1
Introduction
This book is an introduction to the structural design of buildings and building elements
exposed to fire. Structural fire resistance is discussed in relation to overall concepts of building
fire safety. The book brings together, from many sources, a large volume of material relating
to the fire resistance of building structures. It starts with fundamentals, giving an introduction
to fires and fire safety, outlining the important contribution of structural fire resistance to
overall fire safety.
Methods of calculating fire severity and achieving fire resistance are described, including
fire performance of the main structural materials. The most important parts of the book are the
design sections, where the earlier material is synthesised and recommendations are made for
rational design of building elements and structures exposed to fires.
This book refers to codes and standards as little as possible. The emphasis is on under
standing structural behaviour in fire from first principles, allowing structural fire safety to be
provided using rational engineering methods based on national structural design codes.
1.1 Objective and Target Audience
This book is primarily written for practising structural engineers and students in structural
engineering who need to assess the structural performance of steel, concrete or timber struc
tures exposed to unwanted fires. A basic knowledge of structural mechanics and structural
design is assumed. The coverage of fire science in this book is superficial, but sufficient as a
starting point for structural engineers and building designers. For more detail, readers should
consult recognised texts such as Quintiere (1998), Karlsson and Quintiere (2000) and Drysdale
(2011), and the Handbook of the Society of Fire Protection Engineers (SFPE, 2008). This
book will help fire engineers in their discussions with structural engineers, and will also be
Structural Design for Fire Safety, Second Edition. Andrew H. Buchanan and Anthony K. Abu.
© 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Published 2017 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
2 Structural Design for Fire Safety
useful to architects, building inspectors, code officials, firefighters, students, researchers and
others interested in building fire safety.
A structural engineer who has followed this book should be able to:
•• interpret the intentions of code requirements for structural fire safety;
•• understand the concepts of fire severity and fire resistance;
•• estimate time–temperature curves for fully developed compartment fires;
•• design steel, concrete, steel‐concrete composite, or timber structures to resist fire exposure;
•• assess the fire performance of existing structures.
1.2 Fire Safety
Unwanted fire is a destructive force that causes many thousands of deaths and billions of
dollars of property loss each year. People around the world expect that their homes and
workplaces will be safe from the ravages of an unwanted fire. Unfortunately, fires can occur
in almost any kind of building, often when least expected. The safety of the occupants
depends on many factors in the design and construction of buildings, often focusing on the
escape of people from burning buildings. Occupant escape and firefighter access is only
possible if buildings and parts of buildings will not collapse in a fire or allow the fire to
spread. Fire safety science is a rapidly expanding multi‐disciplinary field of study. It requires
integration of many different fields of science and engineering, some of which are summa
rized in this book.
Fire deaths and property losses could be eliminated if all fires were prevented, or if all fires
were extinguished at the size of a match flame. Much can be done to reduce the probability of
occurrence, but it is impossible to prevent all major fires. Given that some fires will always
occur, there are many strategies for reducing their impact, and some combination of these will
generally be used by designers. The best proven fire safety technology is the provision of
automatic fire sprinklers because they have been shown to have a very high probability of
controlling or extinguishing any fire. It is also necessary to provide facilities for the detection
and notification of fires, safe travel paths for the movement of occupants and firefighters,
barriers to control the spread of fire and smoke, and structures which will not collapse prema
turely when exposed to fire. The proper selection, design and use of building materials is very
important, hence this book.
1.3 Performance‐based Design
1.3.1 Fundamentals of Performance‐based Design
Until recently, most design for fire safety has been based on prescriptive building codes, with
little or no opportunity for designers to take a rational engineering approach. Many countries
have recently adopted performance‐based building codes which allow designers to use any
fire safety strategy they wish, provided that adequate safety can be demonstrated (Hurley and
Bukowski, 2008). In general terms, a prescriptive code states how a building is to be con
structed whereas a performance‐based code states how a building is to perform under a wide
range of conditions (Custer and Meacham, 1997).
Introduction 3
Goals
Functional objectives
Performance requirements
Approved
Acceptable Performance-based
calculation
solution alternative design
method
Figure 1.1 Typical hierarchical relationship for performance‐based design
Some prescriptive building codes give the opportunity for performance‐based selection of
structural assemblies. For example, if a code specifies a floor with a fire resistance rating of
two hours, the designer has the freedom to select from a wide range of approved floor systems
which have sufficient fire resistance. This book provides tools for assessing the fire performance
of structural elements which have been tested, as well as those with different geometry, loads
or fire exposure from those tested.
In the development of new codes, many countries have adopted a multi‐level hierarchical
performance‐based code format as shown in Figure 1.1. At the highest levels, there is legisla
tion specifying the overall goals, functional objectives and required performance which must
be achieved in all buildings. At a lower implementation level, there is a selection of alternative
means of achieving those goals. The three most common options are:
1. A prescriptive ‘Acceptable Solution’ (sometimes call a ‘deemed‐to‐satisfy’ solution).
2. An approved standard calculation method.
3. A performance‐based ‘Alternative Design’ which is a more comprehensive fire engineering
design from first principles.
