This paper addresses the issue of structure design and analysis for conditions of fire loading. It includes an introductory section that presents the historical and current state of practice using... Show moreThis paper addresses the issue of structure design and analysis for conditions of fire loading. It includes an introductory section that presents the historical and current state of practice using prescriptive methods of design, a qualitative and conceptual development (based on actual field observations) of what is expected to occur in a structure when subjected to fire, and a summary of the current state of research on the subject of structure design for fire loading. Next, a thermo-plastic non-linear finite element shell model was developed for a two member steel beam and column, bolted joint structure used in an actual physical fire test, subjected to beam a bending load and column compressive load, held constant, while the structure was heated up in a furnace. The beam / column bolted joint rotation for the test matched the simulation quite well. Next, further extending this modeling approach, a partial moment frame from the center of a 9 story building designed for dead, live, and seismic loading was modeled with non-linear thermo-plastic shell elements in the fire zone, along with linear elastic beam / line elements for structural components surrounding the fire zone. For this model, the gravity loading (no seismic loading included) was fully applied, and then a thermal load corresponding to the ASTM E119 fire test load was applied to the structure in the fire zone. Simulation of lateral torsional buckling, flange local buckling, web local buckling, and finally overall global buckling of the columns was accomplished in this effort, increasing confidence that complex thermo-plastic structural behavior can be modeled with advanced non-linear finite element technology. Boundary conditions on this model from the floor system had a significant impact on the mode of global buckling (strong axis or weak axis), warranting further investigation and possibly a 3-D frame with a floor system included in future work. Also, extending this modeling approach even further, in future work, using the entire 9 story moment frame, with shell elements in the fire zone and non-linear moment-curvature beam / line elements for surrounding members, is contemplated, the objective being to numerically model a progressive collapse event in a planar frame. Finally, an actual 10 story structure, converted to and industrial open floor structure, based on current design codes and standards, was modeled thermally using the industry standard Hydrocarbon (HC) Temperature vs time curve, and structurally using non-linear thermoplastic shell elements in the “fire room” (to better capture local buckling and overall structure collapse behavior), and thermoplastic beam elements for the rest of the structure. The thermal modeling was performed for steel members both without insulation (bare steel) and with minimal insulation (1/4” coated thickness), and these “decoupled” results then applied to the structural model. The use of even a small layer of insulation demonstrated the dramatic effect of such, insofar as the collapse time of the structure is concerned. Show less
