The present experimental program was planned to investigate the effect of type of mineral admixture, pre-load and the presence of confining reinforcement on the spalling behaviour of heated high performance concrete (HPC). Reinforced concrete cylindrical short columns were cast and exposed to four different target temperatures. A compressive preload equal to 25% of the ultimate load capacity of column was maintained on the specimens during heating and cooling. The test results mainly focus on the influence of above said variables on spalling behaviour of reinforced HPC columns. Interesting observations have been made in the paper on the subject matter of the workshop. © Owned by the authors, published by EDP Sciences, 2013.