Mechanical Performances of Concrete Produced with Desert Sand After Elevated Temperature.

Currently, fire in building is one of the most serious disasters. With the increase of basic construction items in western China, ordinary medium sand resource no longer met with the need of engineering. Compressive strength experiments of concrete produced with desert sand after elevated temperature were carried out in this paper. The effects of desert sand replacement rate (DSRR), temperature and cooling regime on the mechanical performances of concrete produced with desert sand were analyzed. XRD and SEM experiments were also conducted to study the microstructure of concrete produced with desert sand after elevated temperature. Experimental results showed that the cubic compressive strength of concrete produced with desert sand increased firstly, and then declined with temperature. Whereas, the prismatic compressive strength and elasticity modulus of concrete produced with desert sand under static compression declined with temperature. With the enhancement of DSRR, the elasticity modulus under static compression, cubic compressive strength and prismatic compressive strength of concrete produced with desert sand after elevated temperature increased firstly, and then declined, the maximum value of which was reached when DSRR amounted to 40%. Regression models were established to predict the mechanical performances of concrete produced with desert sand after elevated temperature, which were in good agreement with experimental results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]