• International Journal of Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering
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• 제13권1호
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• pp.493-510
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• 2021

Mineral wool is an insulation material commonly used in passive fire protection (PFP) systems on offshore installations. Insulation materials have only been considered functional materials for thermal analysis in the conventional offshore PFP system design method. Hence, the structural performance of insulation has yet to be considered in the design of PFP systems. However, the structural elements of offshore PFP systems are often designed with excessive dimensions to satisfy structural requirements under external loads such as wind, fire and explosive pressure. To verify the structural contribution of insulation material, it was considered a structural material in this study. A series of material tensile tests was undertaken with two types of mineral wool at room temperature and at elevated temperatures for fire conditions. The mechanical properties were then verified with modified methods, and a database was constructed for application in a series of nonlinear structural and thermal finite-element analyses of an offshore bulkhead-type PFP system. Numerical analyses were performed with a conventional model without insulation and with a new suggested model with insulation. These analyses showed the structural contribution of the insulation in the structural behaviour of the PFP panel. The results suggest the need to consider the structural strength of the insulation material in PFP systems during the structural design step for offshore installations.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• 제51권2호
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• pp.127-138
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• 2024

In this paper, structural behavior under fire conditions is comprehensively examined, and a novel software interface for testing interfaces efficiently is developed and validated. In order to accurately assess the response of structures to fire scenarios, advanced simulation techniques and modeling approaches are incorporated into the study. This interface enables accurate heat transfer analysis and thermo-mechanical simulations by integrating software tools such as CSI ETABS, CSI SAP2000, and OpenSees. Heat transfer models can be automatically generated, simulation outputs processed, and structural responses interpreted under a variety of fire scenarios using the proposed technique. As a result of rigorous testing and validation against established methods, including Cardington tests on scales and hybrid simulation approaches, the software interface has been proven to be effective and accurate. The analysis process is streamlined by this interface, providing engineers and researchers with a robust tool for assessing structural performance under fire conditions.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• 제13권4호
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• pp.309-325
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• 2012

The risk of progressive collapse in steel framed buildings under fire conditions is gradually rising due to the increasing use of combustible materials. The fire resistance of such steel framed buildings is evaluated by fire tests. Recently, the application of performance based fire engineering makes it easier to evaluate the fire resistance owing to various engineering techniques and fire science. The fire resistance of steel structural members can be evaluated by the comparison of the limiting temperatures and maximum temperatures of structural steel members. The limiting temperature is derived at the moment that the failure of structural member results from the rise in temperature and the maximum temperature is calculated by using a heat transfer analysis. To obtain the limiting temperatures for structural steel of grades SS400 and SM490 in Korea, tensile strength tests of coupons at high temperature were conducted. The limiting temperatures obtained by the tensile coupon tests were compared with the limiting temperatures reported in the literature and the results of column fire tests under four types of loading with different load ratios. Simple limiting temperature formulas for SS400 and SM490 steel based on the fire tests of the tensile coupons are proposed. The limiting temperature predictions using the proposed formulas were proven to be conservative in comparison with those obtained from H-section and hollow section column fire tests.

• 한국전산구조공학회논문집
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• 제28권1호
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• pp.101-113
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• 2015

이 논문은 화재에 노출된 철근콘크리트 구조에 대한 수치해석 모델을 제시하고, 기존의 자료 및 설계 규준과의 비교를 통해 구조물의 설계 시 고려 사항에 대해 제안하고 있다. 수치해석은 비정상 열전달 해석과 비선형 구조해석의 두 단계로 수행되며, 비정상 열전달 해석을 통해서 얻어진 화재시간에 따른 단면 온도분포를 바탕으로 비선형 구조해석하여 부재의 상태에 대한 정보를 얻게 된다. 이때, 철근콘크리트의 재료모델을 화재진행상태(Under-Fire)와 화재종료 후 냉각상태(After-Cooling)로 나뉘어 해석수행하여 각각의 재료상태에 따른 거동의 변화를 살펴본다. 해석된 결과는 여러 구조물에 대해 기존의 실험결과와 비교하여 검증하고, 설계 규준과의 비교를 통해 화재 시 구조물의 안전성에 대해 고찰하였다.

• Computers and Concrete
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• 제31권5호
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• pp.371-384
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• 2023

Precast roofing systems employing prestressed elements often serve as smart structural solutions for the construction of industrial buildings. The precast concrete elements usually employed are highly engineered, and often consist in thin-walled members, characterised by a complex behaviour in fire. The present study was carried out after a fire event damaged a precast industrial building made with prestressed beam and roof elements, and non-prestressed curved barrel vault elements interposed in between the spaced roof elements. As a consequence of the exposure to the fire, the main elements were found standing, although some locally damaged and distorted, and the local collapse of few curved barrel vault elements was observed in one edge row only. In order to understand and interpret the observed structural performance of the roof system under fire, a full fire safety engineering process was carried out according to the following steps: (a) realistic temperature-time curves acting on the structural elements were simulated through computational fluid dynamics, (b) temperature distribution within the concrete elements was obtained with non-linear thermal analysis in variable regime, (c) strength and deformation of the concrete elements were checked with non-linear thermal-mechanical analysis. The analysis of the results allowed to identify the causes of the local collapses occurred, attributable to the distortion caused by temperature to the elements causing loss of support in early fire stage rather than to the material strength reduction due to the progressive exposure of the elements to fire. Finally, practical hints are provided to avoid such a phenomenon to occur when designing similar structures.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• 제42권6호
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• pp.815-829
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• 2012

