Beskrivning
During the last decades, fire tests realised in various countries in the world have shown that the fire performance of composite steel framed buildings with composite floors (concrete slabs connected to plain steel beams and cellular beams by means of steel studs) is very different from that indicated by standard fire resistance tests on composite slabs or composite beams as isolated structural elements. In fact, all the existing tests highlighted that steel framed buildings have a large reserve of fire resistance compared with standard fire resistance tests performed on single unrestrained members which do not provide a satisfactory indicator of the real performance of such structures. Analysis of the tests and numerical simulations reveals that this increase of fire performance is due to the development of tensile membrane action in the reinforced concrete slab.
This book will explain and illustrate how the development of tensile membrane action can occur in composite steel framed buildings. The first part of the book will be devoted to the explanation about the background of the simple design method and its validation through the different laboratory tests and research programs. The second part of the book will contain, on the one hand, a design guide summarizing the application rules of the simple design method and on the other hand worked examples. The later will allows designers to understand clearly the benefits of this new design methodology taking into account the tensile membrane action of composite structures in case of fire.