paper presents a field experiment which employed the original CivEng digital image correlation (DIC) method developed at the Cracow University of Technology to measure the strain fields of elements exposed to heating by a pin-point gas burner. The paper presents experimental proof that it is possible to analyze the deformation of both unheated and fire-exposed sides of heated concrete by the DIC method. The strain fields, crack patterns and modes of crack development are presented. The study shows the encouraging results of employing the DIC method to test concrete behavior under fire attack.