Standard calculation methods are still being developed for widespread use, so compli
ance with performance‐based codes in most countries is usually achieved by simply m eeting
the requirements of the Acceptable Solution, with options 2 and 3 being used for special
cases or very important buildings. Alternative Designs can sometimes be used to justify
variations from the Acceptable Solution in order to provide improved safety, cost savings,
or other benefits.
The code environment in New Zealand (described by Spearpoint, 2008), is similar to that in
England, Australia and some Scandinavian countries. Moves towards performance‐based
codes are being taken in the United States (SFPE, 2000). Codes are different around the world,
but the objectives are similar; that is to protect life and property from the effects of fire (ABCB,
2005). It is not easy to produce or use performance‐based fire codes for many reasons; fire
safety is part of a complex system of many interacting variables, there are so many possible
strategies that it is not simple to assess performance in quantitative terms, and there is lack of
4 Structural Design for Fire Safety
information on behaviour of fires and the performance of people and buildings exposed to
fires. A number of useful documents have been produced to assist users of performance‐based
codes, including Custer and Meacham (1997), BS7974 (BSI, 2001), ABCB (2005), Spearpoint
(2008) and ISO 23932 (2009). This book provides useful additional information, addressing
the design of structures for fire safety, which is a small but important segment of the overall
provision of fire safety.
1.3.2 Documentation and Quality Control
As the provision of fire safety in buildings moves away from blind adherence to prescriptive
codes towards rational engineering which meets specified performance goals, the need for
comprehensive documentation and quality control becomes increasingly important. It is rec
ommended (ABCB, 2005; ISO, 2009) that quantitative calculations be put in context with a
‘qualitative design review’ which defines the objectives and acceptance criteria for the design,
identifies potential hazards and fire scenarios, and reviews the overall design and fire safety
features. The review and accompanying calculations should be included in a comprehensive
report which describes the building and the complete fire design process (Caldwell et al.,
1999). The report should address installation and maintenance of the fire protection features,
and management of the building to ensure fire safety, with reference to drawings and docu
mentation from other consultants.
It is important to consider quality control of fire safety throughout the design, construction
and eventual use of the building, starting as early as possible in the planning process. Changes
to the design often occur during construction, and these may affect fire safety if the significance
of the original details is not well documented and well understood on the job site. The approving
or checking authorities should also prepare a comprehensive report describing the design and
the basis on which it is accepted or rejected. Those taking responsibility for design, approval and
site inspection must be suitably qualified. The reliability of active and passive fire protection
will depend on the quality of the construction, including workmanship and supervision.
1.3.3 Risk Assessment
Fire safety is all about risk. The probability of a serious fire in any building is low, but the
possible consequences of such a fire are enormous. The objectives of design for fire safety are
to provide an environment with an acceptably low probability of loss of life or property loss
due to fire. Tools for quantitative risk assessment in fire safety are still in their infancy, so most
fire engineering design is deterministic. The design methods in this book are deterministic,
and must be applied with appropriate safety factors to ensure that they produce an acceptable
level of safety.
Fire safety engineering is not a precise discipline, because any assessment of safety requires
judgement as to how fire and smoke will behave in the event of an unplanned ignition, and
how fire protection systems and the occupants of the building will respond. Design to provide
fire safety is based on scenario analysis. For any scenario it is possible to calculate some
responses, but the level of accuracy can only be as good as the design assumptions, the input
data and the analytical methods available. Fire safety engineering is a very new discipline, so
the precision of calculation methods will improve as the discipline matures, but it will always
Introduction 5
be necessary to exercise engineering judgement based on experience and logical thinking,
using all the information that is available. Analysis of past fire disasters and visits to actual
fires and fire damaged buildings are excellent ways of gaining experience.
1.4 Structural Fire Engineering
Traditional fire resistance has been simply achieved by designing buildings for room‐
temperature conditions, then wrapping individual structural elements in protective insulation
(for steel construction) or in sacrificial material (for concrete or timber construction). The
primary reason for this approach is to limit temperatures in the interior of structural com
ponents, so that there is sufficient cold cross‐section to provide the required structural resis
tance in fire conditions.
The new discipline of structural fire engineering is leading to major advances in the provi
sion of fire resistance, as an important component of overall building fire safety. Structural fire
engineering is an amalgamation of the two older disciplines of structural engineering and fire
engineering to ensure better prediction of building behaviour in the event of a fire, and better
overall design for fire safety (Lennon, 2011).
