Numerical study of the fire behaviour of external walls in light steel framing

Abstract

This study focuses on the fire behaviour of external walls in Light Steel Frame (LSF) structures. Previous investigations have primarily addressed the fire behaviour of internal wall configurations, however, the increasing number of fires affecting external walls shows that their behaviour must also be understood.Therefore, this work investigates the fire behaviour of these elements, presenting a numerical study of six different typologies usually found in LSF practice by analysing the temperature evolution across the wall and in the steel profiles. The results show that the temperature evolution is slower when the fire is impacting the outer side of the wall but, in these cases, the recommended critical temperature of 350 °C is reached earlier in the steel profiles. Finally, this work shows that more studies are necessary to describe the fire resistance of external walls, in particular when these elements have a loadbearing function.