Lateral Torsional-Buckling of Class 4 Steel Plate Beams at Elevated Temperature: Experimental and Numerical Comparison

Abstract

This paper presents ongoing research in behaviour of laterally unrestrained beams (I or H section) of Class 4 cross-sections at elevated temperatures, which is based on the RFCS project FIDESC4 - Fire Design of Steel Members with Welded or Hot-rolled Class 4 Cross-sections. Despite the current EC3 contains a number of simple rules for design of slender Class 4 cross-sections at elevated temperature, based on recent numerical simulations they were found to be over-conservative. Therefore, new well representing design models, which simulate the actual behaviour of the structures exposed to fire, are crucial. These design rules should be based on extensive numerical simulation validated on experimental data. Within this task, several tests were carried out to study lateral torsional buckling of Class 4 beams in fire. The design of the test set-up and description of the experiment is given, as well as verification of numerical model.

Citation

Prachar, M., Jandera, M., Wald, F. and Zhao, B. (2015), "Lateral Torsional-Buckling of Class 4 Steel Plate Beams at Elevated Temperature: Experimental and Numerical Comparison", Journal of Structural Fire Engineering, Vol. 6 No. 3, pp. 223-236. https://doi.org/10.1260/2040-2317.6.3.223