Structural fire engineering follows a scientific approach to the design of any building for
fire conditions, requiring the identification of objectives and establishing the criteria that need
to be met. Based on the potential fires that can develop, an estimate of material and structural
response of the structure is made, ensuring a rational level of sophistication is applied to
each design scenario to accurately predict structural behaviour (IStructE, 2003, 2007). The
improved understanding of fire and structural behaviour has meant that designers can now
take advantage of fire resistance that is inherent in buildings due to their structural form, and
use innovative methods and materials to provide structural fire safety at reasonable cost
(Newman et al., 2006). The design of structural connections has been largely ignored in the
traditional design approach, but the collapse of major buildings such as the World Trade
Center towers (Gann, 2008) has shown that it is important to tie buildings together to ensure that
failure of one element does not result in collapse of other elements or even collapse of the
entire building. An understanding of load paths in structures exposed to fires is critical because
these are often different from load paths at ambient temperature, requiring an appreciation of
global structural behaviour in all scenarios.
There is increasing international collaboration in the field of structural fire engineering,
including development of the Eurocodes, new international journals, and regular international
conferences such as the bi‐annual Structures in Fire (SiF) conference ([Link]).
With all the advantages of structural fire engineering, it is desirable to incorporate it into
building design at the conceptual stage, to ensure economic options that produce safe build
ings. This book introduces the fundamentals of structural design for fire conditions and the
advantages that structural fire engineering can provide.
1.5 Purpose of this Book
Structural design for fire safety concentrates on fire resistance, which is an important part of
any design for fire safety. In most buildings, selected structural members and non‐structural
barriers are provided with fire resistance in order to prevent the spread of fire and smoke, and
6 Structural Design for Fire Safety
to prevent structural collapse during an uncontrolled fire. The provision of fire resistance is
just one part of the overall fire design strategy for protecting lives of occupants and fire
fighters, and for limiting property losses. Fire resistance is often described as passive fire
protection, which is always ready and waiting for a fire, as opposed to active fire protection
such as automatic sprinklers which are required to activate after a fire is detected. Design
strategies often incorporate a combination of active and passive fire protection measures.
Fire resistance is of little significance in the very early stages of a fire, but becomes increas
ingly important as a fire gets out of control and grows beyond flashover to full room involve
ment. The importance of fire resistance depends on the size of the building and the fire safety
objectives. To provide life safety, fire resistance is essential in all buildings where a fire could
grow large before all the occupants have time to escape. This is especially important for large
and tall buildings and those where the occupants have difficulty in moving. Fire resistance is
also important for Fire Service access and rescue, because firefighters may need to be inside
a building well after all the occupants have escaped. Fire resistance is also most important for
property protection in buildings of any size, especially if the fire is not controlled with a fire
suppression system.
1.6 Units
This book uses metric units throughout. These are generally SI (Systéme International)
units. The basic SI unit for length is the metre (m), for time the second (s), and for mass the
kilogram (kg). Weight is expressed using the newton (N) where one newton is the force that
gives a mass of one kilogram an acceleration of one metre per second per second. On the
surface of the earth, one kilogram weighs approximately 9.81 N because the acceleration
due to gravity is 9.81 m/s2. The basic unit of stress or pressure is the pascal (Pa) which is one
newton per square metre (N/m2). It is more common to express stress using the megapascal
(MPa) which is one meganewton per square metre (MN/m2) or identically one newton per
square millimetre (N/mm2).
The basic unit of heat or energy or work is the joule (J) defined as the work done when the
point of application of one newton is displaced one metre. Heat or energy is more often
expressed in thousands of joules [kilojoules (kJ)] or millions of joules [megajoules (MJ)]. The
basic unit for rate of power or heat release rate is the watt (W). One watt is one joule per
second, hence a kilowatt (kW) is a thousand joules per second and a megawatt (MW) is a
megajoule per second.
Temperature is most often measured in degrees Celsius (°C), but for some calculations the
temperature must be the absolute temperature in Kelvin (K). Zero degrees Celsius is 273.15
Kelvin, with the same intervals in each system. A list of units and conversion factors is
included in Appendix A. A more extensive list of units and conversion factors can be found in
the SFPE Handbook (SFPE, 2008).
1.7 Organization of Chapters
This book is organized in a form suitable for teaching a fire safety design course to structural
engineering students. Chapter 2 is a discussion of fire safety in buildings, looking at overall
strategies and the importance of preventing spread of fire or structural collapse within the
Introduction 7
whole context of fire safety. Chapter 3 is an elemental review of combustion and heat transfer
for those with no background in those subjects, and it also describes fire behaviour in rooms
in order to give an indication of the impact of an uncontrolled fire on the building structure.
Chapter 4 describes fire severity by comparing post‐flashover fires with standard test fires.
It further describes methods of achieving fire resistance, including standard tests and calcu
lation methods.
The structural engineering section of the book starts in Chapter 5 where structural design
for fire conditions is contrasted with structural design at normal temperatures, and important
concepts such as flexural continuity, moment redistribution and axial restraint are introduced.
The subsequent chapters address the fire behaviour and design of structural materials and
assemblies. Chapters 6, 7 and 8 describe steel, reinforced concrete and composite steel
construction, while Chapters 9 and 10 cover timber structures and light frame structures.
Advanced calculation methods are covered in Chapter 11, and Chapter 12 gives a summary of
the recommended fire design methods for structures of different materials.