Fire resistance of built-up cold-formed steel columns

This article presents a series of 10 fire resistance tests on steel columns built up from cold-formed steel (CFS) profiles. Relevant performance parameters such as load levels, restraint to thermal expansion, and encasing of the columns with fire protection material are used in this research. It is also presented a numeric, three-dimensional non-linear finite element model for simulating the behavior of these columns. The model was calibrated based on the experimental results. The fire resistance of the bare columns' tests did not exceed 10 min, however, this amount of time considerably increased, up to almost 90 min, for the columns with plasterboard hollow encasement. Plasterboard hollow encasement is presented as an alternative to increase the fire-resistance performance of built-up cold-formed steel columns. (C) 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

This study conducted a series of fire resistance tests on cold-formed steel columns, finding that the fire resistance performance significantly increased with the use of plasterboard hollow encasement. Plasterboard hollow encasement can be considered as an alternative to enhance the fire resistance performance of steel columns.