Design of Steel Columns in Fire using Second‐order Inelastic Analysis with Strain Limits

Abstract

AbstractIn this paper, a structural steel fire design approach using second‐order inelastic analysis with strain limits is proposed and applied to the design of steel columns in fire. The proposed design approach employs beam finite elements to conduct a second‐order inelastic analysis. Within the proposed method, strain limits are used to account for the effects of local buckling; while global instability, the loss of strength and stiffness and thermal effects are fully considered through second‐order inelastic analysis carried out using beam finite elements. The proposed method is assessed against validated shell FE results. It is observed that the proposed design approach provides consistently accurate and safe capacity predictions for steel columns in fire.