Fire after earthquake robustness evaluation and design: Application to steel structures

Abstract

The occurrence of fires breaking out during a seismic event, or even delayed after an earthquake represents a common circumstance in earthquake prone Countries, which must be adequately taken into account as a possible design scenario. In fact the behaviour in fire of structures that have been damaged by earthquakes changes as respect to the undamaged ones, since the earthquake‐induced damage makes the structure more vulnerable to fire effects. In view of the current seismic design approach, where a certain extent of damage in case of severe earthquake is acceptable, the analysis of the behaviour of structures under the effect of fires in combination or following an earthquake is a significant research field, which is not yet fully explored. The robustness assessment under fire of structures already damaged to different extent by the seism, through a performance – based approach, is required. The procedure should be valuable as a design tool, as well as a vulnerability evaluation of the built heritage against FFE. In this paper the proposed general methodology is exemplified with regards to steel structures.

Post-earthquake fire resistance of steel buildings

“…Faggiano and Mazzolani [19] investigated the structural performance of steel frames exposed to PEFs by means of a robustness assessment method, based on the consideration of the seismic performance levels indicated in FEMA 356 [20] and on the evaluation of the consequences of potential subsequent fires. A study on 3-dimensional steel frame performance subjected to post-earthquake fire was conducted by Pantousa and Mistakidis [21].…”

Firewalls and post-earthquake fire resistance of reinforced-concrete frames

“…In micro scale, the investigations are mostly concentrated on partially seismic-damaged structures exposed to fire. Several researchers have studied protected and unprotected steel structures (Alderighi and Salvatore, 2009;Braxtan and Pessiki, 2011;Pucinotti et al, 2011;Ryder et al, 2002;Tomecek and Milke, 1993;Wang and Li, 2009;Zaharia and Pintea, 2009 (Faggiano and Gregorgio, 2010;Faggiano and Mazzolani, 2011) investigated steel structures exposed to PEF. Based on the FEMA 356 procedure, Faggiano and co-workers developed a method called robustness assessment for evaluating the performance of buildings subjected to earthquake, and for suggesting fire performance levels for various conditions of fire.…”

Structural response of vertically irregular tall moment-resisting steel frames under pre- and post-earthquake fire

“…They then suggested that at least 15 minutes fire resistance should be provided in the case of PEF and accordingly proposed a design method. Faggiano and Mazzolani () investigated steel structures exposed to PEF. They performed a coupled analysis consisting of both earthquake and fire.…”