Engineers test effects of fire on steel structures

Emil Venere - Researchers at Purdue University are studying the effects of fire on steel structures, such as buildings and bridges, using a one-of-a-kind heating system and a specialized laboratory for testing large beams and other components.

Building fires may reach temperatures of 1,000 degrees Celsius, or more than 1,800 degrees Fahrenheit, said Amit Varma, a Purdue associate professor of civil engineering who is leading the work.g1

"At that temperature, exposed steel would take about 25 minutes to lose about 60 percent of its strength and stiffness," he said. "As you keep increasing the temperature of the steel, it becomes softer and weaker."

One project focuses on how a building's steel-and-concrete floor and its connections to the building behave in a fire. Another project concentrates on how fire affects steel columns and a building's frame.

Such testing is customarily conducted inside large furnaces.

"However, in a furnace it is very difficult to heat a specimen while simultaneously applying loads onto the structure to simulate the forces exerted during a building's everyday use," Varma said.

To overcome this limitation, Purdue researchers designed a system made up of heating panels to simulate fire. The panels have electrical coils, like giant toaster ovens, and are placed close to the surface of the specimens. As the system is used to simulate fire, test structures are subjected to forces with hydraulic equipment.

In practice, beams and other steel components in buildings are covered with fireproofing materials to resist the effects of extreme heating.

"Because the steel in buildings is coated with a fireproofing material, the air might be at 1,000 degrees but the steel will be at 300 or 400 degrees," Varma said. "We conduct tests with and without fire protection."

The work is funded by the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Commerce's National Institute of Standards and Technology.

The heating system is being used to test full-scale steel columns at Purdue's Robert L. and Terry L. Bowen Laboratory for Large-Scale Civil Engineering Research. It is believed to be the only such heating system in the world, Varma said. ...

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