Interfacial Shear Behavior of Composite Concrete Substrate to High-Performance Concrete Overly After Exposure to Elevated Temperature

Basically, the interface shear strength between two concrete layers of varying ages must be sufficient to withstand the applied actions on the structure, specifically fire attack, which may cause the complete collapse of the composite structure. Thus, interfacial shear behavior was investigated and analyzed in this paper under the influence of a set of parameters, including temperature (25, 200, 400, and 600 °C), time exposure (30, 60, 90, 120, and 180 min), concrete type, and fibers type (polypropylene fiber (PPF), steel fiber (SF), and hybrid fiber) by employing a Z-shape push-off test. The test consists of two parts with different ages: normal strength concrete (NCS) and high-performance concrete (HPC). HPC includes high-strength concrete (HSC) and fly ash concrete (FAC). Initially, twenty-five Z-shaped push-off tests were made, four of which were cast as one unit (NSC/or concrete with hybrid (FSP)), and the rest were composite specimens. Furthermore, a 3D finite element model of a composite push-off specimen was developed to simulate and analyze the impact of various time and temperature exposures on the interfacial shear strength of composite specimen N-FSP. The results indicated that temperature degree and exposure time adversely affected the interfacial shear strength. Also, interfacial shear strength is significantly influenced by fiber types. Including combined fiber (SF + PPF) improved the interfacial shear strength by 114% compared to the composite specimen NSC-NSC after exposure to a temperature of 600 °C. In contrast, using PPF negatively affected the interfacial shear strength, recording only 84% of the composite specimen NSC-NSC. In addition, the inclusion of supplementary cementitious material enhanced the interfacial shear strength by 60.5% in the NSC-FAC composite specimen with 30% FA, compared to the NSC-NSC specimen. Finally, a finite element (FE) model was proposed with a satisfactory level of accuracy (0.95 to 1.03) in predicting the maximum shear strength. Additionally, the difference between the FE and experimental stiffness was between 0.92 and 1.07.