Experimental Study on the Change in Hardness of Structural Steel (SA 516) Post Fire Accidents

Abstract

SA 516 steel material is commonly used for the structures in chemical industries. Where, the mechanical properties of the structure steels could be fully utilized. These steel structures are sometimes unexpectedly exposed to the heat due to the fire and explosion incidents. Post these incidents, whether steel structures are reusable or not. If, it is reusable what is the reduced capacity of the steel structures due the fire incidents and method of controlling the fire. It needs a reliable evaluation by simulating the fire and fire fighting methods such as air cooling, water cooling and blanket cooling (dry chemical powder or mechanical foam). An experimental study was carried out to understand the post fire material hardness of the structural steel SA 516 after cooling down with different fire fighting methods from temperatures ranges between the 800 °C to 1000 °C. The study reveals that lowest hardness values were reported when the test samples were cooled down with the natural air and highest hardness values were reported when the sample were cooled down with the mechanical foam.