Load-bearing capacities of structural columns are strongly influenced by their slenderness ratios, and, in particular, the reinforced concrete (RC) columns exposed to fire show the slenderness effect in their behavior more apparently, compared to that...
Load-bearing capacities of structural columns are strongly influenced by their slenderness ratios, and, in particular, the reinforced concrete (RC) columns exposed to fire show the slenderness effect in their behavior more apparently, compared to that at an ambient temperature, due to the part of sections damaged by fire. In other words, the secondary moment effect ( effect) caused by large displacement due to fire load can significantly decrease the capacities of columns; therefore, the increasing slenderness ratio as well as strength degradation of materials due to fire need to be considered in the evaluation of the fire resistance performances of RC column members. This study aimed at developing P-M interaction curves for RC column members exposed to fire, in which material strength degradations and effects due to fire damage are appropriately considered. The P-M interaction curve developed in this study can simulate the fire resistance performances of RC columns decreasing as the fire-exposure time increases. For the columns subjected to a non-uniform bending moment, the equivalent uniform moment factor () was also adopted in the P-M interaction model, which was verified by comparing its analysis results to those estimated by the nonlinear analysis program, SAFIR. In addition, the P-M interaction curve model was simplified for the practical purpose, which can provide an easy and fast way to estimate the fire resistance performances of RC columns under fire. The proposed simplified model was also verified by comparing to the fire test results collected from literature, from which it is considered that the simplified model can accurately estimate the load-bearing capacities or fire resisting time of RC columns exposed to fire.