Steel Buildings in Europe

Part 6: Fire Engineering 6 - 25 Figure 3.12 Use of external steelwork 3.3.5 Combined solutions for fire resistance By careful selection of the structural solutions, up to 60 minutes of fire resistance can be achieved for multi-storey buildings without applying fire protection materials. Generally, this will demand the use of integrated beams and partially encased or concrete filled columns. Table 3.8 shows the fire resistance period that may be achieved for a structure using combinations of beam and column construction discussed above. This table considers the fire resistance of individual elements and less conservative results can generally be achieved by considering fire design based on assemblies of structural elements using methods such as FRACOF (see Section 5.2). Table 3.8 Combined solution for steel frame with or without fire protection Unprotected beam External beam Integrated beams Encased beam Protected beam Fire resistance period (min) Unprotected steel column 15 15 15 15 15 External column 15 >30 >30 >30 >30 Encased column 15 >30 >60 >60 >60 Protected column 15 >30 >60 >60 >60 Note: Fire resistance period stated is the lower value for the beam or column construction.