By Steven Moore, PE, Senior Engineer

Steve Moore, PE - Senior EngineerConcrete is a common building and structural component that can be impacted by exposure to fire.  Concrete is fairly heat resistant to approximately 500 to 600 °F. Once concrete reaches that range of temperature or beyond, damage can occur.  Rapid cooling, which can occur during firefighting activities, can also adversely affect the concrete by creating thermal shock.  Fire-exposed concrete can be evaluated by several methods: including visual examination of cracks, spalls, or color changes; extraction of core samples to evaluate concrete strength or perform petrographic analysis for microscopic evidence of damage; and/or evaluation through nondestructive means such as ultrasonic pulse velocity (UPV) testing, discussed further below

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