Investigating the fire performance of LSF wall systems using finite element analyses

Mohamed Rusthi, Poologanathan Keerthan, Mahen Mahendran*, Anthony Ariyanayagam

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

44 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Purpose - This research was aimed at investigating the fire performance of LSF wall systems by using 3-D heat transfer FE models of existing LSF wall system configurations.

Design/methodology/approach - This research was focused on investigating the fire performance of LSF wall systems by using 3-D heat transfer finite element models of existing LSF wall system configurations. The analysis results were validated by using the available fire test results of five different LSF wall configurations.

Findings - The validated finite element models were used to conduct a parametric study on a range of nonload bearing and load bearing LSF wall configurations to predict their fire resistance levels (FRLs) for varying load ratios.

Originality/value - Fire performance of LSF wall systems with different configurations can be understood by performing full-scale fire tests. However, these full-scale fire tests are time consuming, labour intensive and expensive. On the other hand, finite element analysis (FEA) provides a simple method of investigating the fire performance of LSF wall systems to understand their thermal-mechanical behaviour. Recent numerical research studies have focused on investigating the fire performances of LSF wall systems by using finite element (FE) models. Most of these FE models were developed based on 2-D FE platform capable of performing either heat transfer or structural analysis separately. Therefore, this paper presents the details of a 3-D FEA methodology to develop the capabilities to perform fully-coupled thermal-mechanical analyses of LSF walls exposed to fire in future.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)354-376
Number of pages23
JournalJournal of Structural Fire Engineering
Volume8
Issue number4
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Oct 2017

Keywords

  • Finite element analysis
  • Fire performance
  • Heat transfer analysis
  • Light-gauge steel frame wall systems

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Investigating the fire performance of LSF wall systems using finite element analyses'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this