Behaviour of a multi-storey composite steel framed building in fire

The authors are partners in a major research initiative dealing with the behaviour of multi-storey steel framed buildings under fire attack. The work programme included fire tests carried out on the composite steel framed structure built within the BRE large scale test facility at Cardington1,2. An extensive numerical analysis programme was also undertaken working in partnership with leading European fire research institutes. This paper explains the background to the research initiative and presents the key results and observations.

The fire tests demonstrated that modern composite floor systems possess a significant degree of fire resistance which is not accounted for in traditional design methods. Important principles in relation to the modelling of composite structures in fire have been established and used to determine the structural response of such buildings in fire. The implications of this new understanding for the design of robust buildings in fire are explored.

M. A. O’Connor
BSc, PhD, MBA

B. R. Kirby
BSc, PhD, CEng, FIFireE

D. M. Martin
BSc, PhD, CEng, MIStructE, MIMechE