The Behaviour of Full-Scale Steel-Framed Buildings Subject to Compartment Fires

During 1995 and 1996, a major fire test programme was conducted on a full-scale eight-storey steel-jiramed building. The principle aim of these tests was to investigate the actual behaviour of a steel-framed building subjected to a series of compartment (localised)fires. This paper presents the results from two of these tests, which were conducted by the Building Research Establishment. The results from the tests showed that existing fire Codes are not addressing the correct building behaviour during a fire and, as a consequence, are extremely conservative. In addition, the fire tests on the full-scale frame showed that the actual global and local structural behaviour of buildings is different, and typically far better; than that shown in standard small-scale fire tests. The paper discusses in detail the behaviour of the building observed during the fire tests, and preliminary conclusions are presented.

C.G. Bailey, T. Lennon and D.B. Moore