Performance-based fire resistance design method for wall panel assemblies using thin-walled steel sections

 Steel Cold-formed Thin-walled stud Heat transfer Thermal resistance Fire resistance Wall panel assemblies Temperature calculation Direct strength method Global buckling Numerical modelling Local buckling Uniform elevated temperature Non-uniform elevated temperature Distortional buckling Structural capacity Parametric fire Standard fire Cooling stage Performance-based fire engineering Design method

Lightweight wall panel assemblies are very commonly used in a variety of building constructions. Therefore, designing wall panel assemblies to prevent heat spread to the other parts of a building and to avoid failure of the load-bearing members is of interest to structural and fire protection engineers. However, because of the relatively small tonnage of steel used in lightweight wall panels as compared to the heavy steel members used as beams and columns in building structures, there is still only a limited amount of research on the fire resistance of lightweight steel structures. Furthermore, because the structural and fire behaviour of lightweight wall panels is more complicated than uniformly heated steel beams and columns, there is very limited development of design methods for calculating the fire resistance of lightweight wall panels. In particular, no design method exists for calculating the ultimate capacity of thin-walled steel studs with non-uniform temperature distributions in the cross-section.

Recently published articles describe performance-based fire design method of wall panel assemblies including cold-formed thin-walled steel studs.

For further reading:

  • Shahbazian A. and Wang, Y. C. (2014) A fire resistance design method for thin-walled steel studs in wall panel constructions exposed to parametric fires, Thin-Walled Structures, 77,pp.67-76.
    Link to paper
  • Shahbazian A. and Wang, Y. C. (2014) Performance-based fire resistance design method for wall panel assemblies using thin-walled steel sections, The Structural Engineer, 92,pp.51-56.
    Link to paper
  • Shahbazian A. and Wang, Y. C. (2013) A simplified approach for calculating temperatures in axially loaded cold-formed thin-walled steel studs in wall panel assemblies exposed to fire from one side, Thin-Walled Structures,64, pp.60-72.
    Link to paper

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