This paper presents the details of full scale fire tests of LSF wall panels conducted using realistic fire time-temperature curves. Tests included eight LSF wall specimens of various configurations exposed to both parametric design and natural fire curves. Details of the fire test set-up, test procedure and the results including the measured time-temperature and deformation curves of LSF wall panels are presented along with wall stud failure modes and times. This paper also compares the structural and thermal behavioural characteristics of LSF wall studs with those based on the standard time-temperature curve. Finally, the stud failure times and temperatures are summarized for both standard and realistic design fire curves. This study provides the necessary test data to validate the numerical models of LSF wall panels and to undertake a detailed study into the structural and thermal performance of LSF wall panels exposed to realistic design fire curves.

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Purpose This research was aimed at investigating the fire performance of LSF wall systems by using 3-D heat transfer FE models of existing LSF wall system configurations. Design/methodology/approach This research was focused on investigating the fire performance of LSF wall systems by using 3-D heat transfer finite element models of existing LSF wall system configurations. The analysis results were validated by using the available fire test results of five different LSF wall configurations. Findings The validated finite element models were used to conduct a parametric study on a range of non-load bearing and load bearing LSF wall configurations to predict their fire resistance levels (FRLs) for varying load ratios. Originality/value Fire performance of LSF wall systems with different configurations can be understood by performing full-scale fire tests. However, these full-scale fire tests are time consuming, labour intensive and expensive. On the other hand, finite element analysis (FEA) provides a simple method of investigating the fire performance of LSF wall systems to understand their thermal-mechanical behaviour. Recent numerical research studies have focused on investigating the fire performances of LSF wall systems by using finite element (FE) models. Most of these FE models were developed based on 2-D FE platform capable of performing either heat transfer or structural analysis separately. Therefore, this paper presents the details of a 3-D FEA methodology to develop the capabilities to perform fully-coupled thermal-mechanical analyses of LSF walls exposed to fire in future.

Cold-formed Light gauge Steel Frame (LSF) walls lined with plasterboards are increasingly used in the building industry as primary load bearing components. Although they have been used widely, their behaviour in real building fires is not fully understood. Many experimental and numerical studies have been undertaken to investigate the fire performance of load bearing LSF walls under standard fire conditions. However, the standard fire time-temperature curve given in ISO 834 [1] does not represent the fire load present in typical modern buildings that include considerable amount of thermoplastic materials. Some of these materials with high in calorific values increase the fire severity beyond that of the standard fire curve. Fire performance studies of load bearing LSF walls exposed to realistic design fire curves have also been limited. Therefore in this research, finite element thermal models of LSF wall panels were developed to simulate their fire performance using the recently developed realistic design fire time-temperature curves [2]. Suitable thermal properties were proposed for plasterboards and insulations based on laboratory tests and available literature. The developed finite element thermal models were validated by comparing their thermal performance results with available realistic design fire test results, and were then used in a detailed parametric study. This paper presents the details of the developed finite element thermal models of load bearing LSF wall panels under realistic design fire time-temperature curves and the results. It shows that finite element thermal models of LSF walls can be used to predict the fire performance including their fire resistance rating with reasonable accuracy for varying configurations of plasterboard lined LSF walls exposed to realistic design fire time-temperature curves.

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