The improvement of the use of renewable energy sources, such as solar thermal energy, and the reduction of energy demand during the several stages of buildings' life cycle is crucial towards a more sustainable built environment. This paper presents an overview of the main features of lightweight steel-framed (LSF) construction with cold-formed elements from the point of view of life cycle energy consumption. The main LSF systems are described and some strategies for reducing thermal bridges and for improving the thermal resistance of LSF envelope elements are presented. Several passive strategies for increasing the thermal storage capacity of LSF solutions are discussed and particular attention is devoted to the incorporation of phase change materials (PCMs). These materials can be used to improve indoor thermal comfort, to reduce the energy demand for air-conditioning and to take advantage of solar thermal energy. The importance of reliable dynamic and holistic simulation methodologies to assess the energy demand for heating and cooling during the operational phase of LSF buildings is also discussed. Finally, the life cycle assessment (LCA) and the environmental performance of LSF construction are reviewed to discuss the main contribution of this kind of construction towards more sustainable buildings.

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Numerical modelling of the lateral-torsional buckling of steel beams at elevated temperature has shown that the beam design curve from EN 1993-1-2 is over-conservative in the case of non-uniform bending. Based on the newly proposed methodology for cold design from the EN 1993-1-1, an improved proposal for the lateraltorsional buckling of unrestrained steel beams subjected to fire is presented in this paper that addresses the issue of the influence of the loading type, the steel grade, the pattern of the residual stresses (hot-rolled or welded sections) and the ratio h/b, between the depth h and the width b of the cross-section on the resistance of the beam, achieving better agreement with the numerical behaviour while maintaining safety. The proposal is found to be safe and accurate through an extensive comparison with the results of FEM numerical simulations of more than 5000 beams. A statistical study of the results is performed, showing the accuracy of the improved proposal presented in this paper.

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A procedure for the evaluation of ductility in steel joints is presented. Using the component method as background, a non-linear analysis for a number of end-plate beam-to-column joints is performed that is capable of identifying the ''yield'' sequence of the various components and the failure of the joint. Each component is characterised using a bilinear approximation for the force-displacement relation. Comparing these results with the corresponding experimental results leads to a proposal of the post-limit stiffness of the various components. A component ductility index is proposed for each component as a means of classification with respect to ductility, using the three ductility classes currently proposed in the literature. A joint ductility index is also proposed, which can be used to verify available rotation against the structure required rotation. Ó

When a beam is bent about its major axis, it may twist and move laterally, before it reaches its elastic/plastic resistance in bending. Although the problem of lateral-torsional buckling of steel beams at room temperature has a well-established solution, the same problem at elevated temperature has not. A numerical investigation of the lateral-torsional buckling of steel I-beams subjected to a temperature variation from room temperature up to 700 v C, with the aim of assessing the effects of the residual stresses in this mechanism of failure, is presented in this paper. To this purpose, a geometrically and materially non-linear finite element program has been used to determine the lateral-torsional resistance of steel I-beams at elevated temperatures, using the material properties of Eurocode 3, Part 1-2. The numerical results have been compared to the results of the simple model presented in Eurocode 3, Part 1-2 (1995) and a new proposal that is being considered for approval.