The General Method for the Fire Design of I‐section Web‐tapered Members

Abstract

AbstractThe General Method of EN 1993‐1‐1 covers the safety verification of non‐prismatic members, as the variable geometry precludes the use of the standard verification clauses. However, no specific guidelines are provided in the fire part of the Eurocode 3 (EN 1993‐1‐2) regarding its implementation at elevated temperatures, apart from adopting the reduction factors for steel material properties. Previous investigations by the authors have demonstrated that the methodology is unsafe for the verification of tapered columns and overly conservative for beams at elevated temperatures, leading to proposals for the calibration of the GM for these members in fire following the design philosophy of the Eurocode 3.The present investigation will start by discussing the latest developments on the validation of the GM for the safety check of tapered members in fire, with particular emphasis on the recently proposed interaction factor for the flexural and lateral‐torsional interaction buckling of tapered beam‐columns. Then, based on the results from the numerical parametric studies, the practical implications of the upcoming revision of the EN 1993‐1‐1 on the safety check of these members with the General Method will be discussed.