This paper proposes a nonlinear computational modeling approach for the behaviors of structural systems subjected to fire. The proposed modeling approach consists of fire dynamics analysis, nonlinear transient-heat transfer analysis for predicting thermal distributions, and thermomechanical analysis for structural behaviors. For concretes, transient heat formulations are written considering temperature dependent heat conduction and specific heat capacity and included within the thermomechanical analyses. Also, temperature dependent stress-strain behaviors including compression hardening and tension softening effects are implemented within the analyses. The proposed modeling technique for transient heat and thermomechanical analyses is first validated with experimental data of reinforced concrete (RC) beams subjected to high temperatures, and then applied to a bridge model. The bridge model is generated to simulate the fire incident occurred by a gas truck on April 29, 2007 in Oakland California, USA. From the simulation, not only temperature distributions and deformations of the bridge can be found, but critical locations and time frame where collapse occurs can be predicted. The analytical results from the simulation are qualitatively compared with the real incident and show good agreements.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• 제1권4호
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• pp.427-440
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• 2001

The growing use of unprotected or partially protected steelwork in buildings has caused a lively debate regarding the safety of this form of construction. A good deal of recent research has indicated that steel members have a substantial inherent ability to resist fire so that additional fire protection can be either reduced or eliminated completely. A performance based philosophy also extends the study into the effect of structural continuity and the performance of the whole structural totality. As part of the structural system, thermal expansion during the heating phase or contraction during the cooling phase in most beams is likely to be restrained by adjacent parts of the whole system or sub-frame assembly due to compartmentation. This has not been properly addressed before. This paper describes an experimental programme in which unprotected steel beams were tested under load while it is restrained between two columns and additional horizontal restraints with particular concern on the effect of catenary action in the beams when subjected to large deflection at very high temperature. This paper also presents a three-dimensional mathematical modelling, based on the finite element method, of the series of fire tests on the part-frame. The complete analysis starts with an evaluation of temperature distribution in the structure at various time levels. It is followed by a detail 3-D finite element analysis on its structural response as a result of the changing temperature distribution. The principal part of the analysis makes use of an existing finite element package FEAST. The effect of columns being fire-protected and the beam being axially restrained has been modelled adequately in terms of their thermal and structural responses. The consequence of the beam being restrained is that the axial force in the restrained beam starts as a compression, which increases gradually up to a point when the material has deteriorated to such a level that the beam deflects excessively. The axial compression force drops rapidly and changes into a tension force leading to a catenary action, which slows down the beam deflection from running away. Design engineers will be benefited with the consideration of the catenary action.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• 제77권5호
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• pp.673-689
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• 2021

This paper addresses the efficiency of thermal insulation layers applied to protect structural elements strengthened by fiber-reinforced polymers (FRP) in the case of fire event. The paper presents numerical modeling and nonlinear analysis of reinforced concrete (RC) columns externally strengthened by FRP and protected by thermal insulation layers when subjected to elevated temperature specified by standard fire tests, in order to predict their residual capacity and fire endurance. The adopted numerical approach uses commercial software includes heat transfer, variation of thermal and mechanical properties of concrete, steel reinforcement, FRP and insulation material with elevated temperature. The numerical results show good agreement with published results of full-scale fire tests. A parametric study was conducted to investigate the influence of several variables on the structural response and residual capacity of insulated FRP-confined columns loaded by service loads when exposed to fire. The residual capacity of FRP-confined RC column was affected by concrete grade and insulation material and was shown to improve substantially by increasing the concrete cover and insulation layer thickness. By increasing the VG insulation layer thickness 15, 32, 44, 57 mm, the loss in column capacity after 5 hours of fire was 30%, 13%, 7% and 5%, respectively. The obtained results demonstrate the validity of the presented approach for estimation of fire endurance and residual strength, as an alternative for fire testing, and for design of fire protection layers for FRP-confined RC columns.

• 국제강구조저널
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• 제18권4호
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• pp.1177-1190
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• 2018

This study presents an analytical framework for estimating the thermo-mechanical behavior of a composite beam exposed to fire. The framework involves: a fire simulation from which the evolution of temperature on the structure surface is obtained; data transfer by an interface model, whereby the surface temperature is assigned to the finite element model of the structure for thermo-mechanical analysis; and nonlinear thermo-mechanical analysis for predicting the structural response under high temperatures. We use a plastic-damage model for calculating the response of concrete slabs, and propose a method to determine the stiffness degradation parameter of the plastic-damage model by a nonlinear regression of concrete cylinder test data. To validate simulation results, structural fire experiments have been performed on a real-scale steel-concrete composite beam using the fire load prescribed by ASTM E119 standard fire curve. The calculated evolution of deflection at the center of the beam shows good agreement with experimental results. The local test results as well as the effective plastic strain distribution and section rotation of the composite beam at elevated temperatures are also investigated.

• 한국콘크리트학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국콘크리트학회 1994년도 봄 학술발표회 논문집
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• pp.221-226
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• 1994

A safety evaluation of cable tunnel, which is a concrete box structure with telecommunication facilities in it, exposed to fire is given. The immediate field observation was performed to find out any sign of sudden structural failure. In some region, where the fire intensity was heavy, the spalling of concrete cover in upper slab occurred. Next, more careful investigation was done with proper non-desturctive testing methods and structural analysis taking into account the changes in material properties due to fire. It seems that there is no severe damage on concrete, reinforcements and over all structural system.