A Review of the Structural Fire Performance Testing Methods for Beam-to-Column Connections

The structural fire performance tests for beam-to-column connections are critical in determining their fire performance at high temperatures. The current standard fire testing methods provide the procedures for establishing the fire resistance of each construction element exposed to a standard fire. However, these methods cannot verify the fire behaviour of the connections between building elements. Researchers have performed numerous fire tests on beam-to-column connections despite the lack of structural fire performance testing methods. This paper presents a comprehensive literature review of the structural fire performance testing methods for beam-to-column connections. The major areas in this review are travelling fires, development of travelling fires on beam-to-column connections, fire testing considerations, fire testing criteria, recent fire testing, and loading applications. This paper identifies the key issues and challenges of the structural fire performance testing methods for beam-to-column connections. Finally, this paper provides recommendations and discusses the way forward for structural fire performance tests on beam-to-column connections.

Structural Fire Protection of Steel Structures in Arctic Conditions

Most structures in the Arctic and Antarctic for oil and gas production are offshore stations, tankers, modules, steel supporting, and enclosing structures, which need to be protected against both cryogenic spills and fire exposure. Oil and gas industry facilities have products of high flammability and explosiveness, which in the case of ignition make it possible to develop a fire along the hydrocarbon curve, accompanied by a sharp jump in temperature and the formation of excessive pressure. This article discusses possible structural fire protection for metal structures in the Arctic region. Three different structural fireproofing materials are presented using super-thin basalt fiber (STBF) as an example. Tests of steel structures with fire protection are demonstrated, as a result of which the time from the beginning of cryogenic exposure to the limit state of samples is determined, and after the time from the beginning of thermal exposure to the limit state of samples under the hydrocarbon temperature regime is determined. An assessment of various flame retardants with values up to 120 min, which can be used in arctic climate conditions, was carried out. It was found that the most effective coatings are materials prepared on the basis of STBF.

BIM-Based Co-Simulation of Fire and Occupants’ Behavior for Safe Construction Rehabilitation Planning

Construction renovation projects increase the risk of structural fire, mostly due to the accumulation of combustible construction materials and waste. In particular, when the building remains operational during such projects, the redistribution of occupants and interruptions with access corridors/exit egress can exponentially increase the risk for the occupants. Most construction projects are, however, planned and scheduled merely based on the time and budget criteria. While safety is considered paramount and is meant to be applied as a hard constraint in the scheduling stage, in practice, safe evacuation considerations are reduced to rules of thumb and general code guidelines. In this paper, we propose simulation as a tool to introduce safety under structural fire, as a decision criterion, to be mixed with time and budget for selecting the best construction schedule alternative. We have used the BIM (building information model) to extract the building’s spatial and physical properties; and have applied co-simulation of fire, through computational fluid dynamics (CFD), and occupants’ evacuation behavior, through agent-based modeling (ABM) to estimate the average and maximum required safe egress time for various construction sequencing alternatives. This parameter is then used as a third decision criterion, combined with the project’s cost and duration, to evaluate construction schedule alternatives. We applied our method to a three-floor fire zone in a high-rise educational building in Montreal, and our results show that considering the fire safety criterion can make a difference in the final construction schedule. Our proposed method suggests an additional metric for evaluating renovation projects’ construction plans, particularly in congested buildings which need to remain fully or partially operational during the renovation. Thus, this method can be employed by safety officers and facility managers, as well as construction project planners to guide accounting for fire incidents while planning for these types of projects.

Analysis of Zone Fire Models and their Application in Structural Fire Design

This paper is focused on a comparison of zone fire modelling software tools and their application in structural fire design. The analysis of the zone models is performed for five selected computer programs, namely Argos, Branzfire, B-RISK, CFAST, and OZone. The limits and input parameters ofthe zone fire modelling software tools are described. In each software, two variants of the analysed compartment are created for simulating two types of fire scenario, including the fuel-controlled fire and the ventilation-controlled fire. The burning regimes are defined based on two heat release rate(HRR) curves, determined according to EN 1991-1-2. The HRR curves parameters are used as the main input data into the fire modelling software. The fire simulation method in each fire modelling software is selected based on the software capabilities. Although each program requires a different amount of input parameters, the aim was to create the same model in all programs and to compare the results. The fire modelling software outputs are exported into a spreadsheet. Subsequently, a comparison of the resulting graphs is performed, particularly the heat release rate graphs and the upper layertemperature evolution graphs. The fire resistance assessment of a simply-supported concrete slab panel is performed for all zone fire models and then the results are compared. The fire modelling software tools are finally quantitatively and qualitatively evaluated and compared to assess their differences.