Fire design rules for load bearing cold-formed steel frame walls exposed to realistic design fire curves

Abstract

Keywords:Light gauge steel frame walls Realistic design fire curves Axial compression strength of studs Fire resistance rating Limiting temperature method Fire design rules Simplified design method a b s t r a c t Light gauge Steel Frame (LSF) walls are extensively used in the building industry due to the many advantages they provide over other wall systems. Although LSF walls have been used widely, fire design of LSF walls is based on approximate prescriptive methods based on limited fire tests. Also these fire tests were conducted using the standard fire curve (ISO 834-1, 1999 [1]) and the applicability of available design rules to realistic design fire curves has not been verified. This paper investigates the accuracy of existing fire design rules in the current cold-formed steel standards and the modifications proposed by previous researchers. Of these the recently developed design rules by [2] based on Eurocode 3 Part 1.3 (EN 1993(EN -1-3, 2006) and AS/NZS 4600 (Standards Australia (SA), 2005 [4]) for standard fire exposure (ISO 834-1, 1999 [1]) were investigated in detail to determine their applicability to predict the axial compression strengths and fire resistance ratings of LSF walls exposed to realistic design fire curves. This paper also presents the fire performance results of LSF walls exposed to a range of realistic fire curves obtained using a finite element analysis based parametric study. The results from the parametric study were used to develop a simplified design method based on the critical hot flange temperature to predict the fire resistance ratings of LSF walls exposed to realistic fire curves. Finally, the stud failure times (fire resistance rating) obtained from the fire design rules and the simplified design method were compared with parametric study results for LSF walls lined with single and double plasterboards, and externally insulated with rock fibres under realistic fire curves.

Fire performance in buildings: academic insights and perspective analysis

“…Finally, attention is brought to works focused on Fire Safety Design and Management, such as (ARIYANAYAGAM; MAHENDRAN, 2015) which evaluated the potential of integrating fire safety into modern building design; and (ABNT, 2013) which presented fire design rules for cold-formed steel frame walls exposed to realistic design fire curves. The keywords defined by the author reflect the main focus and trend of the research on Fire Performance in buildings.…”

Finite Element Modelling to Predict the Fire Performance of Bio-Inspired 3D-Printed Concrete Wall Panels Exposed to Realistic Fire

“…Steau et al [37] experimentally studied fire-resistant board structures that were exposed to standard fire in order to increase the FRL. Gunalan et al [38] experimentally studied the fire performance of load-bearing cold-formed steel wall panels under standard fire conditions, and Ariyanayagam and Mahendran [39] studied the same phenomena under realistic-design fire conditions and established fire design rules [40]. Ariyanayagam and Mahendran [41] also investigated the impact of cavity insulation on the fire resistance of LSF walls and found that the use of cavity insulation enhanced the FRL of non-load-bearing walls, although it considerably reduced that of load-bearing walls.…”

“…Though the standard fire curve has been used for centuries to determine the FRL of building elements, the actual FRL of building components subjected to real fires are considerably less than those obtained from standard fire tests [40,47]. Hence, the ISO 834 standard fire test regulations are not suitable for evaluating the fire performance of 3D-printed concrete walls in terms of establishing the highest temperature and the corresponding time taken to reach this highest temperature level [50].…”

Fire performance of non-load-bearing light-gauge slotted steel stud walls

“…Shahbazian and Wang [8] proposed a simple method for calculating the temperatures of the steel studs of the LSF walls exposed to fire. Mahendran et al [9][10][11][12] studied the fire performance of a new kind of LSF wall with an insulation layer placed externally between the plasterboards on both sides of the wall. Mahendran et al 3 [13,14] studied non-load-bearing LSF walls subjected to fire.…”