Numerical Analysis of Flexural Performances of Composite Steel-Timber Beams under Fire Conditions

Abstract

Recently, a novel type of composite structure, composite steel-timber (CST) structure, has attracted much attention by combining steel and timber in an effective way to form composite structural components, which unitises the advantages of high strength and excellent ductility of steel and decent sustainability and fire resistance of timber. However, the existing research is lacking, especially in structural fire design and analysis. In this study, based on the sequentially coupled method, the commercial finite element software ABAQUS was used to numerically simulate the dynamic performances in the temperature field and the flexural behaviours in the displacement field for a typical CST beam with a steel element embedded within the Glulam and connected by adhesives and bolts under standard fire for two hours. In the numerical simulations, the temperature distributions within the CST beam were explored, and the flexural performances of the beam in the displacement field were examined. Through the comparative analysis, the temperature distributions in the embedded steel beam and the surrounding Glulam beam under one-hour standard fire verified the advantages of this type of CST beam in structural fire design. Specifically, under a 2-hour standard fire, the surrounding Glulam could still protect the embedded steel beam from sustaining too high temperatures, so as to retain most of its material properties and help maintain the bearing capacity of the whole structure and improve the refractory limit. Parametric studies on the fire resistance of the CST beam were also conducted by adjusting the bolt spacing and the protection thickness of the Glulam. The obtained results indicated that reducing the bolt spacing and the thickness of the Glulam protection layer would have an adverse effect on the temperature distributions in the embedded steel element to a large extent, and would eventually lead to its rapid heating and strength loss and the final failure of the whole CST structure.