Loadbearing Capacity of LSF Walls Under Fire Exposure

Abstract

Light steel frame (LSF) (LSF) and prefabricated panels are widely used in loadbearing walls, with direct application to steel framed buildings. These walls are made with steel cold formed sections (studs and tracks) using gypsum plasterboard and other material layers attached to the flanges and sometimes insulation material in the cavities. The fire resistance is usually provided by one or more layer of materials and or by the cavity insulation. This investigation evaluates the fire resistance of the loadbearing walls, from the point of view of insulation (I) and loadbearing capacity (R). Experimental results obtained from partition walls were used into the numerical model to accurately preview the cracking, falling off and the ignition of combustible material. The numerical model was validated under the same fire conditions. The loadbearing capacity is determined using this hybrid model. This model is able to predict an accurate fire resistance for any load level, taking into account the brittle behaviour of gypsum panels and the

Critical Temperature of Load Bearing LSF Walls Under Fire

“…3 studs LSF wall (reduced scale) b) 4 studs LSF wall (reduced scale) c) 5 studs LSF wall (reduced scale) Figure 1 LSF wall dimension and shape used in fire tests [23], [24] a)…”

“…in 2003 [1], K. Ghazi Wakili and E. Hugi in 2009 [2], Prakash Kolarkar in 2010 [3], Gunalan et al in 2013 [4], Ayman Y. Nassif et al in 2014 [5], S. Kesawan and M. Mahendran in 2015 [6], Anthony D. Ariyanayagam, Mahen Mahendran in 2017 [7]. composite panels, based on a hybrid finite element model [23] [24], and in 2021, a new research has been established on double stud LSF walls [25]. This research also included a new simplified method, being the results consistent with the experimental observation.…”

Fire resistance of composite non-load bearing light steel framing walls

“…20 This critical temperature criterion is sometimes overconservative for lower load levels and sometimes unsafe for higher load level. 15 Despite being used for load-bearing walls, this criterion has been used for comparison with the temperature measured for the steel stud on the hot flange (HF), web (WEB) and cold flange (CF). It is also assumed that there is no direct effect of the mechanical load in the temperature field, reason why this temperature field may also be expected for load-bearing walls.…”

“…The fire performance on non-load-bearing LSF walls started to be investigated in 2017 at the Polytechnic Institute of Bragança (IPB) with the aim of (1) developing accurate numerical models based on the thermal analysis with fluid structure interaction; 11 (2) validating the numerical models with tests performed by others; 12 (3) analysing the fire performance of LSF using the simplified one-dimensional heat flow; 13 (4) presenting a sequential numerical model to study the fire resistance of LSF walls made with composite panels under load-bearing conditions 14 and; and (5) predict the load effect on the LSF walls under fire conditions using numerical simulations. 15 In 2019, nine experimental fire tests were developed to define the fire resistance of the partition walls, and compare the behaviour of composite plates with the traditional solution using gypsum protection plates. These tests were simulated with three-dimensional (3D) finite-element models using ANSYS 16 applying the hybrid solution method FEM-H for nonlinear thermal analysis.…”

Fire Design of Wood Connections Loaded in Shear

“…Using the literature, it is possible to find the gypsum thermal properties (Piloto, Khetata, & Gavillán, 2018), (Frangi, Schleifer, Fontana & Hugi, 2010). In this work two different types of gypsum material were used from the references, (Rahmanian & Wang, 2009), (Frangi, Schleifer, Fontana & Hugi, 2010).…”