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The resulting heat propagation within the structure is governed by the heat conduction equation, which can be difficult to solve analytically because of the nonlinearity related to the thermophysical properties of concrete. A semi-analytical approach for the transient nonlinear heat conduction problem in concrete structures was established in the present work. The nonlinearity related to the temperature-dependent thermal conductivity, mass density, and specific heat capacity of heated concrete was taken into consideration. A Taylor series approximate solution was first established within a small neighborhood, employing the Boltzmann transformation in combination with the mean value theorem. Thereafter, it was extended to the whole domain by utilizing the Bernstein polynomial. The semi-analytical approach was validated by comparing it with the numerical results of two independent Finite Element simulations of nonlinear heat conduction along concrete plates, subjected to either moderate or fierce thermal loading. Absolute values of the relative errors are smaller than 5%. The validated semi-analytical approach was further applied to prediction of the temporal evolution of the temperature field of a scaled model of a subway station, subjected to fire disaster. The nonlinearities, related to the time-dependent surface temperature and the temperature-dependent thermophysical properties of concrete, were taken into consideration. The predictions agree well with the experimental measurements. The established semi-analytical approach exhibits good accuracy and stability, providing insight into the interaction between the thermophysical properties of concrete in the heat conduction process.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/e25040583","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2023,3,29]],"date-time":"2023-03-29T03:32:25Z","timestamp":1680060745000},"page":"583","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":6,"title":["Transient Nonlinear Heat Conduction in Concrete Structures: A Semi-Analytical Approach"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"25","author":[{"given":"Hui","family":"Wang","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Naval Architecture, Ocean and Civil Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China"}]},{"given":"Xi","family":"Chen","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Jiaxing University, Jiaxing 314001, China"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-8664-2554","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Eduardus","family":"Koenders","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Construction and Building Materials, Technical University of Darmstadt, 64287 Darmstadt, Germany"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6378-0567","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ying","family":"Dai","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Aerospace Engineering and Applied Mechanics, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, China"}]},{"given":"Xingchun","family":"Huang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Naval Architecture, Ocean and Civil Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-0070-6890","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Qing","family":"Ai","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Naval Architecture, Ocean and Civil Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-1542-3028","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Yong","family":"Yuan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Civil Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, China"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2023,3,29]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"140","DOI":"10.1061\/(ASCE)0733-947X(2005)131:2(140)","article-title":"Environmental effects on the behavior of jointed plain concrete pavements","volume":"131","author":"Jeong","year":"2005","journal-title":"J. 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