Performance based fire safety design of structures - A multi-dimensional integration

Abstract

Design codes for fire safety in buildings can be either a prescriptive type or performance-based type. It is now widely recognized that performance-based codes provide greater advantages over the prescriptive codes in that it allows designers to use the fire engineering methods to assess the fire safety of the structure. However, as the assessment of the whole structure performance is not easy, most codes currently used are still prescriptive codes or a combination of prescriptive codes and performance-based codes. The key feature for implementing the performance-based fire design codes is the assessment of the fire resistance of the structure. This paper provides an overall view on performance-based code and the approaches for designing steel structure in fire considering a multi-dimensional integration of fire engineering simulation, emergency evacuation and structural resistance. Various fire models and heat transfer analysis methods are reviewed and discussed. The basis to modelling of large deflection and plasticity using appropriate stress-strain relationship at elevated temperature is explained. Finally, structural response calculations from simplified hand calculation method to advanced numerical procedures are presented. Future trends for research are identified.