Thermal and Mechanical Modeling of Load-Bearing Cold-Formed Steel Wall Systems in Fire
Publication: Journal of Structural Engineering
Volume 140, Issue 8
Abstract
Although a few fire experiments have been carried out on load-bearing cold-formed steel (CFS) wall systems, the understanding of their fire performance is still limited, and further parametric analysis on the basis of such experiments is expensive and time-consuming. This paper presents a simplified numerical approach to predicting the thermal and mechanical responses of CFS wall systems in fire. Thermal physical property experiments were carried out to measure the essential material properties. With those material properties as inputs, a one-dimensional thermal response model was developed to predict the heat transfer across the cross section of CFS wall systems. Both heat convection and radiation were considered in the thermal boundary conditions. The governing equation was expressed in the form of implicit finite-differential equations and solved using the Gauss-Seidel method. The model predictions of temperature responses of CFS wall systems were in good agreement with the measured temperature responses in the fire experiments and also compared well with the modeling results in literature with improved efficiency and convergence in computation. In addition, a thermomechanical response model was developed to predict the time-dependent lateral deflection and fire resistance time for CFS wall systems in fire and was validated by the experimental results in literature. All these studies provide an efficient approach for the fire performance analysis of load-bearing CFS wall systems.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Acknowledgments
This research is sponsored by the National Key Technology Research and Development Program of the Ministry of Science and Technology of China (2011BAJ08B04), Priority Academic Program Development of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions, Scientific Innovation Research Foundation of Jiangsu (CXZZ_0161) and the Scholarship Award for Excellent Doctoral Student granted by Ministry of Education, China.
References
Alfawakhiri, F. (2001). “Behavior of cold-formed-steel-framed walls and floors in standard fire resistance tests.” Ph.D. thesis, Carleton Univ., Ottawa, Canada.
American Iron, and Steel Institute (AISI). (2007a). “North American specification for the design of cold-formed steel structural members.”, Washington, DC.
American Iron, and Steel Institute (AISI). (2007b). “North American specification for cold-formed steel framing- wall stud design.”, Washington, DC.
ASTM. (2009). “Standard test method for thermal conductivity of solids by means of the guarded-comparative-longitudinal heat flow technique.” E1225-09, West Conshohocken, PA.
ASTM. (2011). “Standard test method for determining specific heat capacity by differential scanning calorimetry.” E1269-11, West Conshohocken, PA.
Bai, Y., Hugi, E., Ludwig, C., and Keller, T. (2011). “Fire performance of water-cooled GFRP columns. Part I: Fire endurance investigation.” J. Compos. Constr., 404–412.
Chen, W., and Ye, J. H. (2012). “Mechanical properties of G550 cold-formed steel under transient and steady state conditions.” J. Constr. Steel Res., 73, 1–11.
Chen, W., Ye, J. H., Bai, Y., and Zhao, X. L. (2012). “Full-scale fire experiments on load-bearing cold-formed steel walls lined with different panels.” J. Constr. Steel Res., 79, 242–252.
Chen, W., Ye, J. H., Bai, Y., and Zhao, X. L. (2013). “Improved fire resistant performance of load bearing cold-formed steel interior and exterior wall systems.” Thin-Walled Struct., 73, 145–157.
Collier, P. (1996). “A model for predicting the fire-resisting performance of small-scale cavity walls in realistic fires.” Fire Technol., 32(2), 120–136.
Feng, M., and Wang, Y. C. (2005). “An experimental study of loaded full-scale cold formed thin-walled steel structural panels under fire conditions.” Fire Saf. J., 40(1), 43–63.
Feng, M., Wang, Y. C., and Davies, J. M. (2003a). “Thermal performance of cold-formed thin-walled steel panel systems in fire.” Fire Saf. J., 38(4), 365–394.
Feng, M., Wang, Y. C., and Davies, J. M. (2003b). “Axial strength of cold-formed thin-walled steel channels under non-uniform temperatures in fire.” Fire Saf. J., 38(8), 679–707.
Gerlich, J. T., Collier, P. C. R., and Buchanan, A. H. (1996). “Design of light steel-framed walls for fire resistance.” Fire Mater., 20(2), 79–96.
Gunalan, S. (2011). “Structural behavior and design of cold-formed steel wall systems under fire conditions.” Ph.D. thesis, Queensland Univ. of Technology, Queensland, Australia.
Holman, J. P. (2010). Heat transfer, 10th Ed., McGraw-Hill Higher Education, Boston.
Keerthan, P., and Mahen, M. (2013). “Thermal performance of composite panels under fire conditions using numerical studies: Plasterboards, rockwool, glass fibre and cellulose insulations.” Fire Technol., 49(2), 329–356.
Kodur, V. K. R., and Sultan, M. A. (2006). “Factors influencing fire resistance of load-bearing steel stud walls.” Fire Technol., 42(1), 5–26.
Kolarkar, P. N. (2010). “Structural and thermal performance of cold-formed steel stud wall systems under fire conditions.” Ph.D. thesis, Queensland Univ. of Technology, Queensland, Australia.
Kwon, I. K., Choi, K., and Jee, N. Y. (1998). “Fire resistance of bearing wall using steel and gypsum.” Proc., 14th Int. Specialty Conf. on Cold Formed Steel Structures, University of Missouri-Rolla, Rolla, MO, 379–391.
Miller, T. H., and Pekoz, T. (1994). “Behavior of gypsum-sheathed cold-formed steel wall studs.” J. Struct. Eng., 1644–1650.
Sakumoto, Y., Hirakawa, T., Masuda, H., and Nakamura, K. (2003). “Fire resistance of walls and floors using light-gauge steel shapes.” J. Struct. Eng., 1522–1530.
Sultan, M. A. (1996). “A model for predicting heat transfer through noninsulated unloaded steel-stud gypsum board wall assemblies exposed to fire.” Fire Technol., 32(3), 239–259.
Sultan, M. A. (2010). “Comparison of gypsum board fall-off in wall and floor assemblies exposed to furnace heat.” 12th Int. Conf. on Fire Science and Engineering, Wiley, New York, 1–6.
Sultan, M. A., Alfawakhiri, F., and Benichou, N. (2001). “A model for predicting heat transfer through insulated steel-stud wall assemblies exposed to fire.” Fire and Materials 2001: 7th Int. Conf., Interscience Communications, London, 495–506.
Sultan, M. A., and Kodur, V. R. (2000). “Light-weight frame wall assemblies: parameters for consideration in fire resistance performance-based design.” Fire Technol., 36(2), 75–88.
Telue, Y., and Mahendran, M. (2001). “Behaviour of cold-formed steel wall frames lined with plasterboard.” J. Constr. Steel Res., 57(4), 435–452.
Ye, J. H., and Chen, W. (2013). “Elevated temperature material degradation of cold-formed steels under steady and transient state conditions.” J. Mater. Civ. Eng., 947–957.
Young, D. (1971). Iterative solutions of large linear systems, Academic Press, New York.
Zhao, J. C. (2000). “Application of the direct iteration method for non-linear analysis of steel frames in fire.” Fire Saf. J., 35(3), 241–255.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Structural Engineering
Volume 140 • Issue 8 • August 2014
Copyright
© 2013 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Nov 26, 2012
Accepted: Apr 30, 2013
Published online: May 2, 2013
Discussion open until: Apr 14, 2014
Published in print: Aug 1, 2014
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.