Steel and Composite Structures

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Behaviour of lightweight composite trusses in fire - A case study

  • Choi, Seng-Kwan (Department of Fire and Engineering Service Research, Korea Institute of Construction Technology) ;
  • Burgess, Ian (Department of Civil and Structural Engineering, University of Sheffield) ;
  • Plank, Roger (School of Architecture, University of Sheffield)
  • Received : 2006.08.16
  • Accepted : 2006.12.15
  • Published : 2007.04.25
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Abstract

On September $11^{th}$ 2001, the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City were struck by two hijacked airplanes. Despite severe local damage induced by the impact, the towers were able to sustain 102 and 56 minutes of the subsequent multi-storey fires before collapsing. The purpose of this study is to contribute to the understanding of the in-fire performance of composite trusses by examining the behaviour of the longer-span type used in the towers. It makes no attempt to be a forensic study of the actual events. Using the finite element package Vulcan, the structural mechanics of typical long-span composite floor trusses are explained, under a variety of scenarios, as the fire temperatures rise. Different boundary conditions, degrees of protection and loading are all covered, the results being presented mainly in the form of graphs of deflection and internal force of members against time.

Keywords

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Cited by

  1. Performance in fire of long-span composite truss systems vol.30, pp.3, 2008, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.engstruct.2007.05.016
  2. An Experimental Research on the Fire Behavior of Composite Truss Structure Used at World Trade Center vol.82, pp.1662-7482, 2011, https://doi.org/10.4028/www.scientific.net/AMM.82.356