Simulation Methodology for Coupled Fire-Structure Analysis: Modeling Localized Fire Tests on a Steel Column

Zhang, Chao; Silva, Julio G.; Weinschenk, Craig; Kamikawa, Daisuke; Hasemi, Yuji

doi:10.1007/s10694-015-0495-9

Cited by 52 publications

(24 citation statements)

References 30 publications

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“…Using Equations and , a mesh size of 0.025 m was found to be sufficient for both cases 1 and 2 (assuming R * = 1/12) as recommended . Additionally, a CFD mesh sensitivity study was carried out for case 1.…”

Section: Methodology and Numerical Modelsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The study described in this paper focuses on the representation of the boundary condition at the structure‐fire interface for coupled CFD‐FE analyses of localized fires. In the existing literature, many different methods and parameters have been used when determining the thermal boundary conditions at the fire‐structure interface. The issue is that the methods being used lack consistency, which could lead to significant modeling errors when applied in practice.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Emissivity is the ratio between the radiative heat absorbed by the surface to that absorbed by a blackbody, and it is related to determining the radiative heat flux to a solid. Eurocode suggests using a value of 0.7 for calculations of steel exposed to fire, and the value of 0.9 has been used for the emissivity of steel when considering localized fires . Furthermore, The ASCE Manuals and Reports on Engineering Practice No.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Best practices for modeling structural boundary conditions due to a localized fire

DeSimone

Jeffers

2019

Fire and Materials

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Summary Recent studies suggest the assumption of uniform heating that is used in current structural fire design cannot be assumed conservative, especially if the fire is expected to burn locally. Aside from design equations, which have limited applicability, a common approach to simulating structural members subjected to a localized fire is modeling the fire‐structure interaction using a coupled computational fluid dynamics (CFD)‐finite element (FE) model. In the existing literature, a wide range of methods and parameters are used when determining the boundary conditions at the fire‐structure interface, specifically regarding the representation of net heat flux, heat transfer coefficient, and surface emissivity of steel. The purpose of this study is to investigate various methods for representing the boundary conditions in terms of accuracy and computational efficiency and then identify best practices. In conclusion, our study found that net heat flux predicted by adiabatic surface temperature, a nonconstant heat transfer coefficient, and a surface emissivity of 0.9 for steel was the most reliable thermal boundary condition in a coupled CFD‐FE model of a localized fire. These recommendations are based on the two cases studied here, and caution should be used when applying these results to future studies.

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Section: Methodology and Numerical Modelsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Best practices for modeling structural boundary conditions due to a localized fire

DeSimone

Jeffers

2019

Fire and Materials

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“…Since the (average) hot gas temperature calculated by the two zone model is not high, it is usually thought that pre-flashover fires are not hazardous to structures. However, the local high temperature in a pre-flashover fire (as shown for the case with a low ceiling in Fig 19) can indeed damage structural components near the fire source especially when there is flame impingement, as found in [19, 20, 21, 22, 23]. Therefore, a localized fire model instead of a two zone model is recommended for structural fire design.…”

Section: Thermal Calculation In a Pre-flashover Fire Environmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Heat transfer principles in thermal calculation of structures in fire

Zhang

Usmani

2015

Fire Safety Journal

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Structural fire engineering (SFE) is a relatively new interdisciplinary subject, which requires a comprehensive knowledge of heat transfer, fire dynamics and structural analysis. It is predominantly the community of structural engineers who currently carry out most of the structural fire engineering research and design work. The structural engineering curriculum in universities and colleges do not usually include courses in heat transfer and fire dynamics. In some institutions of higher education, there are graduate courses for fire resistant design which focus on the design approaches in codes. As a result, structural engineers who are responsible for structural fire safety and are competent to do their jobs by following the rules specified in prescriptive codes may find it difficult to move toward performance-based fire safety design which requires a deep understanding of both fire and heat. Fire safety engineers, on the other hand, are usually focused on fire development and smoke control, and may not be familiar with the heat transfer principles used in structural fire analysis, or structural failure analysis. This paper discusses the fundamental heat transfer principles in thermal calculation of structures in fire, which might serve as an educational guide for students, engineers and researchers. Insights on problems which are commonly ignored in performance based fire safety design are also presented.

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“…Fire-structure interface tools for transferring data from FDS to particular FEM codes (such as ANSYS, ABAQUS, SAFIR) have been developed [21]. Although the FDS-FEM simulation approach has been used in practical projects [22,23], validation of the integrated fire-structure simulation method is quite limited [24]. This paper presents a validation study of the integrated FDS-FEM simulation methodology against a localized fire test on a steel ceiling I beam reported by Hasemi et al [25,26].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Integrated Fire-Structure Simulation of a Localzied Fire Test on a Ceiling Steel Beam

Zhang¹,

Li²

2017

Volume 13 Number 2

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Performance based method is increasingly used for structural fire safety design of modern buildings with large enclosure. The design fire scenarios in large enclosure are localized fires. Integrated fire-structure simulation method is required to accurately predict the response of structures in realistic fires (e.g. localized fires). In recent years, there is an increase in use of FDS (Fire Dynamics Simulator) -FEM (finite element method) approach for performance-based structural fire design. This paper discusses the FDS-FEM approach for predicting the thermal response of structures subjected to localized fires. A fire-structure interface, named adiabatic surface temperature (AST), was applied to transfer data from FDS to ANSYS. By comparing the predicted and measured heat fluxes and steel temperatures of a steel ceiling beam exposed to a localized fire condition, the FDS-FEM method was tested. The FDS predicted heat fluxes matched well with the test data. The difference between the predicted and measured maximum heat fluxes was within 6% for the investigated two cases. The FDS-FEM method gave good prediction of the steel temperatures. The over-prediction of maximum steel temperature was within 11% for the investigated case. The methods described in this study provide a feasible way to study the complex behavior of structures in realistic fires.

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Simulation Methodology for Coupled Fire-Structure Analysis: Modeling Localized Fire Tests on a Steel Column

Cited by 52 publications

References 30 publications

Best practices for modeling structural boundary conditions due to a localized fire

Best practices for modeling structural boundary conditions due to a localized fire

Heat transfer principles in thermal calculation of structures in fire

Integrated Fire-Structure Simulation of a Localzied Fire Test on a Ceiling Steel Beam

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