Elevated Temperature Performance of Beam End Framing Connections

University Of Texas At Austin, Austin TX

Investigators

Abstract

The research will develop experimental data, analytical models, and design models for the performance of beam end framing connections at elevated temperature. The work will include thermal-structural analysis of steel building frames to characterize the force and deformation demands at beam end connections, extensive high temperature experiments on connection subassemblies, and detailed finite element analysis of connections. This research will be coordinated with a parallel effort underway at National Cheng Kung University in Taiwan, where tests will be conducted on complete full-scale beams with end connections and the development of catenary forces, in a large-scale structural-fire test furnace. No such structural-fire test facility exists in the US. The coordination of these two test programs will provide benchmark quality data on the high temperature performance of beam framing connections at multiple scales, and will lead to significantly enhanced understanding of beam connection behavior under fire conditions. This research will fill an important gap in the current knowledge base on the performance of structural building components exposed to fire and will contribute towards enabling performance-based engineered fire protection of building structures in the US, with an ultimate goal of providing safer and more cost-effective buildings. This research project will also produce a PhD in the structural-fire engineering field, helping to meet an acute US need for young scholars in this field. To move the US towards performance-based structural fire safety will also require improved education of structural engineers in this field. To address this need, the PI developed and offered a graduate level course in Structural-Fire Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin for the first time in 2006. As part of this research project, the PI will develop further course materials on structural-fire engineering that can be incorporated at the undergraduate level, as a module in an undergraduate steel design course.