Experimental and numerical study on the fire response of cold-formed steel beams with elastically restrained thermal elongation

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Abstract
Purpose: This paper is mainly aimed at the structural performance of compound cold-formed galvanised steel beams under fire conditions based on the results of a large programme of experimental tests and numerical simulations. The main objective of this research was to assess the critical temperature and time of the studied beams. Other important goals of this research work were to investigate the influence of the cross-sections (C, lipped-I, R and 2R beams) and, above all, of the axial restraint (0, 0.45, 3, 7.5, 15, 30, ∞ kN/mm) to the thermal elongation of the beam and the rotational restraint at beam supports (0, 15, 80, 150, 300, 1,200 and ∞ kN.m/rad) on the fire resistance of this kind of beams. Design/methodology/approach: This paper still provides details of the simulation methodology for achieving numerical stability and faithful representation of detailed structural behaviour and compares the simulation and experimental results, including beam failure modes, measured beam axial forces and beam mid-span deflections. Findings: Good agreement between Abaqus simulations and experimental observations confirms that the finite element models developed with the Abaqus/standard solver are suitable for predicting the structural fire behaviour of restrained cold-formed steel beams. Originality/value: The results showed above all that the effect of the stiffness of the surrounding structure seems to decrease with the increasing slenderness of the beams.

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