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Standard Versus Natural Fire Resistance for Partially Restrained Composite Floor Beams

Michael Drury, Associate III, Princeton
 

In these two research articles, structural engineer Michael Drury examines the structural behavior of one-way composite steel floor beams under different fire exposures.

Testing highlights include:

  • Duplicate pair of composite floor beams were tested under standard and natural fire

  • Both had the same SFRM protection, load, and partial restraint of thermal expansion

  • Composite slab and bolted shear tab connections retained integrity thru both tests

  • Flexural response of both specimens is governed by steel beam temperature increase

  • Thermo-structural results are used for numerical validation in Part 2 of this study

Analysis highlights include:

  • Duplicate pair of composite floor beams are analyzed for standard and natural fire

  • Both had the same SFRM protection, load, and partial restraint of thermal expansion

  • Thermal FE results conservatively predict experimental beam and slab temperatures

  • Structural FE predictions of fire-induced deflection compare well with test data

  • Parametric variations in loading and connection rotational stiffness are evaluated

Part 1, Testing   

 

 

Part 2, Analysis

 

 

Both articles were originally published in the Journal of Constructional Steel Research (Volume 202, March 2023).

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