Structural Design for Fire in Tall Buildings

This paper follows a companion paper “Progressive Collapse and Earthquake Resistance” (Gurley 2008) dealing with structural design against progressive collapse caused by accidental explosion, terrorist attack, or earthquake. The present paper focuses on those findings/recommendations/implications of the NIST 2005 Final Report on the Collapse of the World Trade Center Towers that relate particularly to proposed changes in structural design practice for fire in tall buildings such as: (1) A new role for, perhaps, a new breed of “fire engineer” as members of building project design teams alongside the established disciplines: architects/structural engineers/HVAC engineers/hydraulic engineers/electrical engineers; (2) a wider role for structural engineers working with fire engineers to carry out structural analysis including fire as a load condition so as to ensure burnout without progressive collapse even if a column is lost and sprinklers fail; (3) more research on sprayed fire resistant materials and better quality control during and after construction “over the life of the building”; and (4) the merits of nonstructural gypsum core walls as opposed to load-bearing concrete cores.