Storey-Based Stability Design for Structural Steel Frameworks Accounting for Variability of Building Fires

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Fires in buildings can be catastrophic. Tragic events such as the recent Grenfell Tower fire in London and the collapse of the World Trade Center remind the public and reinforce the catastrophic consequences of the fires. The proposed research addresses structural fire safety, which is a key consideration in the design of buildings. The current practice to ensure structural fire safety for steel structures primarily relies on the prescriptive approach in which fire protection materials are applied on surfaces of steel elements to protect structural integrity and achieve a specified fire duration in a prescriptive way. Historically, the prescriptive approach is developed based on the experience and fire tests on individual structural elements, which does not mimic the performance of a structure in building fires. However, greater understanding of structural behaviour under the fire condition and an enormous increase in computing capacity have been achieved in recent years. As a result, a performance-based design (PBD) approach, which entails for structural fire safety to be demonstrated with engineering design approaches similar to the design of a structure to resist wind or earthquake loads, has emerged with an aim of evaluating the fire performance of entire building structures. Different from that of wind and earthquake loads, the uncertain nature of fire loading, in terms of its location, magnitude and distribution, needs to be considered in the PBD structural fire design. Unfortunately, current design methods are incapable of addressing the issue. The objective of this research is to develop an advanced PBD approach for stability analysis and design of steel framed buildings accounting for variabilities/uncertainties of building fire loads. Research in this area is severely lacking. The importance of the research is to enhance the fire safety performance of the buildings, including improved protection against catastrophic collapse to safeguard the safety of the public as well as that of rescue workers and firefighters in the event of building fire. Canadians and people elsewhere in the world will benefit from having significantly safer steel building environments in which to live and work. The novelty of the research is that the approach will be able to provide crucial information, concerning not only the stability and integrity of structural steel buildings in building fires, but also the uncertainties and risks associated with fire loading in building fires that are not available either in building codes or through conventional analysis and design methodology. This research will not only advance knowledge in this field, but will also train HQP in the emerging field of structural fire engineering. There is an urgent need for engineers in this discipline as there are very few engineers in Canada and worldwide with the sufficient skills.