Steel Buildings in Europe

Part 6: Fire Engineering 6 - 16 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 30 60 90 120 Fire resistance (mins) Thickness(mm) (a) (b) Figure 3.3 Board fire protection (a) Fixing of boards to steel column; (b) Fire resistance Boards are factory-manufactured and therefore, their thickness and quality can generally be guaranteed. They offer a clean, boxed appearance, which may be pre-finished or ready for further decoration. However, boards cannot easily be fitted to members with complex shapes. Boards generally cost more than sprayed and intumescent coatings, although non-decorative boards may be cheaper than decorative ones. In addition, the time required to fix the boards is significant compared to the application of intumescent coatings, which not only increases the construction costs but it also affects the construction programme of multi-storey buildings. Sprayed non-reactive coatings The process of applying this type of protection is shown in Figure 3.4(a). Sprayed non-reactive coatings with thicknesses of 10 to 35 mm are widely used to protect steel members, to achieve a fire resistance of between 30 and 120 minutes, as shown in Figure 3.4(b). 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 30 60 90 120 Fire resistance (mins) Thickness(mm) (a) Application (b) Fire resistance for a given thickness Figure 3.4 Sprayed non-reactive fire protection (a) Application (b) Fire resistance